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(More customer reviews)This is a very good teleconverter, which of course gives a 1.7 times magnification to your lens. It is said to have been specifically been designed to go with the Nikkor 70-200 VR lens (and it also is compatible with certain other Nikkor lenses; see the Nikon website for a compatibility chart).
Nikon makes three teleconverters in this series, the TC 14E II, the TC 20E II, and this TC 17EII. The former two teleconverters give a 1.4 times, and 2 times magnification, respectively.
After considerable research, I went with the TC17E II on the theory (which is the common impression of many Nikon photographers) that this teleconverter is the best trade-off between image quality and extra reach. Of course, the more magnification that a teleconverter affords, the more degradation of image quality it will introduce.
After several shoots using the 70-200VR, the TC17E II, and the Nikon D200, I have been able to form some pretty good impressions, most of them favorable. All teleconverters will adversely affect image quality, which degradation will range from the imperceptable to the significant. My impression of this TC is that if you stop the lens down to around F8, the degradation is imperceptible, i.e. essentially nonexistent. With the lens wide open and at maximum zoom, there is some degradation of sharpness, although it is still possible to produce acceptible images under those conditions. Bottom line is that the TC 17E II is fine under reasonable light conditions. I have used it to shoot fast-moving birds under early morning light conditions, and the 70-200VR/TC 17E II combination has produced some extremely satisfactory images--and giving the lens the extra reach that was necessary to produce these images at all. Accordingly, in my opinion the TC 17E-II fulfilled its purpose--to give extra reach to the zoom without significantly degrading image quality.
The TC is beautifully and solidly built, with the same level of durability that went into the superb 70-200VR. I use this TC with my 70-200VR most of the time.
A fine teleconverter for those who need extra reach for some of their applications and this is a viable and economical alternative to buying a second, longer lens.
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Nikon TC-17E II (1.7x) Teleconverter AF-S for Nikon Digital SLR CamerasThe Nikon TC-17E II was designed exclusively for use with AF-S and AF-I lenses, and completes the Nikon lineup of 1.4x, 1.7x, and 2.0x compact teleconverters. This teleconverter will maintain full metering and focusing with compatible cameras and lenses, and will also support the VR function found on many of the newer professional lenses.The AF-S Teleconverter TC-17E II allows focal length to be extended by a factor of 1.7 times while retaining a sense of overall comfort in the hand. Many such teleconverters can also have a detrimental effect on the speed of the lens, however the AF-S Teleconverter TC-17E II makes available f-stops only 1.5 stops slower.NOTE: Due to the high-quality design of this converter (7 elements/4 groups), the teleconverter will only fit and work with a select range of lenses.NOTE: Autofocusing only possible when used with D1, D1X, D1H, D2H, D100, F5, F100, N90s, N80, N75 and N65 AF SLR Cameras (or any newer models).
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