300/2.8 + 2x tc (1 Viewer)

Roy C · Sep 28, 2009

I know a lot of people are interested in how the 300/2.8 performs with a 2x tc, I have now taken around 1000 shots with this combo and thought some might be interested in my findings.

When I bought the 300/2.8 I was positive it would perform well at 300 and 420mm but was a little sceptical about how good it would be at 600mm for every day use. Bottom line is that I am over the moon with its performance with the 2x tc – I am now beginning to think of this lens as a genuine 600/5.6

LOL

While the AF performance on my 40D at 600mm is not quite up to the blinding speed of the 300/420mm options it is easily good enough for my needs and I would suggest it is still as fast as some lesser bare lenses.

I am finding that 600mm is giving me lots of shots that would have been out of range with a 400mm lens. Don’t get me wrong if the bird is a small dot in the frame at 400mm it is just a slightly bigger dot at 600mm.
But whereas a small bird might need to be within say 15 feet at 400mm to get a good shot then the 600mm gives you an extra 10 feet or so to play with which brings a heck of a lot more birds into range.

Attached are some shots all taken at 600mm. All these shots are cropped to some extent but in the next post there is a couple of near 100% crops and the full frame originals to give you some idea of the crop-ability of the lens with a 2x tc attached.

Roy C · Sep 28, 2009

Here are a couple of very heavy crops and the full frame originals.

Cristian Mihai · Sep 28, 2009

Great pics Roy. I like very much #2 and #4 from the first post. Seems that your gear perform very well indeed.

johnno · Sep 28, 2009

Cristian Mihai said:
Great pics Roy. I like very much #2 and #4 from the first post. Seems that your gear perform very well indeed.

I agree Totally,
Very Nice shots there,The Gear does Perform very well indeed.

Regards.
John

PanamaMan · Sep 28, 2009

Roy C said:
I know a lot of people are interested in how the 300/2.8 performs with a 2x tc, I have now taken around 1000 shots with this combo and thought some might be interested in my findings.

When I bought the 300/2.8 I was positive it would perform well at 300 and 420mm but was a little sceptical about how good it would be at 600mm for every day use. Bottom line is that I am over the moon with its performance with the 2x tc – I am now beginning to think of this lens as a genuine 600/5.6 LOL

While the AF performance on my 40D at 600mm is not quite up to the blinding speed of the 300/420mm options it is easily good enough for my needs and I would suggest it is still as fast as some lesser bare lenses.

I am finding that 600mm is giving me lots of shots that would have been out of range with a 400mm lens. Don’t get me wrong if the bird is a small dot in the frame at 400mm it is just a slightly bigger dot at 600mm.
But whereas a small bird might need to be within say 15 feet at 400mm to get a good shot then the 600mm gives you an extra 10 feet or so to play with which brings a heck of a lot more birds into range.

Attached are some shots all taken at 600mm. All these shots are cropped to some extent but in the next post there is a couple of near 100% crops and the full frame originals to give you some idea of the crop-ability of the lens with a 2x tc attached.

Wonderful images Roy ~ my main motivation for p/x ing my 400mm f5.6 for the 300mm f2.8 was that I already had both Canon extenders, and had read in various places how well they performed with the 300. Your images bear that out and my initial tests look promising, although I'm nowhere near your standard !!
The 1.4x in particular gives me an extra 20mm over the 400 (neither here nor there), a full stop (huge!) and IS (even bigger !!) against the weight penalty.
An unexpected bonus has been that someone saw me busy at the Goodwood Revival and asked me to submit images for a French based classic car website; when I got home and saw the quality I was getting with the 1.4x I was happy to oblige. Although slightly off-topic in this Forum, the link for anyone interested is :

http://www.classiccarpassion.com/fr...l-2009/john-renton-goodwood-revival-2009.aspx

The 700px limit on that page does not really do the detail or the colour rendition produced by this lens justice, but on my screen the originals give me no reason to doubt the wisdom of my trade-in.

Regards,
John

Roy C · Sep 28, 2009

PanamaMan said:
An unexpected bonus has been that someone saw me busy at the Goodwood Revival and asked me to submit images for a French based classic car website; when I got home and saw the quality I was getting with the 1.4x I was happy to oblige. Although slightly off-topic in this Forum, the link for anyone interested is :

http://www.classiccarpassion.com/fr...l-2009/john-renton-goodwood-revival-2009.aspx

The 700px limit on that page does not really do the detail or the colour rendition produced by this lens justice, but on my screen the originals give me no reason to doubt the wisdom of my trade-in.

Regards,
John

Some very nice images there John, I would have thought that the 300/2.8 is a cracking lens for motor sport.

Neil-T · Sep 28, 2009

Excellent report Roy, I am thinking of going down this road as well and was considering the sigma version of the lens. Just been made redundant with a sizeable payout so all I need to do is get another job and I can go for the Canon version. Great photo's by the way.

Tim Taylor · Sep 28, 2009

Your write ups on the 300 f2.8 have been really helpful Roy. Every other day now I'm determined to buy one and the more pics you post, the more I like the idea.

paulhillion · Sep 28, 2009

Excellent shots all round Roy, you're obviously enjoying the lens and the freedom it gives you of being able to use TC's without fear of losing too much in the way of IQ. I'm so pleased you're getting the most out of the lens!

Best wishes

Paul

Robert L Jarvis · Sep 29, 2009

Hi Roy

See my post on your piccie. As I said would be interesting to do a comparison as I suggested to judge quality of image. Still think though which ever way it will be outstanding which is why my son Adam wants one.

Roy C · Sep 29, 2009

paulhillion said:
Excellent shots all round Roy, you're obviously enjoying the lens and the freedom it gives you of being able to use TC's without fear of losing too much in the way of IQ. I'm so pleased you're getting the most out of the lens!

