I am wondering if anyone has had any experience using the Nikon 80-200 f4 (AIS) with a teleconvertor (Nikon, Kenko, etc.) and what comments they may have. I have seen 'subjective' ratings of the Nikon TC's that suggest the final result may be 'poor'(I would think even moreso with a zoom lens) and therefore not worth the effort. Is this true? Thanks.

-- Scott Kloster (fairwaysk@aol.com), January 12, 2001

Answers

I've used one with the TC-200, and also with a Vivitar Macro 2x converter. There wasn't anything to choose between the image quality from either in terms of definition, which was acceptable to good, but there was some light fall-off in the image corners with both converters.
If I had to choose one, I'd take the Vivitar converter out of preference, because the macro function is very handy in a pinch. The Nikon-fit version of the Vivitar has a problem though, the aperture transfer ring seized up several times on mine. In the end I had to turn a new ring out of aluminium, to replace the plastic ring which kept swelling up and jamming.
Good optics, shame about the design.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), January 12, 2001.