Nikon TC-20E III AF-S Tele Converter for Camera

Product Information

I get perfectly sharp shots almost all the time at 1/60 with VR, but need at least 1/1,000 to get the same results without VR. Teleconverters are convenient when you want to increase the apparent telephoto reach of specific NIKKOR lenses, especially when compared to the physical size of some of the longer super-telephoto NIKKORs. Also, when you use a teleconverter, you don’t lose the close focusing distance of the lens, which is an added benefit. Because the lens’s image is being enlarged, the effective lens aperture is decreased. A 1.4x teleconverter brings a one-stop reduction in maximum aperture; a 2x teleconverter brings a two-stop reduction.

The TC-20E has so much magnification that, at least on a D3, there is usually some loss of sharpness wide-open.What's impressive is that the sharpness doesn't vary from center to corner, and how clearly you can see how these heat waves warp straight lines.

Nikon Z 600mm f/4 TC VR (becomes an 800mm f/5.6 with the lens' own internal 1.4× converter, or a 1,200mm f/8 with this converter alone, or a 1,680mm f/11 with both this and the lens' on internal converter.) While the wide-open performance of the Sigma seems to be worse, the Sigma 2x actually performs better than the TC-20E III when stopped down in the center. Mid-frame and corners are weaker, but the center resolution is higher! Summary

Detailed specifications for the teleconverter can be found in our lens database. Lens Compatibility For instance,VR works great with my stabilized Z 400mm f/4.5 VR. With a stabilized camera like my Z7II I can hand-hold at 1/30 of a second, with this or the Z TC 1.4× teleconverter. In practice, though, teleconverters have disadvantages, including the effect they have on your lens’s maximum aperture and often on the overall optical quality of your photos. TC-14E III: 70-200mm f/2.8G or f/2.8E, 70-200mm f/4G, 200mm f/2G, 300mm f/2.8G, 300mm f/4E, 400mm f/2.8G or f/2.8E, 500mm f/4G or f/4E, 600mm f/4G or f/4E Filter-thread: no need to buy new ones. The same filters still can be used at the front of the lens. Which in case of the Nikon Z 70-200mm f2.8 VR S are 77mm diameter. [+]

It was not easy to obtain the Nikon TC-20E III because of high demand/short supply and after waiting for a few weeks, I decided to just rent it for a couple of weeks instead. My objective was to try the Nikon TC-20E III specifically with the Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II and with the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II to see how it truly performs in an outdoor environment when photographing nature. It is one thing to shoot test charts with a lens sitting on a tripod, and another to get out and do some real shooting. It's just as sharp with the 2x teleconverter. You can see more fine details, even though the heat shimmer is magnified twice as much as the first image without the teleconverter. The Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8 lens started out incredibly strong, so this is a good example of what you lose with each of the teleconverters. The 2.0x TC is worse than the 1.4x TC, but the results are usable with both TCs. In fact, the 1.4x TC results are actually quite sharp – better than plenty of lenses we’ve tested before. You’ll certainly lose focusing speed by adding either of these teleconverters, and the 2.0x TC has more of a slowdown than the 1.4x TC. Technically, though, the biggest decider of focusing speed is not whether you’ve used a teleconverter. Instead, it’s the maximum aperture of your setup and the level of light in the environment. With the Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S, my results were similar. The 1.4x TC had 0.38% barrel distortion at 280mm, while the 2.0x TC had -0.23% pincushion distortion at 400mm. (This is compared to 1.93% barrel distortion of the bare lens at 200mm.) BokehAfter two decades with Canon (film, then 5Dii,iii,iv), I switched to Nikon D850. I now own two along with a variation of the so-called lens trinity: Tamron 15-30 f2.8 G2, Nikon 24-70 f2.8E, Nikon 70-200 f2.8E, plus 1.4xiii teleconverter. For instance, the 70-300mm AF-S VR, 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D and 80-400mm VR lenses can't even be mounted to this converter. Nikon designed them this way. converters (also known as doublers) are popular too because they double the focal length, although the image quality may not be as good.