Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 DG Teleconverter

Comments about Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 DG Teleconverter:

I find the teleconverter a bit on the loose side when using it. While it hasn't been a problem to date, I would prefer it was tighter, especially when hand holding the camera/lens with the teleconverter in between.

Comments about Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 DG Teleconverter:

I bought this to use on my "walk around" lens. It works good in most situations. Some pictures look a little over exposed or washed out. Overall it is worth the money. I would not recommend it for indoor use on a slow lens.

Comments about Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 DG Teleconverter:

I tried this teleconverter on the 180/2.8 latest version AF Nikkor, and results are good. The initial resolution of this lens is great, so central portion of it magnified by the converter is also good on D700 camera. I did not notice much of AF mechanical speed loss.

Tried on 70-200 AF-S VR (the older one), and results are also good on D700. Perhaps the light fall off and some corner softness that others complained about this lens on FX cameras, are left out by magnification of the central area only by the teleconverter.

Comments about Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 DG Teleconverter:

Have only used this for a few weeks but am very impressed tc with no noticable degradation in image quality. Great price.

Comments about Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 DG Teleconverter:

I am a well-established professional photographer, and use the Kenko Pro 300 1.4 converter on my Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 lens. The results have been stunning. It is very sharp at all focal lengths, focuses quickly, is built and fits very well. I would hardly call it flimsy by any stretch. By all means, go for it.

Comments about Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 DG Teleconverter:

Have both a Nikon d90 and 300s and have used the teleconvertor on both with a nikkor 18-200 VRII and a 70-300 vr. It worked well on both at both ends of the zooms and in low light levels photographing animals in a 1700 acre animal park in drizzly weather. Occasionally had to manually focus in tough light conditions. Really good in sunny weather. Its a good addition that allowed me to use just the 18-200 on one afternoon shoot so I avoided changing lenses in dusty conditions. May not be the best build but good enough for this avid amateur.

Comments about Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 DG Teleconverter:

I wanted a teleconverter for my Nikon 80-200. My Nikon teleconverter wouldn't work on this lens but the Kenko model works great, making my lens more useful for doing nature photography.

Comments about Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 DG Teleconverter:

I was pleased that this teleconverter worked with my Nikon D90 and my Nikon 80-400 mmg zoom lens. Auto focus still works, the photos are clear, and it meets all my expectations. I did not have to search far and wide to find which teleconverter to buy. [...]Thanks BH! Kayakervet Salem,Or

Comments about Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 DG Teleconverter:

For the price, you really cant beat this product. It is a tiny bit soft wide open, but it isn't noticeable unless you are looking at a photo at 100%. The autofocus and VR of my 70-200 work very very well too. I recommend this over the nikon equivalent because you can use it on non af-s lenses.

Comments about Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 DG Teleconverter:

I use this teleconverter with my D90 and a Nikon AF 70-300mm VR lens. After using it a couple of weeks I'm happy with it. The auto focus is slow in low light conditions (as expected), but in daylight or normal conditions it seems as quick as ever. The teleconverter adds 3/4" to the lenght of the lens which is not a problem with balance. All in all worth the 40% increase in range without buying another lens.

Comments about Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 DG Teleconverter:

I bought the Kenko d300 to use with my old Nikon 80-200 while I was waiting for the 70-200 vrII to come out. It worked fine.

With the 70-200 vrII, it is spectacular. It feels solid and mounts easily. Focusing is as fast as without the adapter. The correct f-stop shows up in the finder (e.g., f4 where it is f2.8 on the lens times 1.4 with the converter). In the properties file for the image, it also shows up properly, as does the focal length (e.g., 280 mm when it is 200mm on lens times 1.4 with the converter).

I went to a seminar recently; the speakers were sitting at the front of the room about 50 feet away. I used a Nikon D700 with the 70-200VR II and the Kenko Pro 300 1.4X converter, and I consistently got ecellent photos at ISO 1600, f4 at 1/25 second. For example, blown up 10 times, you can easily see individual hairs and the fine metal grid of the microphone in front of each.

I am very impressed.

Comments about Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 DG Teleconverter:

Unfortunately it was only solution for Nikon D3 and 80-400

Comments about Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 DG Teleconverter:

I liked the fact that it retained the AF function on my 80-200 2.8 AF-D, but returned it due to the loose fit to the camera body.

Comments about Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 DG Teleconverter:

Given that Nikon does not offer a converter for non-AFS lenses, I was forced to purchase a third-party version.
With my 180mm f/2.8 Nikkor I find almost no degradation in performance if stopped down to f/4 of less.
I really wish that Kenko would improve the build quality. It just never feels solidly mounted and I've tried 3 samples. If THK's other products (Tokina lenses and Kenko tubes) can be built to a higher standard, why can't their converters?

Comments about Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 DG Teleconverter:

Works great with my Nikon D90 and Nikkor GED 18-200. 1.4 is the right magnification and do nicely above f 4. All camera auto functions are kept intact.

