Which teleconverter will work on my Nikon D3200?

I have a Nikon D3200 camera and have an AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR lens with it. I would like to have a little better zoom to get pictures of animals from farther away. Can anyone recommend a good teleconverter that will work on my equipment that's not ridiculously expensive (under $500 preferred).

Ryan…

You should invest in a decent photography guide book… This type of book guides you through equipment and techniques and helps you understand how to improve your photography…

You should also spend some time reading your instruction manual… Just because your camera has 'auto-focus' doesn't mean that it is capable of 'auto-focussing' every time you put your finger on the shutter-release… Certain conditions have to be met… For example if you stick a tele-converter between your camera and lens then you are probably going to have to use the manual focus option… Tele-converters multiply the focal range and also affect the maximum aperture of your lens… Because it affects the aperture… This in turn affects the cameras ability to auto-focus and the auto-focus won't perform as well as you might like…

When you shoot with focal lengths over 300mm camera shake is also more of an issue… And you might find that although a tele-converter will give you the reach… You might not have the 'speed'… A decent enough aperture to get your shot… Tele-converters are a compromise… Not a substitute… That's why you need to invest some time learning about the options out there… You might make better decisions with more understanding… If you invest in a tele-converter and then realise it isn't going to work the way you thought… Then you would have been better putting your tele-converter money towards a new lens.

Here is the full Nikon Telecoverter Compatibility chart:

http://www.nikonusa.com/...chart.html

If your lens isn't listed (it isn't) then there's no compatible teleconverter.

Save some more money for sigma 150-500os or tamron 150-600vc

The problem with extenders is that 1) they only work on certain lenses and 2) eat from one to two stops of light.

Here is a list of the lenses I can use my AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E II:

http://www.nikonusa.com/...4E-II.html" class='ext_link'>http://www.nikonusa.com/...4E-II.html

There are a range of 3rd party teleconvertors but they have serious problems.
Image quality is badly degraded.
With a 1.4x convertor your 55-300 f/4.5-5.6 becomes a 77 to 420 f/6.3-8
With a 2x convertor it becomes a 110-600 f/9-11.
Unless there's VERY bright light then your shutter speed will be slow and your ISO high - not good for capturing wildlife!

Sigma, Canon and Nikon make decent quality convertors but they are designed around specific lenses - and yours isn't one of them!

That lens doesn't have a wide enough aperture for autofocus to work with a tele converter. An converter would also lose clarity and be much darker. You may as well buy a cheap 600mm cat lens with a fixed f8 aperture.

All your questions can be answered on webmaggu.com

http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Nikon-Products/Product/Camera-Lenses/AF-S-Teleconverter-TC-14E-II.html