On teleconverters and choosing best lens

I was eluding earlier to the fact that recently I changed my Nikon D300 to another Nikon body, D800. I am still in the process of writing a post why I ended up with D800 and what I think about this camera, but meantime, it went for its first reality check. It was going with me to Oshkosh. Yes, I had it rented for Airventure last year, but I also had the Sigma 50-500 mm lens.

This time, I ended up taking only one lens, my full-frame zoom, Nikkor 28-300 mm. I really feel a little bit more is needed for better photographs of airplanes in the sky. The almost last minute decision was to add a teleconverter to it. Nothing fancy, just 1.4x, to get just a little bit closer. I am glad I decided to rent instead of going ahead and just buying it. A quick look at the page on LensRentals (the company I use to rent my gear) revelaed, it will not work.

It makes sense, when you think about it. The zoom lens is only f/3.5-5.6. At 300 mm, it is just too dark to focus. Is the convenience of universal zoom lens worth the limits it imposes? I am not so sure anymore.

UPDATE – I found very useful article on LensRentals blog about teleconverters, why they do not work with some lenses and general rules with which lenses they do work.