topic Sony Teleconverter 1.4 X in Alpha & NEX interchangeable lens cameras

Sony Teleconverter 1.4 X

phconwa43 — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 16:10:10 GMT

I am about to buy a Sony 100-400 mm SSM 2 zoom lens for use on my Alpha SLA-77. Is the Sony 1.4 X teleconverter compatible with this lens? In particular will the lens work in Auto with this fitted?

Re: Sony Teleconverter 1.4 X

Bieomax — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 12:46:32 GMT

do you mean the 70-400mm ?

if so the 1.4 TC is compatible

http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/product/SAL14TC/compatibility

Re: Sony Teleconverter 1.4 X

Bieomax — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 12:58:08 GMT

Just to add further clarity, its compatible as so far that you can mount the lens to it, but the Autofocus on the camera won't be available as the TC will push the lens past a f6.3 which is the cap on sony camera's.

just means you'll need to manual focus, but then at least you have the focus peeking feature on that camera so shouldn't be too bad

Re: Sony Teleconverter 1.4 X

phconwa43 — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 17:49:53 GMT

Thank you for your reply

Yes I meant the 70-400 mm lens, of course

I don't know what the Sony 'cap' is that you talk about. And surely the 1.4X adds one stop so that the lens moves from f4 - 5.6 to f 5.6 - 6.3, which is not BEYOND the stop you talk about but equal to it!? Can you clarify?

I don't have the lens yet: what is the 'peaking feature' you mention?

Many thanks

Re: Sony Teleconverter 1.4 X

phconwa43 — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 18:00:36 GMT

A couple more points:

Reading the Sony literature, is there a risk that attaching this converter could lead to damage of the lens?

Also, I have a Kenko MC4 1.4 X teleconverter already. Given that the sony one will only work in manual, am I as well off just using this Kenko one, or is there any risk this could damage the lens?

At £1700, I cannot put the lens at risk!

Re: Sony Teleconverter 1.4 X

Bieomax — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 11:30:36 GMT

I've not seen anything in Sonys documentation where it may cause damage to the lens? as the only reason they say about compatibility is that it knocks out the AF usage. i would probably say that its safer to use the sony TC rather then 3rd party if you want to be sure on avoiding lens damage.

Its due to the x1.4 is taken from the 5.6 f stop rather than the 4 f stop, so it pushes it over the threshold.

Dyxum have a abit more information which may help

Here

Kind Regards

Mark.

Re: Sony Teleconverter 1.4 X

Bieomax — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 11:33:58 GMT

just in case too, where Dyxum refer to minolta you can count that as the same as Sony as Sony bought out Minolta's camera/lens division when minolta pulled out of the market place.

Re: Sony Teleconverter 1.4 X

phconwa43 — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 16:43:02 GMT

Mark

Thank you very much for your detailed reply and the link to the US article. No problems with names - I started 30 + years ago with Minolta cameras hence now with Sony!

I must admit to being disappointed that the planned new lens will not work in Auto with a 1.4 X extender. I'm trying to consolidate my 70-300 Sigma and 170-500 Sigma into one better lens, which I use heavily for wildlife, and it was for bird photos that I want to retain the Auto option.

Re: Sony Teleconverter 1.4 X

Bieomax — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 09:17:16 GMT

arrrh my apologies, its hard to gauge through these places peoples experiances with the history of the A mount Alpha's.

I do wonder too why there is a cap on the minium lens f value?

i can't comment much on the AF side of things now as its been about a year since i've taken the pellicule mirror out of my A57, i just use focus peeking and the focus zoom to get what i need, but then i dont do a serious amount of birding.

Re: Sony Teleconverter 1.4 X

phconwa43 — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 11:59:19 GMT

Mark

Thanks for your further thoughts.

But I cannot resist asking: what is 'focus peeking'?

Phiip

Re: Sony Teleconverter 1.4 X

Bieomax — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 13:03:21 GMT

in a nut shell, it highlights area's of the image that are hitting focus when you are in manual focus (i think the depth of the highlighting also gives and idea of depth of field too). its good in most cases but sometimes doesnt show up to well, but since i've started to experiment with older film lenses on a M42 screw thread its a god send really.

you can change the highlight colour in the menu system, ive also heard that people when shooting in raw change the creative style to b&w and the focus peeking shows up more. plus then it comes to processing afterwards the raw file still holds the colour information of the image, so with a few adjustments its back to full colour.

i suppose for completeness for anyone in the future reading this, focus peeking feature is on the line up of A37/57/58/65/77/99 camera's and i think all the NEX camera's too.

Re: Sony Teleconverter 1.4 X

phconwa43 — Sat, 09 Nov 2013 08:51:32 GMT

Thanks for that: I did not know of it, but now I'll read it up.

I've appreciated your help.