TC Guide II 200/2.8 + 1.4X 1.7X 2X Tests

ugonjwa? That's a new one on me....

I have found that quacks generally do get the best of deals like that....or the people who sell painkillers anyway

On the more cheerful side, if you do ever get round to getting them done, a mate of mine has had two hips and a knee replaced, and she's swimming and horse riding and everything... I can't keep up with her!

Must ask the mate about her knee.
As she is very small, she has to have special joints. They were thinking of putting a child's joint in her shoulder when she had that done, but I think they used an adult one in the end. Shoulders would seem to be more complicated even than knees.
A friend of a friend was passing the factory that made a joint that she'd had fitted, and decided to drop in. They showed her round, and were very interested in how it was working, though a bit shocked to hear she did long-distance hill-walking on it, as they said it wasn't designed to cope with that sort of thing. It's still going strong, though!

@Pegelli, I don't have the Minolta/Sony TC but I do have a Kenko Pro 300 1.4x that I thought was pretty good until I tried a borrowed Sigma EX APO 1.4x. The Sigma TC gave noticeably sharper results when used with my Sigma 100-300 F4 EX lens, so much so that I immediately went out and bought one. Therefore, I would expect a Minolta or Sony TC to give better results than the Kenko on your 200mm/2.8.
The obvious advantage with the Kenko is that it'll work with many more lenses than the Sony/Minolta TC, but I wouldn't hesitate to get the real thing for the 200/2.8, even if it's the only lens that you have that it'll work with.

I believe Kenko and/or Tamron make the majority of 1.4/2X teleconverters. They all look the same (size/dimension) and the only difference in the lettering.
Assuming all the MC7 2X came from the factory then the difference in image quality is probably due to sample variation.
Sorry I do not have a Tamron MC7 only Tamron SP 2X which is the same as Kenko Pro 300 2X

I thought the Minolta TC's are matched to only certain specific (expensive) Minolta lenses.

I wonder how TC's perform on the less expensive Minolta lenses.
I only have experience with an Soligor MC7 2x and Beercan wide open. That was stunning. Pic is somewhere posted on dyxum.

In anticipation of an upcoming trip and having some weight considerations, I bought the Kanko 1.4x DGX and 2.0 duo. I have just finished some test shots wih the 1.4x on the 70-400mm and the only drawback I find is that it vignettes at the longer zoom ranges i.e 200-400mm. Center sharpness is better than what I expected and AF is pretty reasonable all things being considered. The edges tend to drop off but within my expectations. Obviously light has alot to do with the vignetting, I was shooting a lot at sunset so I was stressing it. it also worked well on my 28-135 and it surprised by keeping AF and pretty resonable at that. In general for $150, it is worth it for thise times whenyou need some extended range. Next up will be the 70-300g. Haven't got to the 2.0x yet but my expectations are that will suffer in comparison. I will at some point try both on the 200mm/2.8.

Tim

bull drinkwater wrote: I have both the 1.4 and 2.0 apo convertwers and pair them with the 200mm and 70-200mm apo G hs.with either one the results are great. with the 70-200mm I don't get auto focus, but the apo coinverters won't stack.i have stacked the 2xapo and a 1.4 vivitar and still gotten good results . auto focus with the 200 and manual with the 70-200.however I do get auto focus with the 70-200 and the vivitar 1.4.