TC20 II and 70-200 vr1, good combo?

xyphoto · Feb 2, 2012

Hello,

I just purchased a Nikon 70-200 vr1 to use with my D700. I am also looking to add a teleconverter. Is Nikon TC20E II a good one? I could find a good deal on this particular one but not the newer version TC20e III.

xyphoto · Feb 2, 2012

motordrive · Mar 10, 2012

xyphoto said:
Hello,

I just purchased a Nikon 70-200 vr1 to use with my D700. I am also looking to add a teleconverter. Is Nikon TC20E II a good one? I could find a good deal on this particular one but not the newer version TC20e III.

Check out this PDF TC chart! http://blog.nikonians.org/archives/Nikonians Teleconverter Table.pdf

zamanakhan · Mar 11, 2012

honestly completely depends what u need it for, at the long end the telephoto effect added by the 2x is actually not that great, i would much rather have the 2.8 of the zoom than the 400 at 5.6 at the telephoto end. I've got a 80-200 28 afs and a tc20e II. I cant think of a great reason to use the 5.6, i figured i would use it for sports and bump up the iso really really high. at 400mm the images are extremely difficult to handhold a slight movement shows zoomed in a little, tripod is a must a sturdy one at that. second the biggest downside for me was the fact that the AF slows down, 5.6 lets in a whole lot less light than 2.8 and it drives the af sensors alot more.

i could see myself using mine to get shots of something that was standing still from further away, but like i said 200-400 is not as big of a difference as you might think it is, i paid about 130 for mine, i've barely used it. I am going to try and take it out more but currently i am just not impressed.

Derrel · Mar 11, 2012

I bought a TC 20-II and tried it with my 70-200 VR 1 lens....UGH!!! I was not impressed...just not that good optically,plus the 2-stop loss sucked. I returned it and decided to stick with the 1.4x TC 14e models I have.

tirediron · Mar 11, 2012

^^ That! Both the 1.4 and 1.7TCs return very nice results on the 70-200 VRI, but the 2, not so much.

zamanakhan · Mar 12, 2012

Derrel said:
I bought a TC 20-II and tried it with my 70-200 VR 1 lens....UGH!!! I was not impressed...just not that good optically,plus the 2-stop loss sucked. I returned it and decided to stick with the 1.4x TC 14e models I have.

i see what you are saying but again i thought the 2x didn't give too much range 1.4 would be even less. If i get a decent deal on the 1.4 i might give it a go but converters don't impress me as much as 2.8 zooms. Its like having a super sharp awesome lens and for a little bit of range you give up sharpness, hand hold ability and depth of field close up( actually this might not be too big of deal as you do get to zoom more.)

the tc20e doesn't get too great till f8ish and by then you are losing an extreme amount of light. I just took mine out and set up a tripod even then it was hard to get really sharp results.

I say forgo the teleconverter, and just enjoy your 70-200. If you want the tc20e for still subjects then make sure to invest in an extremely sturdy tripod and head, my manfrotto 190xprob with a 496 head is showing its limitations with an 80-200 and a tc 20e.