I just had to throw these in here... not because they are that great or even unusual, but I'm so pleased with them... being shot with my newly acquired (used) Nikon TC301 2x converter.
I just went to visit my local shop today and my friend there asked me to check out some Nikon gear that they had just taken in... and there it was... the highly coveted TC-301which is a superb mate for the 500 f4 tele.
Well I had to test it, even though it was overcast (gloomy) and getting late, so I pushed the ISO dial on my D300 all the way... that's right 6400 ISO, to get a shutter speed of 1/250th second and in the worst conditions I still got these. This baby is SHARP! Yes a little noisy... but ISO 6400
Anyway, tomorrow the sun is supposed to shine again and I'll give it a proper work out.
It still holds detail Terry so that's good news. Maybe you can run it through some NN software.
So these shots are 500mm x 2 x 1.5 (crop factor) = 1500mm ! wooow I would've gone for a moon shot w that focal lenght
How far were these woodies?
Lil Judd wrote:
So, let me see if I got this right..... It's the D3 that's the high ISO champ of the day.... Not the D300
Good one.
Don't think it would get past Thom Hogan, but I think it's great. Not that I'll ever use it....
Congratulations on the new toy Terry
Lil
Thanks Lil. You are absolutely right about Thom and some others being highly allergic to a bit of noise... but I came up through a D2h... you want to see NOISE... this is nothin.
I did use plenty of NR on these... so they aren't going to get any better. But they certainly could be worse...
Nello Milanese wrote:
It still holds detail Terry so that's good news. Maybe you can run it through some NN software.
So these shots are 500mm x 2 x 1.5 (crop factor) = 1500mm ! wooow I would've gone for a moon shot w that focal lenght
How far were these woodies?
Hi Nello... Yep, 1500mm up in the tree tops out in the woods. If I would have gotten closer to them and filled the frame with detail, I don't think they would have been half bad.
This D300 is a strange beast... sometimes it smudges the detail and other times it does quite a good job. Maybe it's me, huh?
One thing for sure, this 2x ( which is so long it looks like a 3x) is pretty darn sharp. It should really help me out with the D3 which lacks a little reach.
Great job pushing the nikon to the limit, nice to see they are figuring out their noise problems. Looking forward to some more post with this 2x attached to your D3 with some poses.
Good for you Terry, congrats on the new toy, I just got a 2x, and congrats on pulling those off. Looking forward to more with that combo. Hey wait a minute a 2x for the flower guy?
Congrats on your new toy, Terry. It looks like a good buy, judjing from your pics and considering the lighting conditions and the High ISO. Looking forward for more shots with that combo.
Socrate
sivrajbm wrote:
Hey the noise doesn't look bad at all with those backgrounds.
Hi Jarvis and thanks for checking us out. I agree, it is pretty acceptable. I don't choose to do this if I can avoid it, but it was pretty gloomy out and I got images.
Rob Tillyer wrote:
Looks like you are in for some fun Terry.
I took some time today to try and get some more pics with this combo ( 500 + TC 301) at lower ISO's and I'm going to post them in a few minutes... the problem I'm having is that I'm in deep, old growth woods and the birds are either hidden by leaves or way up in the canopy... 50 to 100 feet almost straight up... man am I getting a pain in my neck
72chevelle454 wrote:
Great job pushing the nikon to the limit, nice to see they are figuring out their noise problems. Looking forward to some more post with this 2x attached to your D3 with some poses.
Hi Chad... I did some more with the D300 today, but I'm having some tripod problems... I just can't get this combo to stop shaking around on the Manfroto that I now have.
What next... I sold my big studio tripod because I got tired of lugging it around and now this one isn't really suitable.
Tim Kuhn wrote:
Good for you Terry, congrats on the new toy, I just got a 2x, and congrats on pulling those off. Looking forward to more with that combo. Hey wait a minute a 2x for the flower guy?
Tim
Hi Tim... I'm working on it... you guys are really killing me with all of your great bird shots I'm trying to come up with something worth looking at.
Shasoc wrote:
Congrats on your new toy, Terry. It looks like a good buy, judjing from your pics and considering the lighting conditions and the High ISO. Looking forward for more shots with that combo.
Socrate
Thanks Socrate... working on some better IQ shots.
Good one. 
