180/2,8AIS+TC201 sharper than 300/4,5 AIS?

[Soeren]

I tried some bird photography some days ago and wasn't quite satisfied but hey low light levels, big apperture and long shutterspeeds etc.
So yesterday I did an informal nonscientific comparison between my 180mm F2,8 ais on TC 201 and 300mm f/4,5 trying to keep effective aperture and shutterspeed the same and using a sb 26 to light the subject (some logs used as feeding place for the birds)
I found that the 180 on 2X converter made way sharper images with a lot more details than the 300mm @5,6 to 11, both handheld but rested on soft but firm support (the 300 lacks its tripod collar)
Can anybody confirm this or should I retry and standardize setup even more?
I know my 180 performs really good alone and I would expect the TC201 should degrade its performance but not that the 300mm f/4,5 did that bad.
Best regards

 

[darkosaric]

You could attach 300mm f4,5 on TC 201 and see how much degradation you get. 180mm is a superb lens, and that teleconverter is great also, I would not expect big visible degradation from 180mm + TC201. 300mm f4,5 is good, but not legendary, plus maybe you have bad condition sample.

 

[Soeren]

So my findings are not unlikely? Ok.
Which great teles in the 300-400mm range (Nikon, Canon FD, Minolta Olympus...........) would you recommend?
E.g. the 400mm f/4,5 FD is not that expensive.

 

[Xmas]

If you want IQ in a 300mm you need the tripod collar, cable release and a tripod that is a solid concrete mass.

 

[Soeren]

If you want IQ in a 300mm you need the tripod collar, cable release and a tripod that is a solid concrete mass.

Yeah I know and Id like a tripod collar option for the 180 as well. I just found it odd that it (the 180) do better with the TC201 (360mm effective) than the 300 alone under the same conditions. Seems Ill go with the 180/TC201 combo for the time being.

 

[Soeren]

Btw some years ago I tried my tripods and tripod heads out using my P6X7 and a laser pointer and found out the head is more important than tripod weight in reducing the effect from mirror slap. I used a Novo classic ball (a big one borrowed), a Mannfrotto 3 way head (RC 441?) the 055CLB and the 058. It didn't matter which tripod I used but there was a huge difference between the heads. The ballhead was the better of the two.