In article <5idse8$b2s@crcnis3.unl.edu>, aaf@unlinfo.unl.edu says...
>David Rosen (golem@Capital.Net) wrote:
>: An 80-200:2.8 is handholdable, with practice, with ISO
>: 400 in good light in gentle seas. Pack a 2X TC for
>: the onshore portion of your travels and you have a
>: 160-400:5.6 that might even AF on some cameras.

>Thank you for your great advice. Everything you said makes perfect
>sense. Another person suggested using a 2X TC with my 80-200, and
>that does sound like the way to go. (My camera, by the way, is a
>Nikon 8008s, with an SB-24 Speedlight, a 80-200/2.8, and a
>28-70/2.8, both Tokinas.)
>
>I am a bit wary of TCs, however. I have a 1.7X that is a piece of
>crap. I've given up on it entirely, as I've never been able to
>produce sharp pictures with it. Of course, it IS cheap, and I got
>what I paid for. So my next question is:
>
>What's a good 2X teleconverter? Someone suggested a Vivitar, but I
>see that there are a couple different Vivitar models. Even the most
>expensive 2X TCs don't seem to be beyond my means, and picture
>sharpness is very important to me, so I'll take any advice I can get
>on what's the best 2X TC.

For your whale project, a used 300mm f4.5 Nikkor may not be too unuseably
long, or expensive (under ideal conditions...;-). BTW, if a 500mm mirror
were possible to use, the older, larger (non-macro) version of the
Nikkor 500mm f8 is perhaps THE best 500mm mirror around, and not very
expensive used. I would avoid 2X converters with the 80-200mm f2.8
Nikkor - the only one that provides good performance is a modified
Nikkor TC20E, and you don't want to know the new price...;-). Nikkor
TC14/14B/14C converters work well with this lens, also (and the TC14 is
often affordable used) - but I would expect the marginal performance of
most 2X converters on the Nikkor 80-200mm to get worse with other brand
lenses... (and then there are the speed and ease-of-use issues...).
Hope This Helps