# Tamron 150-600 with a 2X? Anyone have success with this?



## krbimaging (Apr 23, 2014)

I have wanted to try the new Tamron 150-600 with a 2X but have struck out. When I got the lens I was hoping my Canon 2X would work. It didn't since the black inner ring was to long. Then I took the lens to the local Camera shop and tried a Kenko. My Camera got a lens error and we couldn't get it to work either.

Has anyone had any success using a 2X on thier 150-600 Tamron?

So for the record with my 5DmkIII
Kenko = Failure, electronic failure in camera
Canon = Failure do to design length

Please feel free to add your camera brand and success or failure.


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## play18now (Apr 23, 2014)

If anything, you'd probably have to use the Tamron teleconverter.


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## Overread (Apr 23, 2014)

Kenko have the smallest front elements on their teleconverters, Sigma come next and then Canon. A sigma "might" just fit, however performance is going to be bad. Really bad.

You've lost 2 stops of light so you're going to be working very dark (esp for anything moving) plus you've also got the fact that the lens likely already wants to stop down 1 stop from wide open at the 600mm end to get sharper and you're making that step even more critical by degrading performance optically with the teleconveter. So that's 3 stops of light lost. 

That's likely going to push your ISO high just to get a useable shot in any moving situation. At 1200mm you're also going to encounter more softening from atmospheric haze in the right conditions. 

On top of that you've the natural softening that the 2*TC will introduce. Honestly I don't think it would be worth it - you'd get a long lens but chances are it would only be any good for a very rough record shot and nothing more. I wouldn't even try using a 1.4TC on that lens, you're just pushing it that bit too far on a zoom that's already covering a wide range of focal lengths.


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## Derrel (Apr 23, 2014)

^^^^^^^^^ Diz-actly!!!!^^^^^^^^

Not much more to add except, "Don't do it! Step away from the ledge...errr.... the tele-converter!!!"


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## robbins.photo (Apr 23, 2014)

krbimaging said:


> I have wanted to try the new Tamron 150-600 with a 2X but have struck out. When I got the lens I was hoping my Canon 2X would work. It didn't since the black inner ring was to long. Then I took the lens to the local Camera shop and tried a Kenko. My Camera got a lens error and we couldn't get it to work either.
> 
> Has anyone had any success using a 2X on thier 150-600 Tamron?
> 
> ...



I seriously doubt your going to have much luck with it regardless of what brand of teleconverter you use, the Tamron starts at F/5 at 150 mm and goes to F/6.3 at 500 mm, and when you consider the 2 fstops of light (and in some cases a bit more) you lose with a 2x teleconverter your looking at a situation where most camera bodies won't be able to autofocus with the lens even under great lighting conditions once you get the teleconverter on there.

As overread mentioned the results your going to get just aren't going to be great even under the best of circumstances, I just don't recommend teleconverters unless you using them with fast glass, like say a 2.8.


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## Braineack (Apr 23, 2014)

play18now said:


> If anything, you'd probably have to use the Tamron teleconverter.



no.  Tamron's own teleconverter doesn't really work on any of their newer lenses.  The don't suggest it for use on digital cameras, let alone lenses with variable apertures.

I'm trying to figure why you'd even want to use a 2x on a 600mm f/6.3 lens.


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## Overread (Apr 23, 2014)

Braineack said:


> I'm trying to figure why you'd even want to use a 2x on a 600mm f/6.3 lens.



Golden rule of shooting birds/wildlife:

1) The animals will always be just far enough away that you always wish you had another 100mm of focal length

As a result there is no such thing as "too much focal length"


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## Braineack (Apr 23, 2014)

Use a d7100 and make use of the cropping power.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk


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## JacaRanda (Apr 23, 2014)

robbins.photo said:


> krbimaging said:
> 
> 
> > I have wanted to try the new Tamron 150-600 with a 2X but have struck out. When I got the lens I was hoping my Canon 2X would work. It didn't since the black inner ring was to long. Then I took the lens to the local Camera shop and tried a Kenko. My Camera got a lens error and we couldn't get it to work either.
> ...



I have attached the 1.4 tc III to both the 70-200 f/4L IS and the 300mm f/4L IS and was not impressed.  It was nice to have the extra little reach and with (good light) some results where acceptable for *me.*  However, I saw nothing better than a crop and lugging around the extra little weight was not enough.

Yesterday, I ran into a lady that had version II of the 1.4 tc and she was extremely disappointed in what it yielded while using a 5D mkIII with the 400mm f/5.6L. 
She thought her issue was with the lens.  I know someone that also uses the combo (w/kenko tc) and he gets great shots IMO https://www.flickr.com/photos/8425606@N04/

I let her try my version III and to her it made a world of difference.  I hope that little bit of info helps someone!


