"It's a boy/girl"

[wendell westfall]

D90 70-200VR+2X@400 1/2500 f5.6 ISO640 0EV hahdheld

There is lots wrong with this image! But it is posted because of its -- for me, at least -- unusual bird behavior story. This avocet has hatched the last of three chicks and is flying around proudly showing off the empty egg shell to all (I'm assured of this narrative by birders who know much more about birds than I). The picture was taken two days ago at a marsh where a dozen avocets and stilts are mating, nesting and hatching. The image is very heavily cropped; I'm sure you can tell that I do not have adequate lens reach to capture this action properly. But I grabbed what I could when the situation presented. I did some PP beyond the crop, but I don't think I changed or improved things very much. So, I post it for its behavioral interest. And if anyone has suggestions for image improvement I would appreciate it very much. Of course, i do not expect that any tweaks can make it "first class"

Wendell

[Jeff Parker]

This is a case of "it's about the experience, not the image." I love being able to witness things like this.

[Juan Aragonés]

Image quality is not very good but it is an interesting behavior Wendell. Using a 2X Nikon TC in a lens different to the 200 f2 or 300 f2,8 is not a great idea (even with those lenses the 2X doesn´t works very well) and TC´s perform really bad with zoom lenses. Considering that you were using the 2X and that this one is a crop you can not expect a lot of details in the image. I think that you can do better with the bare 70-200 lens and a upsize in Photoshop than using the 2X-TC on that lens. Hope this helps :-)

[Tony Whitehead]

Image quality is not very good but it is an interesting behavior Wendell. Using a 2X Nikon TC in a lens different to the 200 f2 or 300 f2,8 is not a great idea (even with those lenses the 2X doesn´t works very well) and TC´s perform really bad with zoom lenses. Considering that you were using the 2X and that this one is a crop you can not expect a lot of details in the image. I think that you can do better with the bare 70-200 lens and a upsize in Photoshop than using the 2X-TC on that lens. Hope this helps :-)
As a general rule, I would agree with Juan. Interestingly the 70-200VRII and TC-20EIII combo has been getting good reviews. I haven't had an opportunity to test this combo myself yet.

[Juan Aragonés]

Tony it seems that the new 2X-Tc is a serious improvement compared to the old version but, in my opinion, it is not enought for me because I use APS bodies and the TC only works fine with full frame cameras (that makes sense because Nikon pro line-up is full frame and do not forget that teleconverters are designed to work with pro gear).
Brad Hill has a series of terrific quality images made with a new 2X-TC but he uses Full Frame bodies and f2,8 and f4 pro lens ( http://www.naturalart.ca/artist/fieldtests/tc_series3.html)

[wendell westfall]

Juan, I appreciate your observations about my using the 2X. Next time out I'm going to abandon its use and see what I come up with . . .