Getting the Most From Teleconverters

When you need to get closer to your subject, a teleconverter might just be the option for you. Let’s see how they work, and how to use them better.

When photographing wildlife, action, or sports, telephoto lenses are the option that most photographers turn to. They let you magnify the subject and fill the frame without having to move physically closer to the subject when it’s impractical to do so. X Series lenses top out at 400mm, which is plenty for most subjects, but if you need even more reach, there are two teleconverters in the range that will add even further magnification.

These simple optics fit between your lens and the camera body, extending the lens’s focal length by a given factor. And as they’re as small and light as many prime lenses, it’s well worth having one in your bag to give additional framing options.

In the X Series, there are three teleconverters. The XF1.4X TC WR and XF2X TC WR are both compatible with several – but not all – telephoto lenses and will multiply a lens’s focal length by a factor of 1.4x and 2x respectively. The third – the XF1.4X TC F2 WR –  is designed to work specifically with the professional XF200mmF2 R LM OIS WR telephoto lens and offers a 1.4x multiplication factor.

Another advantage of using a teleconverter is that, while focal length is increased, the minimum focusing distance of the lens remains the same, therefore the maximum magnification factor increases. On XF100-400mmF4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR for example, the magnification factor at 400mm is 0.19x, but with a teleconverter fitted, you multiply this by the focal length increase and  get either 0.27x or 0.38x, making the lens a useful option for close-up images at its minimum focus distance.

It’s the same story when a teleconverter is fitted to a macro lens, so if you were to add an X Series teleconverter to the XF80mmF2.8 R LM OIS WR Macro, you’d take the 1.0x to either 1.4x or 2.0x – therefore greater than life-size at the lens’s 25cm minimum focus.

    Photo © Bill Fortney

The teleconverters in the X Series also feature a WR (weather-resistant) specification that protects against dust and moisture, matching the construction of the lenses they fit. AF and autoexposure both work as normal, so there’s no compromise there. However, a teleconverter decreases the intensity of the light that reaches the sensor by the square of its magnification. Plus, the added glass in the teleconverter itself also reduces the light reaching the sensor, so you’ll notice that when one is fitted, the maximum aperture available is decreased. More on that below.

Here you’ll find the select X Series lenses that are compatible with these teleconverters, including the focal lengths and changes in maximum aperture that you can expect from each different combination.

Photo © Axel Fassio

As mentioned above, the boost in magnification provided by a teleconverter doesn’t come for free. There is a concurrent reduction in the effective maximum aperture, and this reduction is by either one or two stops depending on whether a 1.4x or 2x teleconverter is fitted. This, of course, means less light enters the camera, so you need to compensate. So, the XF50-140mmF2.8 R LM OIS WR becomes an effective 70-196mm F4 lens or a 100-280mm F5.6 lens, respectively.

Reducing the amount of light that’s available means you’ll need to increase the ISO setting to achieve an equivalent shutter speed, and this is especially important if your image requires you to freeze movement – while the optical (OIS) and in-body image stabilization (IBIS), can offset some increased camera shake at slower shutter speeds, it can’t slow down an animal or vehicle!

Photo © Tiffany Reed Briley

Less light hitting the sensor also means that autofocus performance can be affected, but the latest X Series sensors offer very high sensitivity with their phase detection AF, so you’ll be unlikely to notice this in all but the darkest conditions.

Your Next Steps

• CHALLENGE Show us how close you can get by adding a teleconverter to your kit. Post your favorite image to social media with the hashtag #MyFujifilmLegacy and #teleconverter. You can also submit your work here for a chance to be featured on our social media channels.

Header photo © Robin Moore