Canon 70-200 Zoom w/1.4 extender..

Tools · Canon 70-200 Zoom w/1.4 extender..

After much thought, I have sent off for a Canon 1.4 extender..

I have been using a marginal 70-300 Quantaray lens for the longer shots that I infrequently need, and results have been passable.

But the Canon 70-200L lens is a far superior lens, it just isn't quite long enough to reach out for the wildlife and locations I have been to lately, and requires a bit more cropping to get the subject to a suitable size in the final photo..

My experience with extenders goes back to the 70's when the use of one simply meant a horrible degradation in the picture quality, and the result was hardly worth the effort..........

Using either of these on the full frame 5D would not be much of an advantage.. However, using it on a 30D body with the 1.6 sensor gives me a starting point of 320mm equivalent, and then with the 1.4 extender I should see an equivalent reach of 448mm.

Does this seem like a sensible approach ?

Anybody have experience with a good quality 1.4 extender...?

uncle aj

Most of my bird pictures are taken with a x1.4 teleconveter, however it is coupled to a 300mm f2.8 prime lens. Adding a x1.4 to a zoom is not usually recommended so if you can try before you buy, I'd do that.

Tools

I hear ya...

There is a good deal on the very good Canon 1.4x L lens extender. At half price of about 250 bucks, I think it is well worth getting and having in the bag...

I've ordered it and will run a few tests with the very limited number of Canon EF lenses I have.... all 4 of them zooms of some sort covering from 15mm out to 300mm, but the primary is the Canon 70-200 f2.8 L IS lens. If the extender proves good with that, I could leave the 70-300 home...

Unfortunately I have over a dozen Canon FD series lenses from 21mm fisheye to 450mm, and 4, 35mm format bodies that have become obsolete in the new digital world...
......I don't think that at 60, I want to invest that much again.........but an extender...and maybe a 300mm prime could find their way into the bag..

...

Hmmmmm... Maybe I won't be able to lighten the weight of the camera bag after all....

uncle aj

I use a camera backpack and I reckon it has 10 kg or more of equipment in it. If I had to walk far with that load it would kill me. It's a pity lenses can't be made lighter but if you want the best glass then there's a weight penalty.

Letsgodiving

Here is a pretty good review using the TC's with that lens that shows some significant degradation of the image using them. I was thinking of getting the same set up until I saw this. I think they are mostly meant for prime lenses but it could still allow you to get that shot that you wouldn't get otherwise and it looks like you can clean them up somewhat in PS.

http://photo.net/equipment/canon/tc1/

Tools

Well, that is one of the problems with the internet.. There is so much information that you can find an argument for almost anything, bot for and against..

I'm surprised by the article you cite as I have generally had better images with the 70-200 lens than the ones that he shows as his samples without the converter....although I do know, and never expect, a converter to perform like a lens specifically built for the focal length.

In any event, I have the lens and as I said previously, I bought it because it is one of the professional choices for a "walk-around" lens, with some of the best quality glass for a zoom on the market.. Most of my photos are nature shots and so I thought that, for the price of a converter, it would be nice to have one in the bag "just-in-case".

I do like the 100-400... but I like the quality of the 70-200 for most nature and landscape shots, and the fact that it is faster for those overcast or less than optimal days..

I guess that I will probably end up with a long prime lens....say a 300, and then the converter for when I really need to reach out..... I'll have to give that some serious thought.

Here is a different article on the quality of converters with better comparisons..

http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/tutorials/tc3.html

Letsgodiving

Thanks for that link. You're right there is information overload sometimes. My head is swimming. I want a 100-400 f2.8 IS but Canon isn't cooperating. The 70-200 f2.8 is hard to beat and is considered one of the best lenses Canon has ever made so I'm torn but I think for what I'm looking for the 100-400 will better suit my needs. There is talk of them updating it so as soon as I get it they will probably release the new and improved version. I will be interested to see what you think of the TC.

Gedanken

For what it's worth, I took this shot with the 1.4 and the 70-200 2.8L:

The TC drops the aperture by one stop, but I'm not displeased by the results.

uncle aj

Gedanken

vh_bu98

I've never tried the 1.4 TC, but I have tried a 1.7 TC and did find it to soften images on the 70-200mm f/2.8. TCs work best on prime lenses.