Nikon TC-20E III AF-S Tele Converter for Camera

Product Information

By way of comparison, here’s how the bare lens performs around the same two focal lengths, specifically 105mm and 135mm: Let’s have a closer look at the features and functions of Nikon’s new Z teleconverters. As usual I’ve rated the features with a [+] (or [++]), when it’s better than average or even state of the art, a [0] if it’s standard or just average, and [-] if there’s a disadvantage. For comparison I use the the Nikon AF-S TC-14E III and AF-S TC-20E III (“F TCs” for short). The Nikon Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S is an excellent lens, but the maximum aperture of f/5.6 is not nearly as forgiving as f/2.8. Also, this lens has good sharpness at 400mm, but not record-setting like the 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S. So, I wanted to see how it fared with both teleconverters.

Teleconverters come in three strength settings. 1.4x is the most common: it gives a useful increase in magnification without a big penalty in usability or image quality. They increase the focal length of the lens it is used with, so a 300mm becomes a 420mm – and a 70-200mm becomes a 98-280mm zoomIf you don't have this card, if the card doesn't say "VALID IN THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES" or the serial number on the card doesn't match the one on the bottom of your teleconverter exactly, you got ripped off with a gray market version from another country. All legitimate cameras and lenses come with printed warranty cards, even if you prefer to register online. (The serial number on the outside of the box doesn't have to match, but if it doesn't it means you bought from a shady dealer who took cameras lenses out of boxes and then resold these used lenses cameras as new.) Too good to be true? As in life, there are some trade-offs, which is why teleconverters have faced criticism in the past when compared to a ‘real’ 600mm, for example. This means that teleconverters work best with lenses that have a wide maximum aperture to start with. You may need to accept either slower shutter speeds or higher ISO settings, and you won’t be able to reproduce the shallow depth of field effects you normally get with that lens.

Lens profile: Each Z-Nikkor comes with a lens profile for lateral color aberrations, vignette control, diffraction compensation and distortion control. The profiles still work when a TC is attached. [+] Some makers, such as Nikon, produce intermediate 1.7x teleconverters. 2) Teleconverters affect the maximum aperture zoom lenses are too slow. Teleconverters are most useful if you already have a fast (f/2.8) lens to begin with. While the wide-open performance of the Sigma seems to be worse, the Sigma 2x actually performs better than the TC-20E III when stopped down in the center. Mid-frame and corners are weaker, but the center resolution is higher! SummaryDesert Floor as Seen from Six Miles (10 km) Away, 2:22 PM, Thursday, 10 November 2022. Nikon Z7II, Nikon Z 400mm f/4.5 VR with Z TC 1.4× teleconverter (making this a 560mm lens) wide-open at f/6.3 hand-held at 1/ 640 at Auto ISO 64 ( LV15.3), Radiant Photo Software to cut through the haze. bigger or full resolution. As I have already pointed out in my Sigma 1.4x teleconverter review, none of the Nikon teleconverters mount on Sigma lenses. It turns out that teleconverters are brand-specific – Nikon teleconverters are designed to only work well with Nikkor lenses, while Sigma teleconverters are designed to only work well with Sigma lenses. So if you were thinking of buying a Sigma 2x teleconverter to be used for a Nikon telephoto or super-telephoto lens – forget it. Even though the teleconverter will physically mount on any Nikon telephoto lens that can take teleconverters and might perform well optically, it will still cause all kinds of lens communication and autofocus issues. For example, when I mounted the teleconverter on the Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II lens, it confused my camera into thinking that the maximum aperture of the lens was still at f/2.8 (the correct max aperture is f/5.6 instead, since 2x teleconverters lose two full stops of light). I also lost the ability to autofocus – the teleconverter caused the Nikon 300mm lens to go to an AF loop. In short, only use this teleconverter with Sigma lenses! Here’s an example of the Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S at 70mm, where it has low levels of chromatic aberration – around 1 pixel at all apertures (shown in blue in the chart below). Chromatic aberration measurements from the 1.4x TC are in red, and the 2.0x TC measurements are in green:

What’s the difference between “perform well” and “reasonable experience”? Perform well means that I have some expectation that these combos create image quality that is arguably better than say, the third-party telephoto zoom lenses you can buy. Reasonable experience means that, if I absolutely need the focal length, a good sample of the lens and TC produces image quality that can be used in editorial production. The TCs principally work with lenses corrected for full-frame sensors or smaller. Unfortunately the Nikon teleconverters don’t work with every Z lens: only the Z 70-200mm f2.8 VR S can be used with TCs so far. [0] TC-20E increases focal length by 2x and lowers maximum aperture by two stops. The original version was marked AF-I, a second version (II) AF-S, and then it was redesigned optically to create the current TC-20EIII.

Intro

Let’s take a look at the sharpness of these two teleconverters in various situations. Teleconverters always lose some degree of sharpness – the question is how much. I wouldn't use this with the Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR, which becomes a 140-400mm f/5.6. Instead I use the Nikon Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR all the time. This way I can get to 400mm simply by twisting the zoom ring, no converter needed, and if I need longer than 400mm, then and only then will I use this converter and get to 800mm. I haven't used 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses for a couple of decades now for this practical reason. For example, with an f/2.8 lens, the maximum aperture is f/5.6. With an f/4.5 lens, the maximum aperture is f/9.