Hin's Photo Corner

I was about to sell my new Tokina/Kenko branded Pz-AF 2x Teleplus MC7 converter. I bought it new about $90.00 and I used it last with some reasonable moon shots with Pentax F* 300mm f/4.5. I don't have a reliable setup of tripod and ball-head and I test the same setup further in a birding tour with Don Edwards SF wildlife refuge. I brought along the setup and before I knew it, a Pelican fly by filling big part of my view finder and I take few shots hoping for a reasonable shot to convince myself to keep the TC.








Impressions & Notes

• Not the best in IQ but very much hand-holdable setup that I can shoot without a tripod
• If you expect AF to work reliably, don't buy this TC as you may get disappointed. Though it has the power zoom contacts that look like the SDM contacts, it is not found to work with Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8 in auto-focus.
  
• Though the TC worked with F* 300mm with AF, the motor noise and AF seem to take a long time to travel to focal point, I ended up shooting all birds flying shots in manual focus mode along with TAv where I set the shutter speed to a fast shutter as in 1/1600 sec and set Av to f/6.3, probably the lowest that is allowed after the TC is mounted.
  
• Unlike the time that I shot the moon with this set up, the manual focusing seem to work better than AF as I can get more responsive to the birds movement in MF. With the moon, the AF pretty much stay about the same spot not changing. With the birds, things around the birds as well as panning their movement kept the focusing to re-focus and somehow make the shot more difficult to do in AF than MF. Shame, I don't know how to explain it well, it is an odd feeling why MF works better than AF in this difficult shooting scenes with the birds.
  
• I had similar bad experience with AF on the F* 300mm f/4.5 without the TC that I divide my shots to have a balance between AF and MF subject to the scene and shooting conditions. There are many times that the AF foul up on me especially with AF.C and panning birds with distracting backgrounds or background with low contrast. And I can hardly rely on the semi-working AF for panning the birds movement.
  
• I am going to keep the TC as I find it worth keeping for $90 to bring my 300mm into a workable 600mm lens. Of course, there are many cons that go with the TC approach in degradation of IQ. My approach in assessing the usefulness on the TC is making the shot with compromises and the TC does let me stay at a good distance in not disturbing the wildlife.
  

Related:

• Tokina/Kenko branded Pz-AF 2x Teleplus MC7
• Pentax F* 300mm f/4.5
• Pentax 400mm f/5.6 choices
• Tokina 400mm f/5.6 SD
• Hin's Camera Gear
  

I make some test shots with my Pentax FA 50mm f/1.4 and Pentax A 50mm f/2.8 1:2 Macro using the 2x Macro Teleplus adapter from Kenko. The results are not as dramatic as some posting I see from others on actual macro lens such as Tamron MF 90mm f/2.8, but the adapter works reasonably good in converting a normal fast prime to better closeup and 1:1 macro. And I find the Tele in 2x not as shabby as I originally thought.

My impressions with the Kenko 2x Macro Teleplus adapter with FA 50 f/1.4 is positive though I find vignetting and severe CA in wide open apertures when I used it with FA 50 f/1.4. But overall, the adapter brings my beloved 50mm prime up a notch for fun. All six images are shot with the adapter and FA 50 f/1.4 in iso 100/200/400 with aperture ranging from 7.1 to 11. It is very windy in harsh lighting around 3 when I took a coffee break with no coffee.





I have not gone through many uses with the 2x tele, but the casual shots using adapter in 2x tele mode seems pleasant surprise in extending my 50mm to 100mm





Macro Usage:

• Adapter has markings with white and green colors. On one end is the 1:1 magnification and the other end marks 0.45m and infinity.
  
• I turn adapter to extend to the fullest going to the 1:1 magnification marking
  
• I manually focus lens on infinity
  
• Using trap focus, I aim at object in about half a feet and moving in and out from the focal point to obtain focus. A tripod and a rail system will help on the focusing part.
  

Tele 2x usage:

• I turn the adapter to retract to the 0.45m/infinity marking
• manual focus as usual
  

Initial impressions & notes:

• Adapter looks very similar to Vivitar 2x Macro adapter with the full electrical contacts with wording for "P/K-A R-P/K". My adapter does not have marking for 'Kenko' but I assume it is made by Kenko as the 'Teleplus' wording seems to go with Keno teleconverter adapter
  
• Wording on adapter: KAX 2x Macro Teleplus MC7
• Serial number: 9001098
• My adapter has all the electrical contacts for metering and trap focus. Once mounted with FA 50 f/1.4, I can use Av mode without problems.
• Some CA is noted in wide open aperture
• Vignetting is seen also in wide open aperture
• Adapter adds fun factor to a normal good 50mm prime. It works well with my FA 50 f/1.4 bring it closer to a macro lens
• The fun factor is interesting in using my 50mm as a 100mm though the f/stop loss
• Recommended as adapter to get a decent 50mm to 1:1 macro. The 2x tele comes as an added charm but mainly the Macro 1:1 is the key for the adapter. It works in turning 50mm to a 1:1 macro and with a turn, the 50mm acts as a 100mm.
  

Related:

• Pentax SMC FA 50mm f/1.4
• Cosina 1:1 Matched Macro Adapter with FA 50 f/1.4
• Cosina 1:1 Matched Macro Adapter with A 50 f/2.8 1:2 Macro
• Tamron 1.4x Pz-AF MC4 TC
• Promaster Spectrum 7 1.7x AF TC
• Tamron-F 2X KR MC4 TC
  
• Hin's Camera Gear