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100-400mm + Kenko 1.4x converter - 1st impressions (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Keith Reeder
- Start date
paul goode
Well-known member
Roy C said:
Don't think Keith expected to get results as good as Keith got :bounce: :bounce:
I reckon my tc's faulty 8-P 8-P
Keith Reeder
Watch the birdie...
I was actually quietly confident that I'd be OK, Paul - once I'd satisfied myself that I had a good lens, I figured that with a bit of luck it'd work out (and anyway, I needed a 1.4x anyway for the 300mm f/2.8).
I don't deny though that I'm pleased that my luck has changed - normally, if things can go wrong for me they will: I'm the guy that had two nadgered 30Ds at the same time, remember!
I don't deny though that I'm pleased that my luck has changed - normally, if things can go wrong for me they will: I'm the guy that had two nadgered 30Ds at the same time, remember!
Boy George
Well-known member
Hi all,
Just wanted to say thanks for the info given in this thread regarding your experiences with this set-up and where to buy (got mine from URGALAXY.COM on Ebay @ £69 delivery in 5 days).
Worked out which pins to tape with Roy C's help in another thread (after I figured that the 3 pins on the left become the 3 pins on the right if you hold the lens rotated 180 degrees!!). Took it to Grafham on the day I got it and the Wilson's Phalarope with Shoveler pic was even hand held at, I guess 40/50 yards. Others on a Tripod the next day.
Like Keith and others - I'm chuffed!
Regards
Adrian
PS Camera is 20D
Just wanted to say thanks for the info given in this thread regarding your experiences with this set-up and where to buy (got mine from URGALAXY.COM on Ebay @ £69 delivery in 5 days).
Worked out which pins to tape with Roy C's help in another thread (after I figured that the 3 pins on the left become the 3 pins on the right if you hold the lens rotated 180 degrees!!). Took it to Grafham on the day I got it and the Wilson's Phalarope with Shoveler pic was even hand held at, I guess 40/50 yards. Others on a Tripod the next day.
Like Keith and others - I'm chuffed!
Regards
Adrian
PS Camera is 20D
Attachments
Duck_Pond
Professional Wildlife Photographer And Guide
Right, today I tried 2 things. Firstly, I had a go with RAW shooting, and secondly, for some pics I tried the Kenko 1.4 TC on the 100-400 (attached to my 350D).
I've attached 3 pics. The kingfisher one was a JPEG with the TC attached. The bird was maybe 50-60m away, I had the IS on, and the lens rested on the hide window ledge. Shot at 400mm at ISO 400.
The shot of the redshank was shot in RAW, also with the TC on, and also at 400mm. ISO 200 this time though.
I have noticed that when I shoot with IS on, the image jumps slightly to the left or right of the focus spot thingy, but then comes back again. Doesn't do this always though.
And the buzzard pic was handheld (IS on), whilst wandering back to the car. Only a JPEG, and has been through the mill in PE5 to brighten it up, and bring out any detail.
I have to say, I'm beginning to see the light with RAW now. And this TC, for the money is superb! Now I just need to get better eyes and understand what I'm doing in RawShooter.
I've attached 3 pics. The kingfisher one was a JPEG with the TC attached. The bird was maybe 50-60m away, I had the IS on, and the lens rested on the hide window ledge. Shot at 400mm at ISO 400.
The shot of the redshank was shot in RAW, also with the TC on, and also at 400mm. ISO 200 this time though.
I have noticed that when I shoot with IS on, the image jumps slightly to the left or right of the focus spot thingy, but then comes back again. Doesn't do this always though.
And the buzzard pic was handheld (IS on), whilst wandering back to the car. Only a JPEG, and has been through the mill in PE5 to brighten it up, and bring out any detail.
I have to say, I'm beginning to see the light with RAW now. And this TC, for the money is superb! Now I just need to get better eyes and understand what I'm doing in RawShooter.
Attachments
Keith Reeder
Watch the birdie...
There's not much to using RSE, Pete.
Typically, I open the image in RSE, tweak the Exposure Compensation, Shadow contrast and Highlight contrast sliders to suit, apply a value of 12 to the Sharpening and Detail Extraction sliders (which is about right to make up for the AA filter in the camera) and then convert.
Lowering Highlight contrast will go a long way to recovering hot highlights (I've taken it right down to -100 when I've had to) and the Shadow contrast slider is pretty self explanatory.
That's it, really.
Typically, I open the image in RSE, tweak the Exposure Compensation, Shadow contrast and Highlight contrast sliders to suit, apply a value of 12 to the Sharpening and Detail Extraction sliders (which is about right to make up for the AA filter in the camera) and then convert.
