Nikon 80-400mm with and without teleconverter 1.4 II

This picture was taken to see the real life difference between the new Nikon 80-400mm with and without the Nikon teleconverter 1.4 II.

Obviously, I didn't do any sharpening. Image stabilization was off, a tripod was used and the picture was taken in Mup mode (mirror up) to minimize vibrations. It was taken at 1/60, f/8 (1/40 at f/11), 400mm (560mm with TC), ISO 100, on a Nikon D800.

If you enlarge a little bit the image and you look at the engraving on the window, you can see that the image quality is actually lower with the teleconverter: less sharpness, less contrast and inaccurate colours (+ occasional autofocus hunting).

This result is consistant with tests I've found on the web. For instance, Nasim Mansurov found a sharpness of 2,700 at f/8, 400mm, without the teleconverter, and this value fell to 1,800 at f/8, 560mm, with the teleconverter. Here is his test: photographylife.com/reviews/nikon-80-400mm-vr/4

If you multiply 1,800 by 1.4, you get 2,500, which is less than 2,700. Conclusion: your photo will be sharper if you use the zoom naked and you crop the image than if you use it with the teleconverter.

I carried out the same test with the 70-200mm f/4 zoom, with different results:
www.flickr.com/photos/pierre_et_nelly/12814928504/

Taken on: January 4, 2015

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Sets appears in: • Technicalities

Groups appears in: • Nikon 80-400 f4.5-5.6 AF-VR • Nikon D800-D850 and Nikon Z7-Z9 Users Group more » • Nikon AF-S 80-400 f4.5-5.6 « less

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