300mm F4 with a 1.4x tele converter. (1 Viewer)

If i purchase the 300mm f4 prime and i use a 1.4 x converter will this hurt the image quality of handholding. or is 300mm not enough. Also will this combo hurt the auto focus speed. is this lens a fast lens without converter. please help me.

D50birdshooter said:

If i purchase the 300mm f4 prime and i use a 1.4 x converter will this hurt the image quality of handholding. or is 300mm not enough. Also will this combo hurt the auto focus speed. is this lens a fast lens without converter. please help me.

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The 300 f4 is not a heavy lens and if you use a fast enough shutter speed than you will be OK hand holding the lens. How fast? Depends entirely on your ability to hold a lens steady.

The 300 f4 is a great lens both the afs and the older screw driven version.

I've been using one of the older versions on a D50 for the past 12 months. On a bright day it can just about be used hand-held with a Kenko Pro 1.4x however you may need to go to iso800 to get enough speed to overcome camera shake. Personally I find the image noise at this setting to be too much so I very rarely go beyond iso400.

Hand-held the 300 f4 is reliable at a speed of 1/500. Although the images are sharp at f4 frequently the resulting depth of field is so shallow only half the bird will be in focus therefore you'll want an aperture of f5.6 and above. If there's enough light to get to 1/640 even better especially if it's a distant bird and you want to tightly crop the image.

Adding the 1.4 tc does result in a small loss of quality especially on the older lens. If at all possible use something to stabilise the lens even if it means resting it on a small beanbag in the fork of a tree! To reduce vibration even further buy a remote control off ebay. In general if you add a 1.4 tc to hand hold successfully you need to be aiming for a speed of 1/800 and ideally an aperture of f8. Also be aware that the tc will make the lens susceptible to flare if you ever try shooting into the light (recently had no other choice at a Long eared Owl Roost - the photo's without the tc fitted could be recovered in photoshop unfortunately the ones where the tc had been fitted were killed by the flare - guess I'll have to get a D300 and crop)!

The older lens isn't the fastest focusing lens available however if you use the focus limiter it's reliable enough to capture most birds in flight even on the relatively slow D50.
A well looked after second-hand version of the non afs 300 f4 is a very good buy and for the money you will not get anything sharper. However the D50 although a great camera is dated. Hopefully within the next 12 months the D80 will be replaced with a cut down version of the D300. An extra 6 million pixels will result in little or no need to use a 1.4tc.

Consider to buy the AF-S version and the TC-17II, great combo and not too slow AF.

The loss in image quality with the 1.4 TC is very minimal. I use this combination frequently on a D200.

Here is a link to an image that I took a few days ago with the 300 and a 1.4. The image is heavily cropped (the image is maybe 20% of the total image), since the distance from the bird was so great. The light conditions were dark, since sunset was approaching.

http://chasinglightphotography.com/images/Bald-Eagle-600x800-MRW_0133.jpg

I hope this helps.

Best,

Mike

The 300/f4 AFS is one of Nikon's better lenses and is very good value for money ( the 300/2.8 AFS VR is 3x the price and only 5% sharper and 10% faster ). You don't need VR on the the new D300 and D3 as their iso 1600 is as noisefree as iso 400 on previous models. I shoot at 1/2000 and f8 with the Nikon 1.4x on the D3 as it gives me the best results ( too much coffee I guess ). Neil

Neil said:

The 300/f4 AFS is one of Nikon's better lenses and is very good value for money ( the 300/2.8 AFS VR is 3x the price and only 5% sharper and 10% faster ). You don't need VR on the the new D300 and D3 as their iso 1600 is as noisefree as iso 400 on previous models. I shoot at 1/2000 and f8 with the Nikon 1.4x on the D3 as it gives me the best results ( too much coffee I guess ). Neil

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Hi there Neil,

After much saving I have recently invested in a D300 (it's a wonderful camera) and currently use it with the older version Sigma 135-400 Apo. I have been seriously considering the Nikon 300 f4 AF-S with a Kenko Teleplus 1.4 Pro tele-converter, have you used this combination on your Nikon's, if so what are your findings.

My thanks in anticipation,

Bill

WHIMBREL said:

Hi there Neil,

After much saving I have recently invested in a D300 (it's a wonderful camera) and currently use it with the older version Sigma 135-400 Apo. I have been seriously considering the Nikon 300 f4 AF-S with a Kenko Teleplus 1.4 Pro tele-converter, have you used this combination on your Nikon's, if so what are your findings.

