A-Mount Teleconverters Guide

About the adaptator mount, i should also be interested, but many people told me that you lose the AF, but also the light measurement, and many of the automatism.

What do you think of this ?

teleconverter taxonomy...

I'm going to break this up into a bunch of posts.
This will focus (ahem) on "generic" teleconverters that can fit on almost any maxxum/dynax/alpha lens.

For any TC you have, please tell us:
1) brand, model
2) model# if you know it
3) how many pins does it have on the body and the lens side, and which style? (see below)
4) does the viewfinder show the correct aperture
5) does the exif data for shots mention the tc, and does it list the correct focal length and aperture.
6) if the exif data mentions the TC, what does it call it?
7) what color is the release latch?
8) exactly what is written on the TC? in what colors?


Pin styles:
I've noted a bunch.
(1) five pins
(2) five pins on a surface feature sized for eight pins
(3) eight pins in a row on one surface feature
(4) eight pins with five on the base surface and a small raised plastic "island" for the other three



Edited by akb4 - 13 April 2006 at 09:41

Notes on the "MC" teleconverters

These are the most common tc's around.
There are three models:
MC4 1.4x, 4 elements in 4 groups
MC4 2x, 4 elements in 4 groups
MC7 2X, 7 elements in 5 groups

I think they are made by Kenko/Tokina, but the brand name I see on them most often is Tamron. They also are rebranded by a huge number of importers and large chains; I've seen them labeled Jessops, Vivitar, Soligor, Kalimar, and CPC. I think the Phoenix adaptors are also rebranded MC's.

Kenko calls all of their tc's "Teleplus", like the "Teleplus Pro 300" or "AF Teleplus MC4 1.4x". I've seen people think this was the brand name of the tc itself.

I'm curious about getting a handle on the generations and what their capacities are.

The most recent models are the DG versions:
    1.4x Kenko AF Teleplus MC4 DG, model MC4AFDGM
    2x   Kenko AF Teleplus MC7 DG, model MC7AFDGM
    also known as Tokina AF2X7DGM
    I'm not sure if they bother making a 2x MC4 DG version.

At large retailers, the DG's are currently replacing
    1.4x Kenko AF Teleplus MC4, model MC4AFM
    2x   Kenko AF Teleplus MC7, model MC7AFM
some stores still have these "pre-dg" models in stock.

Going back further, things get kinda murky...

Some tc's are labeled "M/AUTO FOCUS" or "M-AF",
these seem to always have 5 contacts, though sometimes on a surface feature sized for 8 contacts.
I suspect these are the oldest types.

some tc's are labeled M-AFi or C-AFi,
these can have 5 contacts or the 5+3 contact arrangment
I wonder if the i means the 7000i-series (second generation) camera bodies.

some tc's are labeled Mx-AF or Mx/AF,
these seem to have 8 contacts
I suspect the "x" means they came out for the XI bodies and thus have the extra contacts for power zoom.

some tc's are labelled C/D7.
a user at minolta-forum.de reported that this 7-element tc would mount the 500/8 af mirror lens. many tc's can't.
he also reports it works with the 5D and 7D, but not how well.

Tamrons mostly just say "TAMRON-F AF TELE-CONVERTER".
On some models, the AF is in green, in others, it is white.

Newer MC7's are 36mm long, older ones 41mm.

Some say BBAR on them, which is a Broad Band Anti-Reflective coating.

This thread has become very long and I am not sure whether or not there are now contradictions between eccl's and akb4's listings? Would it be an idea to split akb4's posts off into a thread with "...cont." in the title? (which eccl could do)
Please note this is not intended to criticise all the hard work that has gone on, or dampen anyone's enthusiasm, but we need to have something that makes sense and is easy to use.
Comments from the two major posters please.

Edited by brettania - 13 April 2006 at 10:03

I have no problem splitting into a seperate thread.
It would be nice if we could keep it someplace where folks will continue to see it and give info though.

I'm pretty sure I didn't contradict anything; most of eccl's posts have been about "dedicated" tc's, while mine mostly addressed "generics". I didn't see anything in eccl's posts I thought was incorrect. (I also love love love the comparison test shots).

Collecting detailed info about regular lenses and accessory lenses would be cool (to me, anyway :)). A forum isn't really the best way to put together a chart/datbase/spreadsheet, but wiki spreadsheets aren't quite ready for prime time yet. Maybe another year or so. (I've been waiting about a decade for them so far, but too busy to write one. Sigh.).

Meanwhile, we could collect data. Are the surveys on this forum sw capable of having a form where folks type info in, and then displaying a chart of the results?

--akb4

In the TC quick reference guide, I didn't break down the generic TC into more detail because any non-dedicated TC is considered generic and will fit ALL lenses. That was only a QUICK reference guide and I was hoping any particular TC detail will be captured in the upcoming TC review section. Also, most people only concern about compatiblity between a TC with a particular lens (ie 70-210/4, 100-300 APO, 50/1.4 etc.) and whether the combination will AF or MF. I believe the quick reference quide addresses the above questions.

I agree with akb4/kiklop that the only way to capture all this detail information of a particular TC is by collecting data from different users and tablulate them in some kind of database or table.

eccl

Sorry to interrupt this thread again but I just wanted to thank all those that gave any input on my Canon FD lens to Minolta AF mount question... I ended up ordering the adaptor from B&H Photo and it arrived earlier this week (took 4 days including weekend which was amazing). I've been having a lot of fun using my Canon FD 50mm f/1.4 lens on my 5D!!

Thanks again.