The cheap Minolta AF 400mm f/5.6 lens ...

[dxqcanada]

Ok, so I previous posted about the Maxxum AF 200mm f/2.8 APO that I picked up ... and I thought, hmmm I should put a matched 2x tele-converter on this thing.

Now, I've used tele-converters before so I know how much they can affect the IQ ... but having a matched tele-converter with a high IQ fixed focal length lens could be a different story ... lots of reading online of user experience ... and I decided to get one.

The combination is pretty good. It makes for a handy combo to have especially when packing light.
A little extra CA, and the AF hunts more often ... but to be expected ... hmm. The ISO 800 on the below image does not help, but it's been cloudy all this week.

 

[Soocom1]

Remember that bluish-purple CA?

 

[Derrel]

Remember that bluish-purple CA?

Yeah...

Can Lightroom clean that CA up in manual mode?

 

[Soocom1]

Good question.

Hell. If Samsung AI can deepfake the Mona Lisa, me thinks a bit of CA should be cake.

 

[dxqcanada]

Some LR tweaking ... still a little CA

 

[Derrel]

Some LR tweaking ... still a little CA

But it is VERY minor!

Really, hardly noticeable.

 

[dxqcanada]

I noticed (not unexpected) that LR does not apply any lens profile to this combination ... actually I don't think Adobe has any for Maxxum lenses.

 

[dxqcanada]

Got some sun today.
Maxxum 200mm f/2.8 APO + 2x ... wide open ... cropped image.


BaltimoreOriole_Female by Dennis, on Flickr

 

[dxqcanada]

Hmm, I forgot to mention that I got my Maxxum 200mm f/2.8 for a very low price (under US$200) as it had fungus and was fugly ... which explains the title. The most commonly found version of the lens is the newer High Speed (HS) model which typically sells for about $400+. The Minolta 2x Tele-converter is about US$150. In comparison my Sony 70-400mm G1 is worth about US$750+.

I still have to work with the combo to see if it is worthy to replace my 70-400mm. It is nice having a fast 200mm and being able to up it to 400mm with a converter ... and it is physically smaller. I will have to say the 70-400mm is faster AF at 400mm than the combo ... though I still have to see how many missed shots I get with the new setup.

Comments that I have read online make it appear that IQ sucks with this combo, but I think it would be pretty acceptable for most shooters (I can see why many choose to use the 1.4x with this lens) ... and just using the 200mm alone with aggressive cropping can product a pretty good image.

 

[Derrel]

just using the 200mm alone with aggressive cropping can product a pretty good image.

 

[Derrel]

Was there a high-quality 1.4 power telephoto converter which would make this lens into a very nice 280 mm F4?

 

[dxqcanada]

Yup, Minolta has a matching 1.4x
I was thinking of that as a better pair up ... this is the most common set as most users report that there is almost no IQ/AF loss. I wanted to go a little more extreme.