Nikkor 300 f4 Test Shots III

[mongo]

This is probably the second last test (keno and 1.7EII to go)


3 images shot taken in haste this morning when Mongo’s usual friend came to join him for breakfast. You can see he displays the skills Mongo taught him from Mongo's own extensive experience about posing perfectly for police profile mugshot.


#1 - no converter - lens set down 2 stops to f8 (its sharpest setting)
#1 - 1.4EII converter - lens again set lens set down 2 stops (its sharpest setting)
#3 -16A converter - lens again set lens set down 2 stops (its sharpest setting)


You will see that there were crop differences to the original to try and get roughly the same sized images to compare.


Similarly, there were ISO differences to try and maintain a similar shutter speed. That shutter speed when adjusted for, say, a 1.6 and 1.4 magnification should have been raised to maintain parity (but was not in these tests)


Some allowance should be made for DOF with the varying magnifications. In some cases where the eye is in focus the chest is not and vise versa. There is also some movement blur due to slow shutter. Just pick the sharpest part of the bird to do your comparative assessment.


Lastly, the RAW files were converted to Tiff and then resized for posting. The only PP was a tiny amount of exactly the same sharpening was applied to all images at the resizing stage.

99502

99503

99504


Mongo can honestly report back that, in real life use, the 1.4EII AND the 16A produce the same excellent results when used at the same settings. However, the 16A will add an extra ⅓ of a stop than the 1.4EII. This is insignificant in Mongo’s view. The 16A will also have a more limited use of auto focus but very usable and very handy.


The real question therefore is, why trouble yourself over a modified 16A (at about $200) when maybe a new 17EII will do just as well or better, will AF track etc and cost only $300 new ???? The answer to this longish question will become clearer after Mongo tries the 17EII which has had mixed reports. Whereas, now, Mongo can state with some certainty , that the 16A has very good to excellent reports.


Stay tuned if you are interested.

[Cage]

Most interesting Mongo.

To my old eyes there is not a lot of difference between the three shots, certainly not enough to bin any of them.

I did some similar tests the other day with the bare 300, 300 + TC-14E II, 300 + Tamron 1.4 SP Pro, and 300 plus both T/C's stacked.

As I've said before, I can't see any appreciable difference between the bare 300 and the 300 + TC-14E II, and the Tamron stacks up very closely.

The shots with both T/C's stacked showed obvious deterioration in IQ, as expected, but they would enable you to get a shot that you may otherwise miss.

Correct me if I'm wrong here but the 300 + 1.4 T/C = 420mm + stacked 1.4 T/C = 588mm ???

This is one of the stacked shots, 1/250s @ f8, ISO100, SOOC other than a 92.3% crop. The subject was about 130mm long and was shot from 17m. I think there is a lot of potential to improve contrast and sharpness.

The camera was telling me I still had f5.6, but perhaps no data was being read for the 2nd T/C although from memory the shots weren't noticeably darker. I was still getting quite usable autofocus too, good enough for stationary subjects.

[mongo]

thanks for your reply and interest in this Kevin.

Mongo also thought all of the test shots with the converters were quite good - do disappointments.

Mongo makes the total of those stacked converters to be a little over 600mm unless you are using a crop sensor camera in which case it will look even more magnified. Although some will insist that it does not change the focal length of the lens. Even if that is true, you still get the effect of it being a longer focal length in practicable terms.

You will sometimes not get an accurate reading of the aperture when using stacked converters.

Mongo will let you know when he tries the 17EII

[Cage]

I thought the detail in the dark feathers was quite remarkable in all three shots Mongo.

A bit of selective sharpening on the eye, some more tail in view, and they are all very good stand-alone shots, and I do appreciate that they were taken to illustrate your point.

I'm going to try some shots with the stacked T/C's because I've found a family of White-bellied Sea Eagles that won't let me within 50mm, although I'm working on some sneaky manoeuvres to get closer.

Looking forward to the next set.