# Super stacked teleconverters: Life @ 1880mm



## yorgasor (Apr 6, 2015)

So as I perusing the forums recently, I again came across a thread mentioning stacked teleconverters. I think I tried this once before, just for fun, but my lens collection has grown since then. Here's what I tried:

Nikon 300mm f/4
Nikon 1.4x TC
Canon 1.4x TC III
Canon 2x TC III
Canon 7D2

I put all of these together, using a 12mm extension tube & 20mm extension tube. My focus range was maybe 3' - 40', with an equivalent of about 1880mm @f/16. I had to shoot where the sun was shining or else crank my ISO way up. Focus was completely by hand, and I used a monopod to stabilize things. All said, it was still pretty hard to get a shot that was focused correctly and didn't have camera shake. Purple fringing was crazy bad. Things generally looked better in B&W, and it was probably best if you didn't zoom in on the photo much. But, all that being said, here are a few photos I ended up with:



leaf @ 1880mm by yorgasor, on Flickr



Pinecone @ 1880mm by yorgasor, on Flickr



Birdfeeder @ 1880mm by yorgasor, on Flickr



7D2_0564 by yorgasor, on Flickr


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## kennephoto (Apr 7, 2015)

Did you take a photo of the setup? The photos still look good and interesting.


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## yorgasor (Apr 7, 2015)

kennephoto said:


> Did you take a photo of the setup? The photos still look good and interesting.



I'll get one of my kids to get a shot of me using the setup tomorrow. It looks just as ridiculous as it sounds


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## TeT (Apr 7, 2015)

Sounds fun, if you can throw in the color version of that last photo for comparison.

Thanks,


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## lintoni (Apr 7, 2015)

TeT said:


> Sounds fun, if you can throw in the color version of that last photo for comparison.
> 
> Thanks,


It _would_ be interesting to compare...


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## GuyF (Apr 7, 2015)

1880mm? Pfff. Try 2000mm! 5D3+500mm II+Canon 2x III+Kenko 2x. Sometime I'll get round to trying this setup with two 1.4x added for 3920mm.


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## AlanF (Apr 7, 2015)

Two nights ago, there was a full moon and I could not resist taking it with a 7D2, 300mm f/2.8 II + 1.4xTC, + 2xTC, 3xTC (Kenko 3X), 3xTC + 1.4xTC = 4.2xTC. The real focal lengths are 420, 600, 900 and 1260mm: fov equivalent to 672, 840, 12, 1440 and 1920mm. Here are the shots processed only by DxO with 0.9px 100% USM - the complete frames. I'll take some more shots this morning with more stacking of a brick wall!


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## AlanF (Apr 7, 2015)

GuyF said:


> 1880mm? Pfff. Try 2000mm! 5D3+500mm II+Canon 2x III+Kenko 2x. Sometime I'll get round to trying this setup with two 1.4x added for 3920mm.



Stop bragging! Here's up to 3360mm actual and 5376mm fov, but someone will beat it again. Medieval brick wall, @ 300mm, 1800mm, 2520mm and 3360mm on 7D2, equivalent fov 480, 2880, 4032 and 5376mm. Achieved by stacking various combinations of 1.4xTC III, 2xTCIII and Kenko 3xTC and 12 mm extension tube. Autofocussed in liveview with 300mm f/2.8 II or 100-400mm II. I have reduced each to 1200 pixels as otherwise too large.


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## GuyF (Apr 7, 2015)

Alan,

Those are some real nice bricks. I once saw the inside of a lens cap that was almost as good....ah, memories...

As for bragging, I thought that's why "men of a certain age" hung out here - my shlong equipment is bigger than yours.

Childish, so so childish.... 

Guy.


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## AlanF (Apr 7, 2015)

Don't worry Guy if yours isn't long enough. There's lots of good advice in the forum that it's more important to get closer by wearing camouflage, hiding in a moveable blind and sneaking up from downwind than using a longer supertelephoto. This is very good advice for photographing the moon or being on the edge of a deep lake.


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## mackguyver (Apr 7, 2015)

You can always get a superzoom - yes, it's not the same, but the ladies on the Internet won't know, well, until they ask to see it


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## GuyF (Apr 7, 2015)

AlanF said:


> Don't worry Guy if yours isn't long enough. There's lots of good advice in the forum that it's more important to get closer by wearing camouflage, hiding in a moveable blind and sneaking up from downwind than using a longer supertelephoto. This is very good advice for photographing the moon or being on the edge of a deep lake.



