In article <49lm1o$h6n@agate.berkeley.edu>, beorn@alumni.EECS.Berkeley.EDU says...
>I've been eyeing the Nikon 80-200/f2.8, and I've run across several
>references to using teleconverters with it. I've never used a
>teleconverter and I find it difficult to understand what sort of
>problems people are describing. (much deleted for brevity)

Good teleconverters which match lenses well do not vignette, do not
cause a loss of speed in addition to the one stop for the 1.4X and
2 stops for the 2X, and do not introduce distortion (and can even
reduce linear distortion). It is difficult to predict which high
quality converters will match which high quality lenses and result
in good images, though, in general, 1.4X converters work well with
the lenses they are designed to fit at apertures beginning around
f4-5.6. 2X converters do not always work well with the lenses they
are designed to fit, but there tends to be more consistently good performance with the long, expensive prime teles (often f5.6 or
wider is good) than with other lenses, unless small stops (f11-16)
are used.

>As for the Nikon lens mentioned, the Nikon guide recommends the 14B(1.4x
>but $$$!), while the 14A and 201 (a 2x TC) will work w/vignetting. One
>of the regularly posted subjective lens evaluations mentions the 14C as
>being excellent with the 80-200/f2.8, but I can find no info on the 14C
>(discontinued? If it's so good, why would they discontinue it?). I've
>also heard that third party TC's are a great deal for the money, but
>given the low price I can't tell what that means (though they also have
>1.5x, 1.6x and 1.7x TCs).

The TC14B and C work well with the 80-200mm AF non-D Nikkor by f4, which makes the combination very useful (I have not tried them with the "D"
version, a different optical design). The TC14C was designed for the
300mm f2 Nikkor and was supplied with it. Later, it was offered
separately at a high price ($1000, I think) directly from Nikon. It is
occasionally available used (usually for about $500) from people who buy 300mm f2's and convert them for Hollywood movie camera use. I find it slightly better than the TC14B at the edges and corners at wide apertures on all lenses I have tried it on except the older 500mm f8 mirror. It is
similar in size and appearance to the B, but is noticeably heavier.
A good off-brand 2X converter (that is also cheap) is the Vivitar Macro
converter - it is slightly sharper in the center, slightly less sharp in the corners than the Nikkor TC200.
Hope this helps.