Friday, July 16, 2010

Teleconverters

A teleconverter is a small lightweight intermediate optic that will increase the magnification of a lens, while reducing its effective aperture. So a 2X teleconverter turns a 300/2.8 into a 600/5.6. A lot of times new photographers ask me if they can save money by buying a teleconverter and sticking it onto their 28-70 zoom to get a 140mm lens. Sadly, good teleconverters cost $400 or $500 and they only work optically on expensive lenses. With a typical zoom lens, you'll get vignetting (darkening of the corners) when using a teleconverter.
Teleconverters are for professionals who own expensive lenses and want to save weight by not carrying two lenses. They are also useful sometimes with specialized tilt-shift lenses so that you don't have to buy these in lots of different focal lengths.

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