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Bought a used Kenko C-AF 1.4X Teleplus MC4 Teleconverter today. Since Kenko's website is rather poor, figured I'd remark on my initial observations here so if anyone else is considering one of these they'll at least find something.
So far I've only used it with my Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 VC USD, and it seems to work mostly properly. The light metering capabilities are inconsistent, meter seems to report darker than it's actually exposing, though admittedly the outside light was a bit harsh and I have no practice with this adapter. The teleconverter otherwise appears properly affect lens data, zoomed all the way in the camera claims 420mm at f/8 instead of 300mm at f/5.6. Autofocus works but not as well as normal, image stabilization seems to work just fine. Contrast on the resulting images is poorer and I might be seeing some diffraction, but the lighting didn't make my tests ideal.
So, some comparison photos:
First, no teleconverter:
Canon EOS 77D, Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 VC USD, 300mm f/5.6 1/160th second ISO 100, scaled 50%
Then with the teleconverter:
Canon EOS 77D, Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 VC USD, Kenko 1.4x Teleconverter, 420mm f/8 1/160th second ISO 100, scaled 50%
The difference between 300mm and 420mm is noticeable. Bear in mind this is a 1.6x crop, so akin to ~480mm and ~670mm equivalent full-frame.
A crop of the teleconverter image:
Canon EOS 77D, Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 VC USD, Kenko 1.4x Teleconverter, 420mm f/8 1/160th second ISO 100, crop of original
After running the original image through GIMP's sharpening tool:
Canon EOS 77D, Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 VC USD, Kenko 1.4x Teleconverter, 420mm f/8 1/160th second ISO 100, crop, sharpened in GIMP
And lastly, an animated gif of a crop of the original teleconverter and sharpened images:
Canon EOS 77D, Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 VC USD, Kenko 1.4x Teleconverter, 420mm f/8 1/160th second ISO 100, comparison GIF
So the image quality is definitely reduced with the teleconverter. I suppose for me the question is if the reduction is mild enough that the extra zoom makes it worthwhile, and if learning to use the device will result in better image quality. Bear in mind these photos were shot handheld with lens vibration compensation turned on, not on a tripod, so these preliminary results might be meaningless in the longrun.
These birds were hanging out on a tree in my backyard. Picture taken over the workshop from the front yard:
Canon EOS 77D, Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 VC USD, Kenko 1.4x Teleconverter, 420mm f/8 1/250th second ISO 100, 50% crop
And after some color correction and sharpness filtering:
Canon EOS 77D, Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 VC USD, Kenko 1.4x Teleconverter, 420mm f/8 1/250th second ISO 100, 50% crop, color and sharpness corrected
I think it has potential, but I'll need practice, both with the component specifically light metering, and with post-processing.
So far I've only used it with my Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 VC USD, and it seems to work mostly properly. The light metering capabilities are inconsistent, meter seems to report darker than it's actually exposing, though admittedly the outside light was a bit harsh and I have no practice with this adapter. The teleconverter otherwise appears properly affect lens data, zoomed all the way in the camera claims 420mm at f/8 instead of 300mm at f/5.6. Autofocus works but not as well as normal, image stabilization seems to work just fine. Contrast on the resulting images is poorer and I might be seeing some diffraction, but the lighting didn't make my tests ideal.
So, some comparison photos:
First, no teleconverter:
Canon EOS 77D, Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 VC USD, 300mm f/5.6 1/160th second ISO 100, scaled 50%
Then with the teleconverter:
Canon EOS 77D, Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 VC USD, Kenko 1.4x Teleconverter, 420mm f/8 1/160th second ISO 100, scaled 50%
The difference between 300mm and 420mm is noticeable. Bear in mind this is a 1.6x crop, so akin to ~480mm and ~670mm equivalent full-frame.
A crop of the teleconverter image:
Canon EOS 77D, Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 VC USD, Kenko 1.4x Teleconverter, 420mm f/8 1/160th second ISO 100, crop of original
After running the original image through GIMP's sharpening tool:
Canon EOS 77D, Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 VC USD, Kenko 1.4x Teleconverter, 420mm f/8 1/160th second ISO 100, crop, sharpened in GIMP
And lastly, an animated gif of a crop of the original teleconverter and sharpened images:
Canon EOS 77D, Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 VC USD, Kenko 1.4x Teleconverter, 420mm f/8 1/160th second ISO 100, comparison GIF
So the image quality is definitely reduced with the teleconverter. I suppose for me the question is if the reduction is mild enough that the extra zoom makes it worthwhile, and if learning to use the device will result in better image quality. Bear in mind these photos were shot handheld with lens vibration compensation turned on, not on a tripod, so these preliminary results might be meaningless in the longrun.
These birds were hanging out on a tree in my backyard. Picture taken over the workshop from the front yard:
And after some color correction and sharpness filtering:
Canon EOS 77D, Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 VC USD, Kenko 1.4x Teleconverter, 420mm f/8 1/250th second ISO 100, 50% crop, color and sharpness corrected
I think it has potential, but I'll need practice, both with the component specifically light metering, and with post-processing.