Help..I want to take Nature shoots from a distance...

[Weslemkoon]

Telephoto.teleconverter,,I want to be able to take up close pics of eagles etc..(from a distance) I have a Sony cx700 lens 5/800 reflex and a 3.5-105..Even the people at the Sony store or Blacks cant seem to come up with anything,,am I just having ppe dreams? Help.I live in Canada

[Bonish Photo]

I'm thinking you meant you have a 500-800 reflex lens? If that's right, I cant imagine getting much closer? Putting a teleconverter on would double your range respectively if you were to use a 2x converter, but I'm thinking with the reflex lens, you would probably lose much of your detail.

I'd recommend setting up a blind and moving yourself closer. Isnt the reflex lens a monual focus? Photographing birds with a manual focus lens is going to be a hrad task. Good luck with this one.

Oh, and Welcome to the Forum!

[peter nap]

Welcome!

I have a 2X teleconverter that I use with a 300mm zoom. It works but only from a tripod with very good light.

I looked at the 800mm T mounts on B&H (or Adaroma) and they are the best buy out there...but understand, they are light hogs and they are going to give you a soft image. I suspect using a 2X teleconverter with it would produce consistent unsatisfactory results. There just isn't a cheap way to get quality glass.

The idea of using a blind and full camo, just like we are hunting, is the way to get great results on a budget.

[Weslemkoon]

Well I think I made a very BAD error,,I ordered a Phoenix 500mm-1000mm telephotolens,,it was cheapon ebay,,but now Im embarrased its suppose to bejunk...
If it seems to good to be true it probably is going to be,,wwahhhh,,,
Sometimes i could smack myself.....

[oTTer]

I also have a 2X teleconverter. It sucks with poor lighting, and by poor I mean anything less than full on daylight (it seems )... I read somewhere the 1.4X are better because you don't lose the aperature (is that the doohicky setting that lets light in?) and basically, unless you are at a wilderness park where the animals are used to vehicles etc. then you're going to be hit and miss shooting wildlife. I took some very nice shots of cranes last year with the converter, but the lens was going bonkers making every adjustment until the sky was light enough. It drove me nuts. I by habit shoot from the driver's window, and there is no tripod, and the vibrations will fuzz up the shots... I get what I need for what I want, but there is no way they're considered quality photos. Not like some of you all take.
I want to go out, dress like a tree, and get some decent wildlife shots.

[Tusker]

Many of us in the same boat I believe. I WILL turn off the truck engine and most of my lenses are VR, but the older ones are not. I picked up a small ground blind at Gander Mnt. last fall, but haven't used it yet. We'll see this Spring when we hit the camping road. Here is a window shot from last summer. The Goldfinch were feeding in the area.

[Bonish Photo]

I'm thinking that enough of us arent doing our homework to realize that many of the lenses wont work with either 1.4x or 2x converters on them unless they are f/2.8 or lower.

I know I've bought two new converters in the past couple of weeks both from people selling them because they said they bought them and didnt know they wouldnt be able to keep their autofocus with the converter on.

With our lenses, most are f/2.8 models, we can seem to get tack sharp images with the extenders on the lenses. Granted, I'm following most of the rules and having the lenses mounted on a sturdy tripod with a Wimberly head to hold the lens steady, and have Image Stabilization on the lenses, but before you buy anything, make sure you do a little research.

Check out some of Arthur Morris's work if you think converters/extenders dont work. Many of his images are with stacked converters, yes, thats a 1.4x on top of a 2x and they're on an 800mm lens!!!! This guy is one of the top Bird photographers in the world, so he obviously knows what he's doing.

Most of my bear and wolf shots I recently posted in the Wildlife thread are taken with a 400mm and a 1.4x converter and the lens was only on a monopod. But it was on a Wimberly also, which makes up for 90% of my mistakes....LOL