I am planning to get a TC-16a to be used with 80-200mm AF 2.8. First will this work O.K?. also will I get 120mm - 320mm f4.5 with this TC-16a? how will the performance be on the image quality, AF speed etc... anyone with experience or any comments appreciated.

-- Jin Kim (jubaraki2001@yahoo.com), October 03, 2001

Answers

Firstly. Do you realise that the TC-16A was never meant for use with AF lenses?
It's really an AF adapter, which gives some autofocus capability to the Ai/Ais MF Nikkor lenses. The autofocus coupler doesn't pass through the converter.
The close focus ability with longer focal lengths is also severely limited, unless you manually change the focus of the lens.
Using this adapter with lenses longer than 105mm means that the AF focussing range is too restricted to be generally useful, IMHO. I suppose it would be OK for distant subjects with an 80-200 zoom, but the focus changes as you zoom, so it's never going to be fast in operation. The image quality when used in conjunction with prime Nikkors is reasonable, but not brilliant.
All the above tells you why this converter costs about a quarter of what Nikon's other TC series converters sell for, but I honestly think you'd be better off with a proper 1.4x AF converter.
I believe the TC-14E is Nikon's recommended converter for the 80-200 AF Nikkor f/2.8, but you'd better check this for yourself.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), October 04, 2001.

I've just found out that the TC-14E is only useable with the 80-200 AF-S Nikkor. It doesn't fit the AF-D and earlier versions, apparently.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), October 04, 2001.