A Bit On The TC-20EIII and A Shout-Out To A Friend.

TC-20EIII

The TC-20EIII is the newest 2x teleconverter that Nikon has brought out. Now most people know that it probably isn't the wisest thing to put more glass in front of their glass. And most photographers know that it is unwise to put a teleconverter on a zoom lens. The rule of thumb is that teleconverters are for prime lens use only. This is the first teleconverter that Nikon has brought out that is constructed with an aspherical lens. This is meant to reduce lens flare and aberration in the teleconverter and in the resulting image.

With the previous iteration, the TC-20EII, the image quality was absolutely unacceptable. The image quality on the EIII far exceeds the EII by a wide margin. This came as a surprise to a lot of photographers who have had the experience with the previous version of the 2x teleconverter which they roundly denounced as unusable.

As you can see from the shot that I took inside the mall last year (not the most ideal shooting location) with the TC-20EIII, it performs exceedingly well. The image quality at wide open f/5.6 (with the teleconverter) it was crisp on the subject (the little blue line on the glass mall entrance door)


No TC at f/8


TC at f/5.6 (wide open).


It is said that the TC-20EIII seems to be made to fit with the Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII and the 300mm f/2.8 VRII. With the 200-400mm f/4, with the wide open aperture at f/8 and a useable aperture sweetspot for sharpness at f/11, that may stretch it's capabilities a bit. With the 600mm f/4 that I plan to get, it will make the 600 a 1200mm f/8 and a manual focus lens at that considering that auto-focus doesn't work well (if at all) at any aperture below f/5.6.

I don't know if I will get the whole trifecta of teleconverters (the TC-14EII, TC-17EII and the TC-20EIII), however I plan to get at least two of them. The TC-14EII for the 600mm and the 20EIII for the 70-200mm f/2.8 at least.

Keep this post bookmarked, because when I acquire this TC-20EIII for my 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII, I will be posting up photos of without TC and with TC comparisons out in the field. And dammit, I'm going to get TGDB (the Green Timbers GBH) once and for all!!!

Also a shout out goes out to my friend, BTV Photography. Brent Veitch. A former school mate of mine from Garibaldi Secondary School, a very talented wildlife photographer who has had his wildlife photos published in the WWF calendar not once but twice. He's a great up and coming photographer who ranks with the best out there.

He has got a new blog up for 2012. BTV Photography at Blogspot. Plus on top of that, I envy his 200-400mm f/4 (version 1), unless he's traded his in for the VRII. And hey, Brent, when I get my 600mm...we need to go out shooting together.