For the last week, I’ve been shooting with the “new” TC-14E III. I was looking for some answers to questions that have come to me in regards to this teleconverter. The main one being: is it better, worth the money? Cutting to the chase, IMHO, it is. Just what makes it so?
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What I did was contact B&H Photo and got a new, from their shelves, picked however they do it, TC-14E III and had it shipped to me. Then I shot with it, a lot! I shot with the D4s, D750, 800f5.6, 200-400VR2 and 80-400VR3 and once the 300f4 PF arrives, I will shoot with it. What was I looking for? There were two factors I used to make my call whether this new TC-14E was better, sharpness and AF performance.
When it comes to sharpness, that was real easy. It’s radically sharp (say radically cause I compared the results to the original TC-14 converter I have in my collection). Above are two images, on the left taken with 800mm and on the right, 200-400 zoomed to 400mm (top horizontal Flicker shot with 800 w/TC-14E III) both using the TC-14E III. I found with the TC-14E III I have wicked sharpness and illumination from corner to corner. Now is it “sharper” than the previous version TC-14E II? If it is, it is by a tad. What’s more important to me though is performance. AF operation depends on many things, the three most important are contrast, vertical and horizontal lines. And depending on the camera and its firmware installed, whether it needs f/5.6 or f/8 effective f/stop (refer to this if this if this phrase is a mystery to you) to operate. When you place a teleconverter on a lens and you’re at either f/5.6 or f/8 (depending as described above), operation can become sluggish and if the AF sensor is at the edge of the frame, impossible. When comparing the TC-14E II to the TC-14E III for operational ability looking for AF performance in this area, the III blows away the II in my shooting. Where the II couldn’t focus, the III could. Now if this was a true review, I’d have a sample base of five TC-14E IIIs shot with many bodies and posting the Nefs for you to look at. I don’t have that. What you have here are the results from basic field tests shot with the gear I won with Jpegs posted above. So for me, the TC-14E III is an improvement in performance mainly and that’s where we needed it.
An additional note. I’ve checked with a few other TC-14E III owners to verify what I was seeing. One question photographers always have when they attach a converter is, “Is this supposed to move this much?” There is a slight “twist’ between main lens and body with converter attached. That is very normal. The TC-14E III does not have nearly as much play as others (the TC-1.25 doesn’t either). Now this could be because it is brand new or, the tolerance has been increased. Only time will tell but I think I should mention that.
Our first copyright violation was back in 1983 when you had to xerox a photo from a magazine page (xerox, a fancy copy machine that produced paper copies) to copy it. And to be honest with you, I’ve lost track how many times our images have been grabbed violating our copyright over the decades. It doesn’t keep me awake at night. The last time was just last week. I bring this up only because the concern over copyright, which is a very important thing, has been like so many things in photography, overinflated. When it comes to the danger of infringement, many ruin their photographs in fright. Be proud to share your great images … not afraid. YOU can change the world with your photography!
I use this photo of a Black-neck Trogan as an example. The combination of white type on a green background is used for road signs because it’s thought to be one of the easiest color combos for the human mind to latch onto. I see so many great photographs totally ruined by photographers when they put the Copyright symbol and their name on their photo in nice, clean, white type. If I had done this on this photo, all you would see would be my name, not the gorgeous and rare Trogan (captured by D4s / 800mm w/TC-1.25). If you don’t want someone to possibly steal your photograph, then just don’t post it, anywhere! Ever! But if you don’t want to be a coin collector but rather a storyteller, then you have to share your photos. The bottomline is, get over it! Placing your name on your image isn’t going to stop someone from stealing it, especially with Content Aware Fill being so readily available to remove it. Show off your gorgeous image and be proud, not afraid. Your photography deserves to shine!
The questions about the TC-14E III has me scratching my head so I went to the web to see what’s out there. I was disappointed to see how much misinformation there is. For example, test shots taken where there is visible and obvious heat shimmer degrading image quality which is labeled as a bad teleconverter. It’s very easy to see how folks can be confused, hell, some of what I read confused the crap out of me! My preliminary shooting with the TC-14E III is impressing me but I’ve just begun. Until I’m done, I wanted to repost this five year old video which might help some.