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## 480sparky (Apr 23, 2014)

I have a shaved Nikon 1.4 TC I wanna try on it, if Tamron ever gets off the pot and sends me mine.


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## Overread (Apr 23, 2014)

Jaca - from what I know the MII and MIII are very similar optically; the prime difference was the new AF chips (that only work with select new MII super long L lenses). I suspect what actually happened is that the specific combo of her lens and the teleconveter on her camera body were miss-matched calibration wise which resulted in a less than normal image quality (its a symptom of products being made within tolerances rather than to a specific calibrated value).


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## krbimaging (Apr 24, 2014)

Incomming light is not my issue. The high f stop wont be a problem for why I want this combination.


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## robbins.photo (Apr 24, 2014)

It's starting to sound like maybe you'd be better of with a telescope mount and a good telescope.  I think astronikon uses one, might want to ask him for some advice there

Sent from my LG-LG730 using Tapatalk


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## krbimaging (Apr 24, 2014)

I already have the lens, no need for a Telescope (yet). I was just hoping someone else other than me was trying these lenses with a converter. I bought this lens as a cheap attempt as a solution to a problem. If it doesn't do what I want then I'll have to go big and drop dime on a 600 or 800, most likely a 800.
Before anyone asks what I am trying to accomplish.. I am not at liberty to say.


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## robbins.photo (Apr 24, 2014)

krbimaging said:


> I already have the lens, no need for a Telescope (yet). I was just hoping someone else other than me was trying these lenses with a converter. I bought this lens as a cheap attempt as a solution to a problem. If it doesn't do what I want then I'll have to go big and drop dime on a 600 or 800, most likely a 800.
> Before anyone asks what I am trying to accomplish.. I am not at liberty to say.



Then I'm afraid any advice I could give wouldn't be terribly helpful.  I can tell you that teleconverters are hit and miss even under the best conditions, that they don't work well on slow glass as a general rule, and that as Braineack mentioned a lot of the newer Tamron lenses have problems with TC's, even TC's made by Tamron.

Other than that I will wish you well in your quest.


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## Overread (Apr 24, 2014)

krbimaging said:


> Before anyone asks what I am trying to accomplish.. I am not at liberty to say.



If you're trying to spy on peoples windows you'd be better looking for an old WW2 bomber optics setup - now they were sharp and long ranged (also huge).  

But honestly I've no idea what kind of project would be so secretive; whilst your area or region might be a general idea of what you're going to do would help - chances are someone here might have worked in a similar situation and have advice to give.


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## robbins.photo (Apr 24, 2014)

Overread said:


> krbimaging said:
> 
> 
> > Before anyone asks what I am trying to accomplish.. I am not at liberty to say.
> ...



Well, he could tell you, but then he'd have to photograph you...


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## dinub2015 (Aug 7, 2015)

krbimaging said:


> I have wanted to try the new Tamron 150-600 with a 2X but have struck out. When I got the lens I was hoping my Canon 2X would work. It didn't since the black inner ring was to long. Then I took the lens to the local Camera shop and tried a Kenko. My Camera got a lens error and we couldn't get it to work either.
> 
> Has anyone had any success using a 2X on thier 150-600 Tamron?
> 
> ...




Let's understand one basic thing. Most camera won't autofocus when the real aperture they see is higher than let's say f 8.0. but using a 2X teleconverter with a 150-600  /f5-6.3 lens,  would render an F10.0 at 300 mm and an f12.6 at 1200 mm setting. That is not autofocus-able, by any camera. I am looking for a Tamron 2x SP teleconverter. But in my knowledge, it would work only in manual focus. BTW the same is valid with the Sigma 150-500 zoom. At Sigma it is specifically explained this point of view. 
If Kenko 2x converter fails, that means there is an electronic incompatibility between the converter and the lens. But in my view, Tamron 2X converter should work with a Tamron lens, not on auto focus, but manual.


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## BillM (Aug 7, 2015)

I have advice but I am not at liberty to share it


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## astroNikon (Aug 7, 2015)

BillM said:


> I have advice but I am not at liberty to share it


you should have given your advice over a year ago when this thread was actually active.


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## dinub2015 (Aug 7, 2015)

astroNikon said:


> BillM said:
> 
> 
> > I have advice but I am not at liberty to share it
> ...


 To me you DON'T KNOW! Blessings! LOL


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## BillM (Aug 7, 2015)

astroNikon said:


> you should have given your advice over a year ago when this thread was actually active.



I switched to decaf, it's really slowed me down


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