Nikon TC-17E II 1.7X Teleconverter - 26 Feb 2014

I picked up a new Teleconverter today from ProCam in Livonia. The Nikon TC-17E II 1.7X Teleconverter provides 70% increase in magnification while producing a 1.5 reduction in f-stop. On my 300/2.8 VRII lens the TC17 makes the effective focal length 510 mm / f4.8.  Add the 1.5X crop factor to the Nikon D7100 and I now have a 765 mm EFL. Put the camera in DX mode, and this increases EFL another 1.3X to a whopping 994.5 mm!  Time to put the VR switch to 'On'... Nasim Mansurov has a nice blog post describing image degradation one can expect from the Nikon TC-14, -17 and -20 Teleconverters.

I gave it a quick workout at lunch today on the Detroit River.  Scattered flurries and broken clouds gave brief bursts of light. The river is mostly open right now, but a few ducks are taking advantage of the newly exposed docks next to the Municipal Boat Launch in Wyandotte. With ISO set to 400 at f/8 I'm seeing shutter speeds of 1/400 - 1/2000 sec. Autofocus is fast and sound, but slowed just a touch w/ VR set to 'On'.   But the rig appears stable and (best of all) hand-holdable!

While photographing a few Common and Red-breasted Mergansers at John Dingell Park, this Common Goldeneye flew in, giving me a chance to try some bird-in-flight (BIF) shots.  Success!

Note that this little guy is missing a chunk of his head feathers.  I don't believe its molt, but probably a scalping from a Bald Eagle?

I've noticed that the VR setting on the 300/2.8 VRII sounds a lot quieter w/ the TC17 attached, so I'm hoping that when my TC-14E II gets fixed that I'll have to decide which one to use.  I'm looking forward to testing it out next week!

Thanks ProCam! And thank you, Honey!