Comments about Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 DG Teleconverter:

I bought this TC with my Nikon 300 f/4 lens. I slapped it on immediately and started looking for some birds to get some shots of. I couldn't find any, but was able to find dragon flies. The detail in their eyes was amazing! I barely had to crop. When I did find some birds, I was shocked by how sharp it was even with the TC on, I didn't notice any difference. This stays on my 300 lens all the time and I probably will only take it off when shooting some sports.

I found the focus to be fast and sharp, it rarely hunts for me. The only time it hunts is when it has to rack the focus, but that is my fault.

My only complaint is that the mount seems a little loose and I feel like it is rather straining on the camera/lens mounts. Nothing to get in a fit over though, just wish they had made it a little tighter. Great product as always Kenko.

Comments about Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 DG Teleconverter:

Enhances telephoto capacity for nature photography.

Comments about Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 DG Teleconverter:

Does what it's meant to do, and does it well. Now depending on your perspective, it may or may not meet your expectations. A teleconverter supposed to be a compromise from the very inception. It's magnifying from the quality or lack of quality of your existing lens. If the lens is bad with the telecon added to it is going to be worst. This 1.4 truly does a clean job on its merrit.

This Kenko 1.4 does itself proud; loss of quality is negligible, barely perceivable on a good lens. In my view loss of light is even less relevant in most instances. The one f/stop drop can easily be dealt with by most D-SLR's today, as they provide very usable incremental ISO increases available to compensate.

The Kenko can be used on many lenses without losing the auto-focus feature. Note however that while very versatile, working very well with different lenses, it behaves slightly different with each lens. I used it quite well with my D300 and my Nikon 80-200mm f2.8, a lens that's still being sold by B&H. Here the fast screw driven AF did feel a tad slower. I haven't yet tried to use it with fast moving race cars or race horses. With the Nikon AF 70-300mm VR it felt even more useful. While the 70-300 is more consumer oriented and can't quite equal the 80-200mm pro quality, it comes very close. When the TC is paired to the AFS 70-300mm VR it focuses quicker than the 80-200mm, except in lower light where it sometimes hunts and it does this quicker focus with normal VR turned on as well.

The key to the impact of the 1.4 is the length of the lens it's mated to. The x1.4 feels more helpful in attempting to pull subjects closer the longer the lens. The 1.5 DX format cameras make it even more noticeable.

For example, with the DX camera using an 85mm lens by traditional standards you're starting at 127mm (1.5x) and adding 51mm with the TC to get 178mm. At the long end of the 200mm zoom above, you're starting at 300mm adding 120mm to get 420mm. With the 300mm zoom you're starting at 450mm adding 180mm to get 630mm.

That 180mm difference provided by the TC starts to feel very helpful and worthwhile to a set up with that size lens pulling the subject significantly closer. So you can begin to understand the joys of the 80-400mm lens holder adding the Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro, albeit very slow to auto-focus as a pioneering Nikon VR lens.

For the fast moving subjects coming into frame and requiring the highest speed predictive auto-focus situations I just use my fast lens by itself for best results. But don't get me wrong, if you had tried a TC years ago and wasn't enamored by its slow and hunting nature along with soft edges, this is a vast improvement in speed and overall accuracy, well worth picking up and carrying in your bag. Additionally it adequately fills the gap that the pricey Nikon TC's don't fill in their own lens range.

Comments about Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 DG Teleconverter:

I bought this teleconverter to add a little range to my 85mm/f1.4 for shooting indoor sports. With the magnification and f-stop reduction, this lens is now a 120mm/f2.0.

Here are my observations after shooting a few hundred shots for the first time with the teleconverter at a basketball game:

a) You lose the modified aperature and focal length in the camera settings (D80 in my case).

b) AF motor speed is reduced somewhat.

c) Be *very* careful when mounting the teleconverter the first time as lenses like the 85mm/f1.4 have rear elements that come realy close to the teleconverter elements. Be sure to also account for rear elements that move in and out (the 85mm/f1.4 doesn't).

d) Build quality is good, fit and finish is good and the mounted lens and teleconverter felt secure to the D80 body.

e) I've read people have issues with inaccuracy of the matrix meter, but I didn't have any issues with exposure being off.

f) The images at a distance (the court) appeared to be less fuzzy that images up close. The 85mm on its own is equally sharp for close and far subjects.

g) The images appeared better stopped down a little than at full aperature. This doesn't happen as severly with the 85mm alone.

h) The corners of the image seemed to take on glow (this is hard to describe, is it known as fringing?). Again, the 85mm on its own doesn't do this.

Overall I was left with the question to myself if I could have gotten better results by cropping the images up to the magnification level of the teleconverter and not given up my extra stop of light.

I'll keep the teleconveter and continue to use it with the 85mm/f1.4 as well as the 80mm-400mm VR. It's not a bad piece of gear to have to save you some time cropping.

Comments about Kenko 1.4x Teleplus Pro 300 DG Teleconverter:

Works well with my Nikon 18-200 VR lens. Doesn't impinge too badly on the wide angle and is nice to be able to get a bit closer to a far away subject. Also it isn't too heavy.

Depending on lighting, it might slow down the auto focusing a bit, but still not bad enough to be a real problem unless you were taking fast action shots, which I usually don't do so it isn't a problem for me.