Best wishes

Paul

Thanks Paul, it was your sample 2x shots that finally swayed me - thanks.

By the way how are you getting on with your new walkabout lens LOL, that Sandpiper shot looks superb.

Roy C · Sep 29, 2009

Robert L Jarvis said:
Hi Roy

See my post on your piccie. As I said would be interesting to do a comparison as I suggested to judge quality of image. Still think though which ever way it will be outstanding which is why my son Adam wants one.

I will try a comparison when I have time Robert - these days I am convinced that a shot with a tc will yield more detail than a heavy crop from a bare lens which is why I used my 400/5.6 with a tc so much (albeit on MF a lot of the time).
Of course a heavy crop with a 2x tc on board will give a picture that would be impossible to get without a tc unless you up-res the shot.

Jaff · Sep 30, 2009

Well that and like Roy I don't think I'd be able to lug a 500mm f4 around. I'll also need the range of focal lengths it +TC's offers and can already fore-see a few occasions where I'll only need the bare 300mm.

But I agree with Roy that heavy cropping with the bare 300mm will yield poorer results vs a 2xTC. Hopefully it won't be long at all now and then it's a case of saving up all over again for a 7D! :-O

Roy C · Sep 30, 2009

Tim Taylor said:
Your write ups on the 300 f2.8 have been really helpful Roy. Every other day now I'm determined to buy one and the more pics you post, the more I like the idea.

Thanks Tim, here are a couple I took yesterday which may (or may not!) wet your appetite. Boring subjects but both shot with a 2x tc attached, hopefully they show the detail that can be captured at 600mm.

PanamaMan · Sep 30, 2009

Roy C said:
Thanks Tim, here are a couple I took yesterday which may (or may not!) wet your appetite. Boring subjects but both shot with a 2x tc attached, hopefully they show the detail that can be captured at 600mm.

Superb shots Roy (as always), may I ask what your processing workflow is?

Regards,
John

Malcolm Stewart · Oct 1, 2009

I too have this combination, 5D, 30D and a 1D MkIII. It's now used exclusively with the 1D MkIII for the benefits of AF Microadjust. As I think I've mentioned before, getting good results isn't easy, but if your equipment is correctly aligned, then it's a good combination. (I did spend around 18 months sussing out camera/lens problems before I felt able to trust the equipment.)

Tim Taylor · Oct 1, 2009

Roy C said:
Thanks Tim, here are a couple I took yesterday which may (or may not!) wet your appetite. Boring subjects but both shot with a 2x tc attached, hopefully they show the detail that can be captured at 600mm.

Those are really excellent Roy! A slight problem for me is that in the places I tend to go, some of my targets (bitterns and owls flying) are rather far off most of the time and I'm not having a lot of luck with my current kit. Like many people I'm torn between the 500mm f4 and the 300mm f2.8. Being a strong young man (LOL) I can actually lug a fair weight around with me if necessary. However, I don't really enjoy having all the weight and the kinks in back/neck/shoulder bruises etc and wandering about with a lighter rig is a lot more fun. I shall continue to ponder while I sell off kit in anticipation of buying one or the other.

Keep the pics coming,

Tim B

Roy C · Oct 1, 2009

PanamaMan said:
Superb shots Roy (as always), may I ask what your processing workflow is?

Regards,
John

Without wishing to bore everyone here John I will PM you with my workflow.

senatore · Oct 1, 2009

Excellent shots Roy.Some of my mates at a local patch have also recently got the same kit and are all delighted with the results.

However I notice that none of them walk round the reserve to see what's about now and are more hide-bound.It's a matter of balance I suppose on the one hand you get much better shots but because of the extra weight to carry you do not walk around as much and might miss something good.

Max.

Roy C · Oct 1, 2009

senatore said:
Excellent shots Roy.Some of my mates at a local patch have also recently got the same kit and are all delighted with the results.

However I notice that none of them walk round the reserve to see what's about now and are more hide-bound.It's a matter of balance I suppose on the one hand you get much better shots but because of the extra weight to carry you do not walk around as much and might miss something good.

Max.

Hi Max, I have never shot from a hide in my life nor do I shot from managed reserves (there are neither in my area :C ).
I spend almost all of my time walking the local Estuary area looking for shots which is why the 500/4 was out for me.

My preferred method with the 300/2.8 (+ tc) is to have it mounted on my CF tripod and Gimbal head (Black Widow HD) and have the whole lot over my shoulder, that way I can walk for several miles and I am a weakling pensioner. The beauty with this method is that when you are shooting there is no weight and if needs be you can stop and plonk the lot down to take a breather at any time.

Carrying over the shoulder on a monopod is a snap but without a tilt head shooting options are restricted (my 234RC head is not up to the weight of the 300/2.8). Does anyone know a good tilt head that would take the weight?

I have also shot hand held by carrying it by the lens strap over my shoulder but found that after an hour the strap started to cut into my shoulder - Maybe a better strap would help.

The trouble with both monopod and hand carrying when going walkabouts is that there is no relief from the weight unless you set it down on the ground.

300/2.8 + 2x tc (1 Viewer)

Occasional bird snapper

Attachments

Occasional bird snapper

Attachments

Cristian Mihai

Well-known member

Member

Occasional bird snapper

Moorlands Macro: Close up and personal....with bug

work in progress

Well-known member

Robert L Jarvis

Occasional bird snapper

Occasional bird snapper

Registered Member

Occasional bird snapper

Attachments

Member

Well-known member

work in progress

Occasional bird snapper

Well-known member

Occasional bird snapper

Similar threads

Users who are viewing this thread