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General discussion

Nikon D90 tele converter lens

Dec 13, 2008 1:15AM PST

I recently acquired a D90 and was trying to determine whether or not to buy an additional lens. The camera came with two VR lenses, 18-105 & 70-300. I will be taking a trip to South Africa and was wondering whether a tele converter lens would be helpful. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Discussion is locked

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Tele Converter Lens
Dec 13, 2008 7:24AM PST

Also commonly called a "doubler".
It fits between the lens and the camera.

Your longest lens already have a 35mm equivalent of 450mm focal length.

Installing the doubler will give you 900mm focal length but will also change you exposure by about 2 f-stops.
Meaning you will need a lot of sunshine to use the lens.
And you would definitely need to put the camera on a sturdy tripod to steady the shot.

If you do not plan to carry a sturdy tripod, don't get the Tele Converter.
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also
Dec 13, 2008 10:43AM PST

I've heard this about the Nikon lens, just like the Canon cameras, that if you add a teleconverter and the 2 stop drop puts you above F5.6 then you lose auto focus. Most of the people on the web only use a 2x converter on F2.8 lens so that they don't lose auto focus.

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nonononono
Dec 14, 2008 1:42PM PST

The 70-300mm f/4-5.6 is already a slow lens [meaning it captures light slowly]. With a 2x tele-converter, which runs a cool $400+ dollars, it will slow your F-stop [f/] down by TWO FULL stops making it even slower, and only able to be used in VERY bright sunlight, or on a long exposure on a tripod. Both of which are a pain if you are traveling. This would make your 70-300mm f/4-5.6 a 140-600mm f/8-11 which is awful because at those smaller apertures, you need a lot of light.

I'd rather spend some $400 more for a 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D. [$890] That is one of Nikon's best zoom lenses.


NOTE: TELECONVERTERS WILL NOT WORK WITH AF-D LENSES. THEY WILL ONLY WORK WITH NEWER AF-S OR BUILT IN MOTOR CAMERAS.

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Nikon Tele Converter - South Africa visit
Jan 5, 2009 12:26PM PST

Hello there,

Living in South Africa and being a Kruger Park regular who uses a 7-300mm zoom for wildlife I can confirm your 300mm will do just fine for 90% of your needs. For those situations where a longer FL would be useful take the shot and enlarge the image later on a PC through cropping - it works very well. If you need any more South Africa info etc. contact me on dave.heard@telkomsa.net.

Regards
Dave Heard

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Teleconverter for Aa Nikon D90.
Jan 10, 2009 3:51PM PST

Ican't speak for the Nikon D90 specifically.; as ny Nikon is a D70S. That being said Kenko makes teleconverters of good quality for less money. If you want to know what's compatible with your D90. You can post question on the Nikon USA website. They can answer that question better than I.

I am surprised however there is not a list of compatible lenses /tele-converters in the paperwork / User's Guide that came with the camera. It's usually in the back of the User's Guide.

Check the FAQ's on the NIKON USA website. Somebody may have already asked that question since that camera has been out awhile. Hope this helps.MM229.

Nikon tele-converters are terribly expensive. The Kenko is more reasonable and they have 1/4 tele's and 2 teles. I use a 2 Kenko on my F-100, my N70 with an 80mm-200mm with little noticable stop problems. , and my older N6006.

I have not yet tried the converter on my digital. I would imagine it is designed for digitals though. Not Film Cameras. Just a notion.

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need help with respect to lens
Nov 18, 2011 1:06PM PST

am keen on making a trip to kenya soon.i am confused as to which zoom lens i should be buyin for my nikon d90i have a sigma 18-250 lens alreadybut i was wondering if i will be needing extra zoom than thati was keen on buying the sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3its something that fits my budget, how do u rate it ? or do u suggest any other lens for this purpose.

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Long Zoom
Nov 18, 2011 11:58PM PST

Anytime you are going to be using such long zooms, you MUST use a sturdy tripod.
Otherwise, all of your long zoom shots will be blurry due to camera movement.

If you don't want to carry a tripod - don't buy the lens.

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