Sony 1.4 or 2x TC

[GlynRDav]

Hi all,

I have a 70-200 MkII and a 200-600. I like the 70-200 but it is a bit short for birds on my A9II 2nd camera A1 is my 1st.
I am thinking about a TC and wondering if anyone has experience with using 70-200 with a TC?

Any ideas would be appreciated

TIA
Glyn

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Yes i have both of these cameras and lenses as well as the x 1.4 and x 2.0 TC's.
The A1 and A9ii both work well with the x1.4 and x2.0 on both cameras but the
x2.0 if you do not have good light and contrast may not perform to your
expectations.....for general shooting you will get acceptable images but if you
are looking for the sharpest images i would stick to the x1.4

In other discussions in this forum i have expressed my experience based limitations of
the x 2.0, the fundamentals of light physics which will be at play with any additional
glass in front of your camera and the additional 2 stops of aperture limitation with the
x2.0 TC will also be limiting.

Personally I will not compromise quality for length/range and hence use my x2.0 very
infrequently.

As regards the 70-200 being short, with the x1.4 it will give you f4.0 at 280mm and if you
need more the switch on the a1 and a9 to asc mode with the x1.4 fitted will afford you
another 140mm to 420mm should you need it.

I often shoot with both lenses and cameras in unison and do not see the the shorter
range of limit....and fined the shorter length beneficial as in my opinion the 70-200mm
is sharper than the 200-600 at these shorter ranges.

as regards the TC's on the 200-600, again my opinion is if you have ideal
shooting conditions you will get away with the x1.4, but the x2.0 i would not endorse
this combination in any way.

Others on the Forum may have alternate views but this is my pennyworth if it helps.

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Hi GlyrDav,

Image Quality,/sharpness is in the eyes of the beholder, and the intended purpose.

As a shooter with an interest in bird shots as per your above post GlyrDav, and as long standing wildlife shooter myself, and for this genre alone, including my high percentage of static and BIF bird shots across many international environments including interactions with many professionals, I stick with my opinion........the choice is yours, pls carry out your own due diligence on this matter, as their are many professed experts out there....the well known adage of empty cans make the most noise comes to mind...

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Hi GlynDav my response is clearly headed and worded to yourself with clear guidance on the advice you can expect within the photography industry.

"if the cap fits" in the eyes of others, so be it...

I apologise for and on behalf of the Forum for this unecessary and rather embarasing intervention by others on a very clear worded communique between yourself and myself.

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

I won't legitimise your boorish response,as usual, with a further response.

As you have raised it I will however close with , you yourself have only recently admitted to using your so beloved minolta camera and if we really want to get into it there have been many other similar posts by accident or otherwise by others using parallel camera systems in the past .

 

[Merlinator]

Both of the converters will work well. The 1.4 especially so as you don't really lose that much light with the lens being an F2.8. On the 200-600 the 1.4 works really well but you have to have the light to go with it. I have used the 1.4 and 2x with good results as long as you recognize the limitations of the 2X. Depends on what you do with your photos if you will be able to tell the difference. If you are printing your own photos then you are probably better off not using converters. If you are sharing on the web or social media, no one will be able to tell the difference.

 

[-ST-]

Hi all,

I have a 70-200 MkII and a 200-600. I like the 70-200 but it is a bit short for birds on my A9II 2nd camera A1 is my 1st.
I am thinking about a TC and wondering if anyone has experience with using 70-200 with a TC?

Any ideas would be appreciated

TIA
Glyn

Hi, Glyn.
Last Thursday night, I got the 2x teleconverter to use with my A1 and 70-200 GM II.

Please check out my uploads to the community. Most of the photos from Friday, February 24th forward were taken with the teleconverter. As you mouse over the thumbnails, you can see the dates. When you click a thumbnail, you can see the full-sized image and the EXIF data is visible, so it's easy to tell when I was using the 70-200 GM II with the teleconverter.

If you go back farther than last Friday, you can get an idea of the kinds of photos I was getting without the teleconverter.

I hope that's helpful for now. I'm planning to do a little write-up about my impressions in the next day or so.

 

[AlphaWorld]

I have both teleconverters, both the 70-200 GM II and 200-600, and an A1 and A7RV, and there are some things I’d suggest:

First, the 1.4x has minimal impact on image quality, or at least, mine does.

