Trying out the Nikon 1.4x Z Teleconverter

Recently I picked up a Nikon 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 telephoto lens to lug around while I’m out hiking and it has been a wonderful addition to my kit.  While 600mm is quite a bit of reach, you always want more.  That’s where the 1.4x teleconverter comes in.  Getting out to test, I did some short hiking around a favorite spot and stumbled across a juvenile red-tailed hawk hunting in the woods.

While you lose a stop of light using the TC, I’m gaining about 240mm of reach when zoomed out on the 180-600mm, so it’s a good trade off. What I was initially concerned about was if there would be much of an image quality hit by using the TC on a consumer zoom lens.  So far, I’m not seeing much of a disadvantage.

Not much to complain with this setup, except for Nikon Z’s issues with snowflakes as seen in this last image…