Keith Reeder
Watch the birdie...
I couldn't find it either, Graham.
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Canon EF500 f4.5L vs EF300 f2.8L & 2x ? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Malcolm Stewart
- Start date
mjmw
formally known as mw_aurora
Keith Reeder said:
Sorry, I thought he mentioned it on his site. As far as I know, he pretty much only uses the 300/2.8 with convertors for telephoto work. He posts regularly on some of the Nature Photography forums and in the past couple of years I have not seen him use anything else...so you will have to take my word on it
Keith Reeder
Watch the birdie...
Not a problem, Mark - I believed you anyway!
Adrian Catterall
New member
Hi Malcom
Just joined this forum, so a little late on this thread. Like you, I have the 5D and a 300mm F2.8L IS lens. A stunning lens and the IQ seems just as good with a 1.4x canon converter. I used (borrowed) a Mk 1 2x converter and found the images soft and also the autofocus kept hunting. Nonetheless, I went ahead and bought a MkII 2x converter. So far, I have been reasonably impressed. Obviously the loss of 2 stops is significant, the autofocus is a little slower and my success rate is less.
I am also looking at buying a 500mm F4. from my research, when coupled with a 1.4x extender, it is about the best combination for bird photography you can buy.
Adrian
Just joined this forum, so a little late on this thread. Like you, I have the 5D and a 300mm F2.8L IS lens. A stunning lens and the IQ seems just as good with a 1.4x canon converter. I used (borrowed) a Mk 1 2x converter and found the images soft and also the autofocus kept hunting. Nonetheless, I went ahead and bought a MkII 2x converter. So far, I have been reasonably impressed. Obviously the loss of 2 stops is significant, the autofocus is a little slower and my success rate is less.
I am also looking at buying a 500mm F4. from my research, when coupled with a 1.4x extender, it is about the best combination for bird photography you can buy.
Adrian
Here's a 300/2.8 + stacked 1.4x + 2x (both EFII). Hefty crop and could do better but it does show that it's viable in times of desparation.
exif just recognises the 2x and ignore the extra f-stop of the 1.4x. AF on the 1d camera doesn't really like 2 tc's, it'll get there in the end but you're probably best off in manual.
cheers.
Andy
exif just recognises the 2x and ignore the extra f-stop of the 1.4x. AF on the 1d camera doesn't really like 2 tc's, it'll get there in the end but you're probably best off in manual.
cheers.
Andy
Attachments
Malcolm Stewart
Well-known member
Andy Bright said:
Looks pretty good to me on my screen!
I remember stacking two 1.4x extenders behind my EF 300 f4L for a shot of the moon some time ago, and that turned out better than I expected.
http://www.megalith.freeserve.co.uk/Halfmoon/halfmoon.htm
Dave Adshead
How much!
FWIW to any one I've attached a couple of images, its of a Pearl-spotted Owlet, taken with a 300 mm f2.8 lens and a 2 x extender, mounted on a fully extended monopod, the bird was perched at the top of a tall tree.
The first image is 100% of the frame, the second I've just taken out a crop, to illustrate the capabilities of this lens extender combination. Obviously the extender will degrade the image a touch, but you can still get good prints.
Regards
Dave
The first image is 100% of the frame, the second I've just taken out a crop, to illustrate the capabilities of this lens extender combination. Obviously the extender will degrade the image a touch, but you can still get good prints.
Regards
Dave
Attachments
Keith Reeder
Watch the birdie...
Looks good to me, Dave.
I notice that Canon outlet have a 300 f2.8 starting at £909, 5 day auction... thought other might like to know. Just wish I could afford to bid on it...
Keith Reeder
Watch the birdie...
It was already up to £1550 by lunchtime today with 4 days to go, Max - I expect it will end up as less than a bargain.
Steve G
RAINBIRDER
Just to echo Andy's post above -the 300mm IS f2.8 will yield surprisingly good images with stacked 1.4x & 2x convertors (as will the 500mm IS f4). The 1D mkII will 'record' this as a 600mm focal length but will appropriately meter (but 3 stops light loss> min. of f8 ). In bright contrasty conditions centre AF works quite well after an initial short-lived oscillation though such a rig would be better beanbag/tripod mounted.
I suspect that this setup might also AF on a 30D & if so it would give the ideal 'lightweight' foreign travelling combo of 1.6x 600mm ( x19.2) on a 30D with the facility to stack for distant targets 1.4x 2x 300mm &1.6 crop (x26.88).
I suspect that this setup might also AF on a 30D & if so it would give the ideal 'lightweight' foreign travelling combo of 1.6x 600mm ( x19.2) on a 30D with the facility to stack for distant targets 1.4x 2x 300mm &1.6 crop (x26.88).
Malcolm Stewart
Well-known member
gmax said:
I can't believe it's true, simply based on what happens to the MTF curve for a lens.
I can understand that under some circumstances, somebody might get better results for some shots, and this might lead them to make some assumptions based on too few observations. In my own case, I have occasionally got good results from my EF300 f2.8L and the Canon 2x extender. They're not better than what I regularly get with my 1.4x, but they're so good that it would appear that the extender is not normally the limiting factor. So, I need to improve my technique!
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