In photography parlance, a “teleconverter” is an attachment that can increase the distance of your shot. A 2x teleconverter can increase your 50mm lens to a 100mm powerhouse. The drawback? It can double your size, but it can also double camera shake and vignetting. So you have to use it sparingly.
Which is why I’ve been testing a borrowed Vivitar 2x teleconverter on one of my telephoto lenses.
Background.
I have three chances over the next 15 months to photograph a lunar eclipse. And right now, my available camera gear is not good enough to get the job done – at least not good enough to photograph the moon and develop a good-sized print of it. So before I invest in a 500mm or 1000mm mirror lens… I want to see what I can do with a teleconverter.
And thankfully, the Photo Center of Troy was more than happy to lend me one of their teleconverter units. I immediately affixed the gizmo onto my 30-500 f/4.5 “Rachel” telephoto lens – you know, the lens that’s so heavy I can do bicep curls with it – and took it for a photo walk.
A few weeks ago, I gave the teleconverter its first test – I photographed a horse race at Saratoga with it. Here’s the best picture from the test results.
See the dark corners? That’s called “vignetting,” it’s because the teleconverter is magnifying the lens output past its specific expectations. It’s not something I’m really happy with, but since these are test shots I’ll just put this in the notes and know for the future that this can happen when shooting on a sunny day.
So let’s see what I get at night.
Last week, I drove over to one of my favorite photo test subjects. You know him. He’s been sitting atop a roof in downtown Albany for over 60 years.
Yep. Nipper.
I waited until the full moon rose over Nipper’s composite skull…
And got this.
The reason you don’t see vignetting in this picture is that I digitally cropped the photo to eliminate some distracting telephone lines. And yes, I can still get a decent photo of the moon…
But I’m still not satisfied. The photo of the moon must be crisp and clear. Optimally, I need to see Neil Armstrong’s footprints on Tranquility Base.
Granted, the teleconverter does work… but I’m still not convinced it’ll help me be ready in time for the lunar eclipse photos.
More experiments are certainly necessary.
However, if someone does have a Nikon-mount 500mm or 1000mm lens that they’re willing to lend out in time for October 2014…
I’m open to suggested offers.
Chuck The Writer 