500D + EF400 f5.6 + Kenko AF 1.5x Teleplus DG - first results K

[wilfredsdad]

As there seems to have been lots of discussion about what converters work with what lenses and cameras I thought I would just put up front my preliminary experiences with my new Kenko 1.5x Teleplus DG with my new EOS 500 and EF 400 5.6. Tried them this evening out of my bedroom window - not especially good light - the sun was low and there was plenty of cloud. I found that the centre spot auto focus worked fine - when the sun was out and the light was reasonable. When the sun was clouded over and light levels dropped then it began to hunt and a couple of times could not find focus on anything further than about 30ft away.
One little difficulty I found with it is that when used with manual focus I seemed to lose focus confirmation (no beep, no red light).
Overall I think it seems to work OK, the 1.5x extra reach will I'm sure prove to be very useful and there certainly does not appear to be any significant reduction in sharpness. Like all bits of kit it has it's limits but so far I think I shall find it pretty useful - and at only £85 (Bristol Cameras) I have no complaints.
I have attached a couple of pics I took with it - taken at around 20:30 this evening - the young Starling was about 80ft away, the young Sparrow was about 35ft away (these distances are reasonably accurate 'cause I know how big my back garden is). Both pics have been cropped and processed a bit in DPP & Neat Image but not a great deal - they were both reasonably sharp straight out of the camera - regards, Pete

[Paul Jarvis]

those are decent results the combo works.

[JohnZ]

I think you will be very happy with your new lens. The Sparrow shot is particularly good.

[bren-escape]

Pete - nice pics, a useful post for me having just purchased a 400mm f5.6 and I already own the kenko. Cant wait to try it when it comes:t:

[Sandpiper]

Congratulations, Pete!

You have very quickly got to grips with your new outfit and I am sure it will give you much pleasure and enjoyment. Looking forward to seeing more of your pics soon.

Mike.

[wilfredsdad]

Hi - just a quick correction to my first post - I do get focus confirmation when manually focusing with the Kenko 1.5 tc in place - I get both the beep and the green light - don't quite know what I was doing wrong last night - but checked it again this morning and definitely get the confirmation. Have attached a pic of a young Blackbird which I took this morning with manual focus - first time I have really tried manual focus on a bird - not as difficult as I expected (although this was a very obliging bird!) - the confirmation helps considerable. The bird was exactly 68ft away (I measured it - sad old b. . . . . . r that I am) and it was quite overcast conditions. Will now shut up about my new kit and go out and take lots of bird pics - regards Pete

[bren-escape]

Pete - is the above cropped at all?

[JohnZ]

Looks a nice pic Peter but could be a bit bigger ?

[wilfredsdad]

Hi - yes it is cropped - in the original the bird occupied approx. the central 20% of the overall frame. One of the reasons I went for the 500D is because of the 15 megapixel sensor - I felt I would get a bigger crop for any given picture and, all other things being equal, the more data you get on a given subject the better; I know there is lots of debate about the value of extra megapixels but the reviews of the camera which I read seemed to confer that noise is well controlled in this camera so I felt I might as well have the extra pixels as not - regards Pete

[wilfredsdad]

Hi - yes you are right it is too small - the reason is that if it was bigger I found it was too big a file size to be uploaded to birdforum; however, I have now found that the reason it was too big was that I was saving it at too high a quality jpeg - if I drop the jpeg quality (ie increase the compression level) the picture does not seem to suffer at all but the file size is significantly smaller. What I am also discovering is that cropping is actually a bit of an art form - the size of the crop and the size of the overall picture and where you have the bird positioned in the frame make a big difference to the aesthetic appeal of the picture - you live and learn, kind regards Pete

[Nikon Kid]

Enjoy your camera and lens setup