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I have been using the D700 + 70-200 f2.8 VRII + 2x TCIII for about 9 months now and the combo is a superb light zoom solution to get to 400mm with exceptional IQ, given that it is a zoom being used with a 2x TC!

I also use this combo on my D7000 with exceptional results also. See on my SIngapore Zoo photos for D7000 + 70-200 f2.8 VRII + 2x TCIII. You can see which photos are using the 2x TCIII in the descriptions:
http://www.pbase.com/lance_b/singapore

AF speed is a tad slowed, moreso in low light, but it still locks on accurately and quickly in good to moderate light.



See full size image here:
http://www.pbase.com/lance_b/image/126211144/original

Our dog:


Full sized image:
http://www.pbase.com/lance_b/image/125237434/original

Here is a shot captured with a flying seagull and the 70-200 + 2x TCII locked on very quickly and accurately. This bird was moving rather quickly accross the frame:


Full sized image here:
http://www.pbase.com/lance_b/image/126673433/original

Another, heavily cropped:


Full sized image here:

http://www.pbase.com/lance_b/image/126673434

Lot's more photos on my site here:
http://www.pbase.com/lance_b/d700_70200 ... converters

To say that I am happy with the 70-200 f2.8 VRII + 2x TCIII would have to be a major understatement.

Interesting... I already found the IQ with the old TC (version II) on the 70-200VR to be more than acceptable. I have seen other posts saying the same, and I might consider upgrading to version III.
Did you give it a try on the 300VR as well ?

Hi Lance,

Thanks for talking me in the purchase of the D7000. D7000 is a perfect partner for my D700. In good light I get extremely good results with my 70-200VRII and the TCIII on D7000 but I'm still a little puzzled with your stunning results at high isos.
What are your in-camera settings? With what program do you make nef conversion? What procedure do you follow for noise reduction and sharpness?
I would be very happy if you would tell me all that...

How you manage to get results at iso 2200 like in the underneath picture of yours is a mystery to me. Congratulations.


Link to the original: http://www.pbase.com/lance_b/image/131853864

StanyB wrote:Hi Lance,

Thanks for talking me in the purchase of the D7000. D7000 is a perfect partner for my D700. In good light I get extremely good results with my 70-200VRII and the TCIII on D7000 but I'm still a little puzzled with your stunning results at high isos.
What are your in-camera settings? With what program do you make nef conversion? What procedure do you follow for noise reduction and sharpness?
I would be very happy if you would tell me all that...

How you manage to get results at iso 2200 like in the underneath picture of yours is a mystery to me. Congratulations.

Thank you for your kind words, Stany!

I always shoot RAW and my converter is Capture One Pro 6. In Capture One Pro 6 (COP6), I do as much as possible, IF REQUIRED like, saturation, highlight/shadow, WB, adjust exposure, lens aberration (CA, distortion etc), straighten horizon, perspective like tilting buildings etc. I then save as a 16 bit TIFF.

In Photoshop, I then use Imagenomic Noiseware Professional plug in for any images that require noise reduction and I have found it a brilliant noise reduction tool. Mostly, it is a luminance issue rather than a colour issue and I use more luminance noise reduction than colour reduction, for ISO3200 I may use 75% luminance noise reduction compared to 30-40% colour noise reduction. Just play around with the settings until you get a good balance between noise and detail preservation. I try to keep detail as high as I can whilst getting rid of most noise and it seems to work well.

Once I have done the noise reduction, I may do any other tweaks that Photoshop allows that COP6 does not, however, I find that COP6 does just about everything now and very little needs to be done other than noise reduction via Noiseware Professional. Other than that, I just reduce for web size and then sharpen using Power Retouche plug in for Photoshop and save as a jpeg. Power Retouche is a French plug in and has some excellent plug in tools. Also highly a recommended plug in.

I hope this helps and if there are any more questions please just ask!

Guy Van Hooveld wrote:Interesting... I already found the IQ with the old TC (version II) on the 70-200VR to be more than acceptable. I have seen other posts saying the same, and I might consider upgrading to version III.
Did you give it a try on the 300VR as well ?

Yes, I have used the 2x TCIII on my 300 f2.8 VRII and it is a perfect combo. I think that Nikon designed the 2x TCIII with the 70-200 f2.8 VRII and the 300 f2.8 VRII in mind. In fact, I think they designed both these lenses and the 2x TCIII as a design combination, ie, I think that they desgined theses lenses with the TC as part of the light path.

Here are a few with the 300 f2.8 + 2x TCIII:

On the D700:





On the D7000: