Looking for a super telephoto. I have a few in mind...

[chito beach]

Why not grab a Tamron or Sigma 1.4x or 1.7x for your 80-200 f2.8 AF-D first?
I had the tamron 1.4x with mine which made for a 280mm f4. But have seen other's use the 1.7x. Wouldn't touch a 2.0x tho with 2 stops of loss and more hits in Image IQ.

But if you start with getting the 1.7x then you can add the 300mm f4 down the road if the 80-200 doesn't cut it for you.
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A good way to make sure your images are degraded is to use a tele converter. a tele converter will multiply the poor effects in any lens as well as the reach

 

[djacobox372]

I've used nikon's old ais 2x teleconverter with a 300mm f2.8 and it worked amazingly well (better then any superzoom). But it was specifically made for use with the long nikon primes (doesn't even fit anything smaller then 300mm), I'm not sure about the new af/af-s compatible tc.

 

[djacobox372]

Why not grab a Tamron or Sigma 1.4x or 1.7x for your 80-200 f2.8 AF-D first?
I had the tamron 1.4x with mine which made for a 280mm f4. But have seen other's use the 1.7x. Wouldn't touch a 2.0x tho with 2 stops of loss and more hits in Image IQ.

But if you start with getting the 1.7x then you can add the 300mm f4 down the road if the 80-200 doesn't cut it for you.
.

A good way to make sure your images are degraded is to use a tele converter. a tele converter will multiply the poor effects in any lens as well as the reach

You could just as easily replace "teleconverter" with the word "zoom" in that statement.

 

[Derrel]

A good teleconverter with a prime lens for which it was designed can be pretty decent, even "good" optically, especially if the original prime lens was a Nikon telephoto prime like a 300/2.8 with the older TC-200 or TC-201 2x converters, or the old 400mm f/3.5 with its more or less dedicated TC-300 or TC-301 2x converter. The really new-new TC-20e-III Aspherical works quite well with the newest Nikon lenses, but its price and the lens prices put one into the multi-thousand dollar range instantly, except on the low-cost 300mm f/4....but then you're right back to a slow lens of f/8.

 

[chito beach]

I do like zooms for birding and wildlife in general, you have the reach and if the animal gets closer you can adjust to compensate rather than miss the shot.

 

[rabman]

I think this might be a worth a shot before dropping a bunch on a lens. Prices aren't too bad. No I don't work for them.

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