Question on Nikkor AF-S 300 f4 and TC 14EII

I just received today from B&H the Nikkor AF-S 300f4 prime and the TC 14EII and have some questions about their use since I have never used a prime or teleconverter before. I will be using the 300f4 first to get the feel of the lens before using the TC. This lens will be used almost all the time for bird photography. I am curious how others use this Nikon lens.
1. On the 300f4, do most set the 'range of autofocus' to 3m to reduce auto focus time? Or leave at FULL?
2. On the 'minimum aperture lock', do you leave it set at 1/32 or move to wider aperture's? If you use wider aperture setting does this help for sharper or faster focusing?
3. When I took the TC 14EII out of the box I noticed that it had a rattling sound to it. Is that normal for a Nikon TC?

It is raining here in Tucson and rain forecast for tomorrow (no complaints about rain) so I am not sure how much I can get out tomorrow to test and review so any insight on this would be helpful.
Regards,
Jim

Jim

I can't help with the questions about the lens but I can tell you my Nikkor 1.4x TC rattles (when it is not attached to the lens) and that at first I too was concerned about it. There isn't any thing wrong though, it works fine.

Jim, set the lens to 3m unless you need to focus closer, it will focus quicker that way.
I think the min aperture lock has to be left at 32.
Rattling is normal and not a problem. Be very careful when putting the lens caps on the TC, if you rush it and put it on in the wrong position you will jam it on, I know because I did it and had to cut it off and buy another cap!
You are going to get fabulous shots with this rig and love it. I use the 300 f4 and a TC17 every day and couldn't live without it!

Thanks Mia and Bill, much appreciated.

I leave my 300/2.8 AF on the full range as I often find I'm working birds close to the camera. Even with the 2x on my 300 I need to be close to the small subject to get decent image size. If you find yourself shooting birds nearer to the infinity part of the focus range you are probably too far away.

The aperture must be locked at the minimum value. It has nothing to do with what you actually shoot at - you control that with one of the command dials on the camera body. Locking the minimum aperture allows the camera to stop the lens down to whatever aperture you select at the time of exposure. With the min aperture locked set you camera to aperture priority mode and everything will work under your control.

As I mentioned in private email, the rattle is normal when the converter is not mounted between the body and prime lens. It is the mechanism in the converter that transfers the position/movement of the lens diaphragm between body and lens and needs to rotate freely.

Thank you Richard.

I've played around with the range of focus and can't figure out what it's supposed to be good for! If you want focusing to happen faster, you should pre-focus to the general area you expect to find your subject. I use the TC17 and find that it doesn't create any problems that would impede getting the feel of the lens. Put it on and have a ball. Note that your closest focus distance doesn't change when you put on the TC. You just get a bigger image. I have also found that the TC doesn't help or hinder AF speed or ability to acquire the subject. Sometimes the lens will hunt, but it's not the fault of the TC.

Thanks John, wonderful Blog and images by the way.