Second, my 2x doesn’t have too much impact on image quality if there is LOTS of light around. Try to shoot in dim conditions and it’s not so great. It is a 1200mm f/13 lens, after all.

Additionally, if you are shooting out at 600mm on the 200-600, the 2x means your field of view is small. That makes it hard to keep you lens on target, which is a pain when shooting birds in flight (experts will be better at that, I’m sure!) - I am not good enough yet!

Also bear in mind that you can get a 21Mpixel APS-C crop on the A1. I used to think that did not make sense - I’d crop in post - but when you use APS-C crop you get the crop in the EVF, so you can see more detail, and plan your shot better.

Last consideration: taking a teleconverter off takes time (and care!) - if you have the 2x on the lens and the bird gets close, you will only be photographing part of it - APS-C crop can be put on and taken off with a button. I am thinking I will try shooting with the 1.4x and APC-C crop next time. I am unsure, but I think the combination gives me roughly 2.1x, but I can drop back to 1.4x easily.

 

[GlynRDav]

Thank you everyone for the information. it gives me a lot of food for thought

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

I have both teleconverters, both the 70-200 GM II and 200-600, and an A1 and A7RV, and there are some things I’d suggest:

First, the 1.4x has minimal impact on image quality, or at least, mine does.

Second, my 2x doesn’t have too much impact on image quality if there is LOTS of light around. Try to shoot in dim conditions and it’s not so great. It is a 1200mm f/13 lens, after all.

Additionally, if you are shooting out at 600mm on the 200-600, the 2x means your field of view is small. That makes it hard to keep you lens on target, which is a pain when shooting birds in flight (experts will be better at that, I’m sure!) - I am not good enough yet!

Also bear in mind that you can get a 21Mpixel APS-C crop on the A1. I used to think that did not make sense - I’d crop in post - but when you use APS-C crop you get the crop in the EVF, so you can see more detail, and plan your shot better.

Last consideration: taking a teleconverter off takes time (and care!) - if you have the 2x on the lens and the bird gets close, you will only be photographing part of it - APS-C crop can be put on and taken off with a button. I am thinking I will try shooting with the 1.4x and APC-C crop next time. I am unsure, but I think the combination gives me roughly 2.1x, but I can drop back to 1.4x easily.

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Yes i have both of these cameras and lenses as well as the x 1.4 and x 2.0 TC's.
The A1 and A9ii both work well with the x1.4 and x2.0 on both cameras but the
x2.0 if you do not have good light and contrast may not perform to your
expectations.....for general shooting you will get acceptable images but if you
are looking for the sharpest images i would stick to the x1.4

In other discussions in this forum i have expressed my experience based limitations of
the x 2.0, the fundamentals of light physics which will be at play with any additional
glass in front of your camera and the additional 2 stops of aperture limitation with the
x2.0 TC will also be limiting.

Personally I will not compromise quality for length/range and hence use my x2.0 very
infrequently.

As regards the 70-200 being short, with the x1.4 it will give you f4.0 at 280mm and if you
need more the switch on the a1 and a9 to asc mode with the x1.4 fitted will afford you
another 140mm to 420mm should you need it.

I often shoot with both lenses and cameras in unison and do not see the the shorter
range of limit....and fined the shorter length beneficial as in my opinion the 70-200mm
is sharper than the 200-600 at these shorter ranges.

as regards the TC's on the 200-600, again my opinion is if you have ideal
shooting conditions you will get away with the x1.4, but the x2.0 i would not endorse
this combination in any way.

Others on the Forum may have alternate views but this is my pennyworth if it helps.

Thanks etiennescamera....

 

[-ST-]

Hi all,

I have a 70-200 MkII and a 200-600. I like the 70-200 but it is a bit short for birds on my A9II 2nd camera A1 is my 1st.
I am thinking about a TC and wondering if anyone has experience with using 70-200 with a TC?

Any ideas would be appreciated

TIA
Glyn

Hi, Glyn,
You might want to check out this post.

2x Teleconverter with 70-200 GM II and A1

This is mainly for folks who know that I had wanted and just got the 2x teleconverter. If you are wondering how things are going with that new adventure - here's where I am now. TLDR - after testing for seven days, I returned the 2x teleconverter. As I headed back to the store, I fully intended...

www.alphashooters.com