Teleconverter recommendations at DVinfo.net

Mike Hanlon · September 12th, 2004, 01:22 AM

I (stupidly) sold my top of the line Sony 1.7x teleconverter last year and now wish I hadn't. Now I'm looking for a replacement. Any recommendations for a sub $200 teleconverter?

And while I'm at it, why do all teleconverters have vignettting at the lower end of the zoom range? No one makes one without vignetting, so it must be very hard / very expensive, but I don't understand the optical physics well enough for it to make sense.

Mike Rehmus · September 12th, 2004, 11:37 AM

It is very expensive to prevent vignetting and the designers of these devices know that the price/performance would be poor and cause very poor sales.

So they make them perform only at the highest tele settings since that's where, presumably, people want the boost anyway.

Tom Hardwick · September 13th, 2004, 03:33 PM

Mike's right. You buy a tele-converter to extend your telephoto reach, and if you shoot at mid zoom you'll get much better quality pictures if you take it off. They could make a tele-converter that disn't vignette as you zoomed back, but the front element would be huge, the thing would weigh as much as a dog and it would cost a wallop of dosh. You wouldn't like the look of it and you sure wouldn't like the price.

Making wide-angle converters that don't vignertte throughout the zoom range is a lot easier.

tom.

September 12th, 2004, 01:22 AM	#1
Mike Hanlon Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 180	Teleconverter recommendations I (stupidly) sold my top of the line Sony 1.7x teleconverter last year and now wish I hadn't. Now I'm looking for a replacement. Any recommendations for a sub $200 teleconverter? And while I'm at it, why do all teleconverters have vignettting at the lower end of the zoom range? No one makes one without vignetting, so it must be very hard / very expensive, but I don't understand the optical physics well enough for it to make sense. __________________ VM Productions

September 12th, 2004, 11:37 AM	#2
Mike Rehmus Wrangler Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vallejo, California Posts: 4,049	It is very expensive to prevent vignetting and the designers of these devices know that the price/performance would be poor and cause very poor sales. So they make them perform only at the highest tele settings since that's where, presumably, people want the boost anyway. __________________ Mike Rehmus Hey, I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel!

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

September 13th, 2004, 03:33 PM	#3
Tom Hardwick Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Billericay, England UK Posts: 4,711	Mike's right. You buy a tele-converter to extend your telephoto reach, and if you shoot at mid zoom you'll get much better quality pictures if you take it off. They could make a tele-converter that disn't vignette as you zoomed back, but the front element would be huge, the thing would weigh as much as a dog and it would cost a wallop of dosh. You wouldn't like the look of it and you sure wouldn't like the price. Making wide-angle converters that don't vignertte throughout the zoom range is a lot easier. tom.