Nikon 70-200 F2.8 VR with a teleconverter

[Ryanc]

My wife has a D700 and likes to use her 70-200 F2.8 VR. Does anyone have any experience with using a teleconverter? From what I have read dont go above a 1.4x. Any thoughts?

 

[Tucson T4R]

I don't have any experience with Nikon equipment but that is what I have found with my Canon teleconverters. Anything over 1.4X tends to get pretty soft results. Sad but true.

 

[Lost Canadian]

You can get usable results with the 1.7 and 2.0, biggest problem for most people is the light loss and impact on AF performance. With the 2.0 for instance you loose two full stops, so 200mm 2.8 becomes a 400mm 5.6. That can give your cameras AF a workout in lower light conditions, not to mention you need to be rock solid to get the goods.

 

[sickchilly]

I use that lens occasionally with the newest "pro" Kenko 2x converter. It works fairly well provided you have adequate light. Stopping down to f8 cleans things up a bit. I only use it when I really need the reach. Otherwise, with 16 mpix, I'll just crop and use something like Perfect Resize to get the size I want... Within reason of course.

 

[LR Max]

Never had any luck with aftermarket teleconverters but we used the 1.4x on the 70-200 all the time. Was AWESOME when it was sunny outside. The Nikon 1.4x teleconverter is the only one I can recommend as the 2.0x hurt image quality too much (in my opinion...and all the other guys I shot with). Never used the 1.7x but I heard similar stories in terms of comparison to the 2.0x.

As others mentioned, stopping it down would probably help but for shooting sports you only sold photos that had shallow DOF. If you don't care about DOF or low light performance then get a cheap 70-300 f/5.6.