Nikon D850 + Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E ED AF-S VR + AF-S Teleconverteer TC-14E III

Trying to get back in the saddle

I recently retired from my day job and am trying to get back into photography. I haven't tried taking a photo where I knew what I was doing since January 2017 at the Saguaro National Park in Tucson. That's some hiatus!

I've only got about 1,000 images on my Nikon D850, mostly just snaps I took around the house trying to keep from totally feeling like I wasted my money on the D850.

I also wonder if anyone pays attention to blogs any longer but I'm going to post here anyway.

Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III

This week I added an AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III to my kit.

Some of the "practice" photographs I've taken have been at a nearby wetlands, Tres Rios Wetlands. I decided to try adding some more reach to my AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens. This converts that lens to a 280-700mm lens. I've read that it can soften the image quality but I wanted to try it for myself.

It was also required a bit of investigating to determine if the teleconverter was compatible with the 200-500 lens. One Nikon page said to check the instruction file that comes with the lens. You can go to Nikon's web site to download the file. Unfortunately, the 200-500 lens is NOT listed as being compatible. However, I found one more Nikon web page on which Nikon implied it was, and I saw other photographers were using the combination so I took the plunge.

The Results

Here's one of the images I captured. There was no processing or cropping on the image in Light Room Classic other than exporting to a smaller size JPEG.

ISO 64, 700mm, f/8.0, 1/640s

Here's the list of issues I had capturing the image.

• I think the image is soft. I don't know if it's the teleconverter or my focus skills. I don't trust my focusing much. I was trying to use AF-C shooting mode with D9 AF area. The egret was mostly standing still but turning its head. The head is soft. I can't tell from the water if I the camera was focusing in front of the head but it looks like it may have been. Probably due to my inability to get the center focus point right on the eye.
• I have developed shaky hands so I took this on a tripod. But, I was using continuous shooting which, of course, means you keep your finger pressed down on the shutter release and therefore the stability of the tripod is minimized if not completely eliminated.
• I wanted to try using a faster shutter but I was in Aperture mode and couldn't remember how to change that. I had a hard enough time trying to change to D9 AF area mode but I remembered where the AF/M switch and the push button were.
• I ended up shooting in JPEG instead of RAW. I didn't notice that while I was at the location.

• I wanted to take my shooting buddy, my dog Elmer. He's been a part of almost every photo excursion I've had since 2013. But he just can't keep up any longer. I actually took him to the location and tried walking with him but it was a no go. I took him back home and returned alone, in a sad mood.
• The camera and tripod are very heavy. I must have turned into a wimp since I retired. I didn't even put on my camera bag. I just slung the camera and tripod over my shoulder. A Nikon D850, the teleconverter, the 200-500mm lens, and my Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod.

All said, it was a learning experience. I went home to try to figure out more about how to set up and use my D850. I did notice in Light Room Classic 2 things: 1) the effective focal length is displayed - the image shows it was shot at 700mm. It must be something the camera does; I don't see anywhere in Light Room that shows there was a teleconverter involved. 2) the develop module doesn't provide a lens correction preset. It doesn't detect that I was using a 200-500mm lens. I don't know if that's because of the teleconverter, or if it was because the image was a JPEG and not a RAW. A page on Adobe's site said some presets were only available for RAW images.

Guess I've got some (re)learning to do with the camera! I'm a newbie all over!