Extension Tubes on 300 f4 (2 Viewers)

[dtpavlik]

Hi,

Has anyone used extension tubes on the old Nikon 300 f/4 AF for butterfly/dragonfly photography? If so, what would you recommend? Any insight would be great.

Thanks!

 

[Robin59]

Hello

does your 300/f4 work with your D300? If it works you can buy AF extention tubes including the AF function. I use set of B.I.G containing 12/20 and 36 mm, which can be combined. In Germany the price is about 130 €. You don't need to uy the NIkon stuff....

Best regards

Alfred

 

[ikw101]

I've used the Kenko extension tubes on the old Nikon 300/4 on several occasions. In general the results have been good however the depth of field is extremely shallow. In the end I ended up buying a Sigma 150mm macro lens.
If you do go with the tubes buy a decent quality set. The Kenko allow AF (although the depth of field is so shallow on a 300mm lens you really need to manually focus). The cheaper tubes tend to have weaker lens mounts with a heavy lens its a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[Neil-T]

I have had some fantastic results with 300mm Nikon and Sigma f/4 lenses and extension tubes. I don't understand the above comment about DOF being better with a dedicated macro lens, I had a 150 and 180 macro and found the 300mm to be far better DOF wise, unless you can use the macro lens at f/34. All these pictures were taken with a 300mm f/4 Nikon with a 32mm extension tube at 400iso. Even the DOF at f7.1 is impressive in my opinion. The extension tubes i was using were the Kenko one with the electronic connection.

 

[Longpoint90]

I have had some fantastic results with 300mm Nikon and Sigma f/4 lenses and extension tubes. I don't understand the above comment about DOF being better with a dedicated macro lens, I had a 150 and 180 macro and found the 300mm to be far better DOF wise, unless you can use the macro lens at f/34. All these pictures were taken with a 300mm f/4 Nikon with a 32mm extension tube at 400iso. Even the DOF at f7.1 is impressive in my opinion. The extension tubes i was using were the Kenko one with the electronic connection.

Thank you Neil for sharing. Great info. Beautiful macros.

 

[Len Poxon]

Neil,
Lovely set of photos.
Was that the 300F4 AFS or the older AF version. If so does it meter and autofocus correctly with the extension tubes.

Len

 

[Neil-T]

Yes, it was the nikon 300 f/4 AFS, but I have also had great results with non AFS and a sigma 300 f/4, I also own a Nikon 200mm micro. Thanks for the comments. Neil.

 

[eenymac]

Not a Nikon user myself - I use a Pentax K5 - but my favourite lens for butterflies and dragonflies is my 300mm F4 with a 31mm extension tube. Good depth of field, manual focus only, but I prefer that anyway for these subjects, and it allows a good working distance for frame fillers without having to get too close and spooking them.

 

[Bird_Bill]

If a suitable teleconverter can be found, glass can removed easily. Suitable being in bad shape glass-wise and cheap. Most 1.4x to 1.7x TC's gives around 25mm extension, 2x a bit more. Most often the best buys results in shooting manual because of lack of meter coupling contacts. Simple spanner wrench is usually all thats needed to remove glass.

Often a very cheap and more robust than current plastic, extension tube(s).
Use 200/2.5, 300/2.8, 300/4, 400/5.6 on tubes alot, I dont trust the weight to plastic.

 

[Duke Leto]

Kenko extn tubes meter, retain focus and are metal

 

[roemer]

I have had some fantastic results with 300mm Nikon and Sigma f/4 lenses and extension tubes. I don't understand the above comment about DOF being better with a dedicated macro lens, I had a 150 and 180 macro and found the 300mm to be far better DOF wise, unless you can use the macro lens at f/34. All these pictures were taken with a 300mm f/4 Nikon with a 32mm extension tube at 400iso. Even the DOF at f7.1 is impressive in my opinion. The extension tubes i was using were the Kenko one with the electronic connection.

Neil,

I have a question about the combination kenko tubes and the 300 afs f4. What about the sturdiness of these tubes. I've tried to use them a couple of years ago with a 300 f2.8 VR and that was not really a succes, the tubes had way to much play resulting in loss of contact with the lens. I am considering the repurchase of the 300 af4 for semi macro and still have an PN-11 tube, but being able to autofocus with a kenko tube would come in handy.
Is it possible to use the 32 mm tube on an tripod with a D700 attached to it?

 

[Jaff]

Kenko extn tubes meter, retain focus and are metal

Well the mounts are but the rest is plastic. Still by far the best available on the market IMO.

 

[Neil-T]

Neil,

I have a question about the combination kenko tubes and the 300 afs f4. What about the sturdiness of these tubes. I've tried to use them a couple of years ago with a 300 f2.8 VR and that was not really a succes, the tubes had way to much play resulting in loss of contact with the lens. I am considering the repurchase of the 300 af4 for semi macro and still have an PN-11 tube, but being able to autofocus with a kenko tube would come in handy.
Is it possible to use the 32 mm tube on an tripod with a D700 attached to it?

I never had any problems losing contact with the 300f/4 with any of the tubes, the only problem I encountered was loss of contact when you stacked the tubes. Considering that the 300f/2.8 is considerably heavier than the f/4, a tripod would be advisable. Neil.

 

[roemer]

I never had any problems losing contact with the 300f/4 with any of the tubes, the only problem I encountered was loss of contact when you stacked the tubes. Considering that the 300f/2.8 is considerably heavier than the f/4, a tripod would be advisable. Neil.

Neil,

ive just received a set of tubes and tried them on the 70-200 vr2, and even with the smallest tube the af hunts like hell (in very small increments). I don't recall having the same problems with the VR1 a couple of years ago. How do the tubes (in particular the 36 mm) behave in this aspect on the 300 f4 afs?

grtx

rrv