We’ve got a great accountant! Had the same crazy guy since day one of our business, literally, since day one. I remember going into his office for the first time (and actually the only time) 34yrs ago like it was yesterday. I was scared too death, how much was all this going to cost me just kept running through my mind as with lightning speed he tapped the keys of the adding machine (big box, bunch of buttons with paper that streamed out the backside) making this noise that just sounded like money being sucked out of my wallet. He looked at the figures I scrolled down on his form, he looked up at me and then back at the figures and hit those damn keys again. I sat there for about ten minutes as my meager pay went off to pay taxes.
He got down to the box containing the dollar amount for all the gear purchased that year when he stopped, looked up at me and said, “That’s All?!” “I’m just starting out.” “I don’t have any money to spend.” “I’m only 21, I can only do so much.” He sat there and looked at me, the look wasn’t pleasant. Then after a moment he said, “Is this your business plan, excuses why you can’t do something?” I wasn’t sure how to take that, I felt like crying. Then I screwed up enough courage to say, “But I simply don’t have the money, what am I to do?”
John sat there for a moment and what was to come next is what we’ve come to expect from him, that wise, fatherly advice which is why we’ve counted on him all these years that has always steered us in the right direction. “Well, if you don’t invest in yourself, who in the hell ever will?” “If you don’t get off your butt and make things happen, how will anything ever happen, you think it’s just going to walk into the door and get handed to you?” “The best investment you can ever make is in yourself, whether it’s education, equipment or both. The door has been opened now you walk through it!”
What door had been opened? At that moment in time, I couldn’t see it. Yeah, I had my first image published in Audubon and I had a couple, just a couple of clicks under my belt but looking back at it now, it’s easy to see what that door had been.
It’s amazing how such little things in life can have such out reaching ripples. The TC-20e3 for example, a piece of insignificant gear I figured wouldn’t barely warrant a blog mention yet, yet. This little piece of gear seems to be incredibly important to many for the simple financial reason it gives them the reach they think they need (to repeat, think they need) to get into the game of wildlife photography. When John gave me those great words of wisdom was just after I had just purchased the Nikkor 400f5.6 EDIF lens, the longest lens I owned for the next four years. I bought it used and wore off the coating shooting with it. There are images in my book Captured taken with that lens, there are images in our files shot with that lens that still garnish a good payday to this day. That lens taught me tons, much of what I share with you to this day.
When it comes to listing the offenders buying new gear when it first comes out, my name has to be in the top five, seriously. If there is even the slightest possibility it will solve a problem, bam, it’s on my desk the next day. And while I make that financial investment in my gear and John still makes sure I stay in the black doing so, he also pushes the bigger investment and that’s in myself. I’m so proud that I can say I don’t have all the answers, that every day is a new opportunity to learn something new and in doing so making that investment that will pay big dividends someday down the road.
Biological knowledge is worth at minimum 200mm in focal length. That money you’d spend on that big lens if invested instead into four solid weekends of shooting would more than pay for itself with images that are not just better, but subjects that are larger in the frame because you’ve learned how to get closer physically. I put in four years with the 400mm and the lessons it taught me I use to this day, every day and what got me to this point in my career. It takes gear to make the images, but it takes the person behind the gear driving though to make it sing and produce. And that’s the door that was opened for me that first meeting with John. It’s all up to you, not your gear, to make the opportunity happen and make the image come to life.
With that knowledge, am I giving up my 800mm? I don’t think so. But rather, I feel even more pressure to make the most of that opportunity life has provided me. I was told by the very first editor who bought my image a piece of wisdom I still hold close. “You’re only as good as the last image you took.” That means there is always, always room from improvement. And coming back to that very important piece of business advice John gave me so many years ago all that more relevant. The best investment is in yourself!
I clearly remember the giant silver case when it arrived. Inside was a new 600f4 EDIF and its 1.4x teleconverter. That was 1982 and the 1.4x was only available when you purchased the 600mm, but it was obvious to me then that I wanted that 1.4x. I’ve had them all until the latest, TC-14E III came out. With the 800mm and its matched 1.25x, I didn’t see a need to own one until recently. I’ve heard a whole bunch about the new 1.4x on both sides of the fence so yesterday, B&H delivered one to my desk. I’ll be giving it a whirl over the next couple of weeks including with the new 300f4 which I expect next week. I’ll let you know what I find so in the mean time, no need to keep writing me asking what I know. :-)
