The new Tele combination

A while back I decided to do any upgrade of my tele lenses.  I decided to sell my Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 AF-D (not tele-conveter compatible) and my Tokina 80-400mm f4.5-5.6 (not enough use) and purchase an 80-200mm f2.8 AF-S and a TC-20II 2x tele-converter.  It was only just recently I completed all the transactions and had it all ready.

Yesterday my wife spotted a large Monarch butterfly in the trees.  “Get your camera!  This is amazing! It’s huge!”  she yelled.  The perfect opportunity to try out the new tele combination!  Unfortunately, by the time I got there with the camera, and the 80-200mm, and the tele-converter; the butterfly had long since disappeared.

So I decided to shoot some flowers around the garden, many of which were starting to look really nice.  Here’s a sampling; and although I missed the butterfly, I still ended up with some good shots.

 

 Without doubt the 80-200mm f2.8 AF-S and TC-20II 2x tele-converter combination is not as blindingly sharp as my Tamron 180mm f3.5 macro, but it is reasonable.  The biggest problem shooting at 400mm is the need to run 500th second or higher shutter speed at f5.6, which is hard even in the middle of the day.  DX cameras magnify the problem as ISO performance isn't as good as full frame and the effective focal length is 50% longer.