Is a teleconvertor worth it?

[Toon49]

I'm new to photography and have a pentax k-x with the twin kit lens. Ideally I would like to buy a bigger lens such as a 500mm but unfortunately don't have the budget being a student after splashing out on the camera!

I have seen you can buy teleconvertors on ebay ect for under £20, I'm guessing these reduce the quality alot?

Has anyone used one and could give me any advice or point me in the right direction?

Thanks

 

[Yellowbelly]

My advice is if you buy a tc, then buy a top quality version. I use a Canon 1.4 tc MkIII with my 70-200 Canon lens and I defy anyone to tell shots from that combination from those from just the 70-200.

You will have to spend a deal more than £20, but you will still save a huge amount compare with a new lens.

 

[pingu666]

you could look at m42 manual lenses, and old m42 tele converters, or pentax k mount? whatever they had in the 80's, think those still work, but manual

the big mirror lenes can be junky, so carefully research those that you see cheap

 

[Toon49]

So may be worth trying a more expensive one. Are some of the older m42 ones alright?

 

[Chunkey Monkey]

You really do get what you pay for, As stated try and sample some of the older M42 lens and TC's Im using a Kencko pro 300 AF DGX 1.4 and finding im not losing much at all I really need to pixel peep to notice any difference.

 

[BacktotheFuji]

Using a teleconverter with the kit telephoto lens will not work well I'm afraid. You'll likely lose autofocus and the image quality will be compromised. It's best to use a high quality lens and high quality teleconverter if you want decent results.