f8 autofocus on newer bodies (1 Viewer)

Hello All,

This past festive season I found myself shooting with my 300f4 and 1.4TC far more often than with my hefty 400f2.8. Also managed to get my flash photography to a very good level.

As always, I did feel out of reach a lot of time, and was thinking with the newer style bodies (D7100, D600 etc) they claim that autofocus is possible at f8, so is it worth looking at a 2 x TC III with that 300f4, or will it not be such a great investment.

Currently using D7000 body and have no complaints about it.

Will appreciate any comments.

Regards,

Leon

It will AF on the centre FP, obviously it will slow down the performance and have an impact IQ, wouldn't want to try it in anything but the best light.
I've seen the TC20e-III used on a 300/2.8 with success but I never even used one on my 300/4, would rather use a 1.4 or go to a longer lens.

I went from a D7000 to a D7100, and can confirm that the D7100 will autofocus fairly competently with a maximum aperture of f/8 in good light. The attached shot of a gull in flight was done using the 80-400 AF-S with a TC-14E attached (560mm, stopped down to f/11).

That said, as excellent a lens as it is, the 300mm f/4 starts to show its sharpness limits with teleconverters when used with the higher pixel density of the D7100. I had the 300 when I got the D7100; it was still very good with the 1.4x attached, but at 100% view there was some acuity missing from fine details (e.g., feathers) that my Sigma 500mm f/4.5 was still able to resolve in similar circumstances. You'll probably find the same to be true when comparing the 300mm f/4 with your 400mm f/2.8 on a D7100. Of course, we're talking about softness at a pixel level; the overall image quality was still very good with the 300 + 1.4x TC, so if you're not a huge pixel peeper you'll probably still be satisfied with the results. I do suspect, however, that since the 1.4x already takes it to its limits, the 300mm f/4 with the TC-20E III will be noticeably softer, possibly at lower magnifications, although it'll probably still autofocus reasonably well. Ultimately, it boils down to how much of a deal-breaker sharpness is to you versus other image attributes.

And the D7100 is definitely a worthy upgrade from the D7000; I've never looked back since I made the jump last year.

Here are some D7100 shots with the 300mm f4 with TCs. Light was harsh and from the wrong direction for the sea ducks and virtually non existent for the American Coot. All four shots were from being balanced on a car window so not as I'd have liked, all are at f8 and single point autofocus:

The Eider is uncropped with 1.4 TC ISO 400, 1/1250th and virtually from the camera.

The Long Tailed Duck are both cropped to around 50% of the original size of the shot [they were 60m or so away] with 2.0 MKIII TC ISO500, 1/1250th and 1/1000th. Some LR sharpening/contrast work.

The American Coot is 600mm, ISO 2500, 1/60th and uncropped - some LR sharpening applied.

Anyway gives you some idea in less than perfect conditions. I wish I still had a 300mm f2.8 but for record shots in good light the f4 with 2.0 TC is OK and I think the 1.4 is good for most shots.

Pitvar. They look very good with the 2x. I'm impressed. Must be the D7100. Couldn't get that with my D300. Not tried the combo on FX

Duke Leto said:

Pitvar. They look very good with the 2x. I'm impressed. Must be the D7100. Couldn't get that with my D300. Not tried the combo on FX

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I must admit that I go through phases of accepting record shots at 600mm will be OK but not fantastic and then reverting to the 1.4 and a crop... I'm looking forward to seeing the new Tamron super zoom tested against the 300mm f4 with the 1.4 and 2.0 TCs - wonder how the Tamron would fair [if compatible] with a 1.4 TC and whether it would auto focus at 840mm and around f9...

Thanks guys,

Not really sold on the idea. Think I must start going to gym so I can carry 400f2.8 more!!

All the best.

Leon

Leon,

I remember reading that the TC20e-III was specifically designed for use on the 300/2.8 VRII. I find that combo superb and very rarely use the TC14EII. I would imagine it would still be stellar on your 400/2.8.

wasn't impressed with my 400/2.8 and TC20, better results with the 1.7 but it may have been the body. Since moving to FX I find that the TC's give better results when i need to use them to the extent where the images are on the web people couldn't comment what ones had what TC's.
Similarly no one tried to guess which image in the DX Vs FX images i posted were which. This all underpins my belief that don't go on test results, MTF graphs or DXo marks, buy the gear and get out there and enjoy

swainsons said:

Thanks guys,

Not really sold on the idea. Think I must start going to gym so I can carry 400f2.8 more!!

All the best.

Leon

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Shame you're not a bit closer so you could borrow my MkIII 2.0 TC to try out on your 400mm f2.8 because as Frogfish said I bet that would be amazing!

Pitvar said:

Shame you're not a bit closer so you could borrow my MkIII 2.0 TC to try out on your 400mm f2.8 because as Frogfish said I bet that would be amazing!

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With my 400 and the tc20e-iii I was very disappointed. When mounted on a D300

Pitvar said:

Shame you're not a bit closer so you could borrow my MkIII 2.0 TC to try out on your 400mm f2.8 because as Frogfish said I bet that would be amazing!

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I can rent one, the whole point is that I wanna save weight when I go birding/ hiking, I don't want to carry that beast of a 400f2.8 around for 3-4 hrs. (I own the old AF-I version, 6.6kg's of beastly-ness) Hell, with tripod, gimbal etc, I must be over 10kg's. If I can get that combo down to 6kg it will make the worlds difference. For hide work, the 400f2.8 with and without TC's, is 99.9% perfect

The 300f4 and 1.4TC and flash is just a match made in heaven, but one always feel just that little bit short, You see, I really really really enjoy hunting little birds that hide in the scrub. (Wattle eyes, prinias, cameroptera's etc)

(BTW, My U2 setting for above combo is 1/250, f5.6, ISO400 and on flash -0.7EV, and I tell you it nails them every time, even handheld I get really crisp images. Just wish the SB900 would reload faster, oh, I also got rid of beamer, just always in my way)

All the best

swainsons said:

I can rent one, the whole point is that I wanna save weight when I go birding/ hiking, I don't want to carry that beast of a 400f2.8 around for 3-4 hrs. (I own the old AF-I version, 6.6kg's of beastly-ness) Hell, with tripod, gimbal etc, I must be over 10kg's. If I can get that combo down to 6kg it will make the worlds difference. For hide work, the 400f2.8 with and without TC's, is 99.9% perfect

The 300f4 and 1.4TC and flash is just a match made in heaven, but one always feel just that little bit short, You see, I really really really enjoy hunting little birds that hide in the scrub. (Wattle eyes, prinias, cameroptera's etc)

(BTW, My U2 setting for above combo is 1/250, f5.6, ISO400 and on flash -0.7EV, and I tell you it nails them every time, even handheld I get really crisp images. Just wish the SB900 would reload faster, oh, I also got rid of beamer, just always in my way)

All the best

Click to expand...

Considering the higher pixel density of the D7100, you might be satisfied enough with 300mm f/4 and 1.4TC combo, as you'll be able to get roughly the same number of pixels on target using a D7100 on 1.3x crop mode as you currently do with the D7000. On the D7100, I find myself satisfied with the reach of both my current lenses (80-400 AF-S and 500mm f/4) without using teleconverters, and prefer shooting in 1.3x mode or cropping instead of resorting to more focal length at the expense of sharpness.