Okay, I just stacked all my TCs and pointed it all at the moon and here's the result. A bit of chroma sneaking in but not bad considering the moon was behind cloud and below the horizon.


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## Famateur (Apr 7, 2015)

GuyF said:


> AlanF said:
> 
> 
> > Don't worry Guy if yours isn't long enough. There's lots of good advice in the forum that it's more important to get closer by wearing camouflage, hiding in a moveable blind and sneaking up from downwind than using a longer supertelephoto. This is very good advice for photographing the moon or being on the edge of a deep lake.
> ...



That never stopped Peter Lik. ;D :-X


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## AlanF (Apr 7, 2015)

GuyF said:


> AlanF said:
> 
> 
> > Don't worry Guy if yours isn't long enough. There's lots of good advice in the forum that it's more important to get closer by wearing camouflage, hiding in a moveable blind and sneaking up from downwind than using a longer supertelephoto. This is very good advice for photographing the moon or being on the edge of a deep lake.
> ...



Depth of field isn't very good. Are you back focussing?


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## mackguyver (Apr 7, 2015)

AlanF said:


> GuyF said:
> 
> 
> > AlanF said:
> ...


He was using an old Hasselblad...


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## yorgasor (Apr 7, 2015)

TeT said:


> Sounds fun, if you can throw in the color version of that last photo for comparison.
> 
> Thanks,



Here are the requested photos. Now that I can see it in action, it looks like there's just a little bit of flex from all the adapters & extenders.



Tulip @ 1880mm (in color) by yorgasor, on Flickr



1880mm Contraption by yorgasor, on Flickr



1880mm Contraption by yorgasor, on Flickr


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## mackguyver (Apr 7, 2015)

yorgasor said:


> Here are the requested photos. Now that I can see it in action, it looks like there's just a little bit of flex from all the adapters & extenders.


Cool stuff! I'm surprised the IQ holds up as well as it does, too.


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## AlanF (Apr 8, 2015)

We spotted in Cyprus a little owl, a considerable distance away, seen in the first shot with a 1.4xTC + 100-400mm on the 7D2 (reduced 3x). Fooling around, I put the Kenko 3xTC on as well and took the lower one at 1/20s hand held, also scaled down 3x.The image is remarkably good considering it was at f/24 and 4.2xworth of TCs.


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## yorgasor (Apr 8, 2015)

Nice! It sounds like with the Kenkos, you can stack them with the Canon TCs without losing infinity focus then? I was trying to figure out how someone was getting moon shots with their TCs on.


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## AlanF (Apr 8, 2015)

There was a thread about this. Stacked Canon TCs will focus at infinity. I think that the recommended order is Lens - 2xTC - 12mm extension tube - 1.4xTC - camera.


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## GuyF (Apr 8, 2015)

Alan,

Depth of field isn't very good. Are you back focussing? Yes....by about 120,000 miles :'(

Regards.


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## noisejammer (Apr 8, 2015)

GuyF said:


> Okay, I just stacked all my TCs and pointed it all at the moon and here's the result. A bit of chroma sneaking in but not bad considering the moon was behind cloud and below the horizon.


10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 & 10.0


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## yorgasor (Apr 28, 2015)

AlanF said:


> There was a thread about this. Stacked Canon TCs will focus at infinity. I think that the recommended order is Lens - 2xTC - 12mm extension tube - 1.4xTC - camera.



Sure enough, that actually worked for me. For some reason, swapping the 2x TC and the 1.4x TC didn't let me focus to infinity. At any rate, this is what I shot tonight to show off the results. I used the Nikon 300mm f/4, 2x, 1.4x on a 7D2, with an effective range of 1344mm:



Moon at 1344mm by yorgasor, on Flickr

I should probably brighten it up a notch. It seems my primary photo display appears a little brighter at night.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Apr 28, 2015)

I tried stacking my 1.4XII and 2XII on my 600mmL and 1D MK III for a 21XX equivalent focal length. The result was poor, and it still wasn't long enough.

This one is from yesterday with 1200mm equiv using my SX50. Its viewable, but not pretty.

That nest is in the top of a very high power transmission line tower. I think thenest must be 5 ft deep or more. It took them 3 years to build.


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