My thanks in anticipation,

Bill

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Bill,
I haven't used the Kenko on the new 300 but I used one on the older version and I was never happy. This could be more the camera/lens combo though. I know the Nikon 1.4 x is not cheap but if you go with it you'll have a fantastic combo that will improve your photos tremendously. If you already have the Kenko then try it out first. I tried the Nikon 1.7x and was not happy with it's speed or sharpness so I stick to the 1.4x. I have it on all the time unless I'm really close.
Neil.

Thanks Neil,

So you can unreservedly recommend the Nikon 300 f4 AF-S with the Nikon 1.4 Tele-converter on my new D300? This combination would give me slightly more reach at 630 over the Sigma 135-400's maximum 600. In your opinion is that enough reach for medium distance bird shots and good IQ, I've not used a 300mm prime with tele-con's up to now so don't quite know what to expect.

Bill

WHIMBREL said:

Thanks Neil,

So you can unreservedly recommend the Nikon 300 f4 AF-S with the Nikon 1.4 Tele-converter on my new D300? This combination would give me slightly more reach at 630 over the Sigma 135-400's maximum 600. In your opinion is that enough reach for medium distance bird shots and good IQ, I've not used a 300mm prime with tele-con's up to now so don't quite know what to expect.

Bill

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Yes. Here are some photos taken with the D3 (Crop Mode = 630mm ) and 300/4 AFS plus Nikon 1.4x. The bulbul,tailorbird and curlews were taken handheld. The spoonbill and gull photos were about 80 metres.
Neil.

Neil said:

Yes. Here are some photos taken with the D3 (Crop Mode = 630mm ) and 300/4 AFS plus Nikon 1.4x. The bulbul,tailorbird and curlews were taken handheld. The spoonbill and gull photos were about 80 metres.
Neil.

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Wonderful pictures. What was your iso setting for these shots? I currently have the 300mm f4 on my D70 (and am very happy with the results) but am thinking of getting the Nikon 1.4 extender (& D300--the D70 is pretty noisy above iso 400) for the extra reach.

EDIT. Here are examples of bird photos I've taken the last few years with the D70 + AF-S Nikkor ED300mm f4D IF (99% at iso 400)

fugl said:

Wonderful pictures. What was your iso setting for these shots? I currently have the 300mm f4 on my D70 (and am very happy with the results) but am thinking of getting the Nikon 1.4 extender (& D300--the D70 is pretty noisy above iso 400) for the extra reach.

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My Default is iso 800 so that I can get the 1/2000 at f8 that I like. The bulbul was at iso 1100 and the curlew iso 1600. Neil

Neil said:

My Default is iso 800 so that I can get the 1/2000 at f8 that I like. The bulbul was at iso 1100 and the curlew iso 1600. Neil

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Very impressive results at those speeds. Your photos have pretty much made up my mind for me to go for the D300 with 1.4 TC. Thanks for posting them.

Neil,

Thank you for both the information and the superb photographs, I'm due to check out the 300 F4 AF-S at a local store as soon as it arrives from Nikon, your remarks (and photo's) have certainly whetted my appetite.

Best Wishes,

Bill

A useful thread for a newbie here.

I've got the D300 and the 300 F4 and was considering the 1.4 TC.

Having seen the images I've just ordered.

Thanks and Hi.

PsiFox said:

A useful thread for a newbie here.

I've got the D300 and the 300 F4 and was considering the 1.4 TC.

Having seen the images I've just ordered.

Thanks and Hi.

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Are you purchasing the 300 f4 AF-S from a dealer that guarantees one in stock or from a dealer who has told you he will order one from Nikon UK?

The reason I ask is that my local dealer has been put on hold by Nikon UK because of supply shortage of this lens in Europe, I don't think that Warehouse Express has them either at present. Beware that you do not pay an excessive price if there indeed is some supply and demand problem.

Regards,

Bill

PS. Perhaps our other 'Bird Forumers' know further details that may help...

I already have the lens it is just the TC on order.

Indeed you have!!!

I also got it from HK for just £480 plus delivery@£30.00

PsiFox said:

I also got it from HK for just £480 plus delivery@£30.00

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Did you have to pay any UK VAT or customs duties on this lens when you received it, and did it come with a full UK recognised Nikon warranty?