Lowering Highlight contrast will go a long way to recovering hot highlights (I've taken it right down to -100 when I've had to) and the Shadow contrast slider is pretty self explanatory.
That's it, really.
gmax
Sontium Dweller
Good shots Pete, and I guess if you had shot the buzzard in RAW you would have got a better result ... Rawshooter works a treat!
Cheers,
Max
PS good pictures in your site, well done
Roy C
Occasional bird snapper
Yes, it does look to bright/faded to me - try fading the highlights or adjusting the levels. I have just tried Auto levels in CS2 and it darkens down nicely.
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Les_McLean
Member
I've read this thread with interest, as I didn't like the kenko 1.4 TC with the 100-400L, I found it was really soft, now whether it was a duff convertor or it didn't like a FF camera (1DS MKII), I don't know.
Since moving to the canon 1.4 TC, it's a lovely combination, and I'm well pleased with the results
Since moving to the canon 1.4 TC, it's a lovely combination, and I'm well pleased with the results
shoshone
Well-known member
Delighted with Keith's recent pix with the Kenko 1.4x.
What is puzzling me is I saw reference to 560mm on some post and I am looking at these astonishing pix but my question is if most of the cameras that folks are using this converter on are 1.6 FOV then using a 1.4x converter Kenko or Canon isn't going to get me the reach I am seeing on a Canon5D.
I have the Canon 100-400 L IS F4.5-5.6 zoom lens (which Keith was admirably rooting for against the 'primes') and I believe that a 1.4x would give me 560mm @ 400.....surely the pix I am looking at are much closer to (400x1.6)x1.4 ? on my calculator that's 896mm......where am I going wrong.
I have been contemplating a 1.4x TC for my Canon 5D but I work that out at only 560mm.....so I guess I won't get pix like these after all?
Jamie
What is puzzling me is I saw reference to 560mm on some post and I am looking at these astonishing pix but my question is if most of the cameras that folks are using this converter on are 1.6 FOV then using a 1.4x converter Kenko or Canon isn't going to get me the reach I am seeing on a Canon5D.
I have the Canon 100-400 L IS F4.5-5.6 zoom lens (which Keith was admirably rooting for against the 'primes') and I believe that a 1.4x would give me 560mm @ 400.....surely the pix I am looking at are much closer to (400x1.6)x1.4 ? on my calculator that's 896mm......where am I going wrong.
I have been contemplating a 1.4x TC for my Canon 5D but I work that out at only 560mm.....so I guess I won't get pix like these after all?
Jamie
Roy C
Occasional bird snapper
You are talking about the Camera Crop factor which is not the focal length. So with a 1.4 tc on a 400mm lens you will have a focal length of 560mm BUT on a 1.6 crop Camera you will have a field of view of 896mm. On the 5D which is full frame you will have a field of view of 560mm. To find out more about the crop factor I suggest you do a Google and read up about it, some site have diagrams which helps to explain it.
shoshone
Well-known member
OK Roy...so the focal length is 560 for everyone..ok?.
I did take your advice and the first Google hit gave me the stuff included below.
However....my question still remains....a 5D will get a reach of 560 max and I will have to crop into the image to achieve anything like the image (FOV) that an APS sensor will get.
My point is that a 1.4x extender will get me nowhere near what I am seeing from Keith et al ??:C
Clearly I am new to digital photography as the last camera I owned was a 35mm Olympus OM4 and whilst I may not have the terminology down pat I'm pretty sure you know what my issue is
So in my attempt to learn from folks that are/have been doing DSLR bird photography using long lenses and talking about 560 or 896mm is puzzling.
I would really appreciate if you, or anyone else could enlighten me to what I am trying to ask?
For all I know I could be making a big mistake trying to stick a 1.4x extender on a 5D, so what would really be appreciated is some help rather than just a suggestion that I go Googling for focal length as opposed to FOV.
Thanks
Jamie
==================================
http://www.millhouse.nl/digitalcropfactorframe.html
The field of view reduction of the digital camera is obvious.
This is also known as the crop factor.
A 25 mm lens on a DSLR camera is no longer a wide angle lens, but corresponds to a 37 mm lens on a 35 mm film body.
The D1X (and currently all other Nikon DSLR cameras) has a sensor size of 23.7 x 15.5 mm.
This sensor size is sometimes referred to as APS size.
As a result the effective field of view is 35/23.7 = 1.5 times smaller.
This is indicated in the picture below.
I did take your advice and the first Google hit gave me the stuff included below.
However....my question still remains....a 5D will get a reach of 560 max and I will have to crop into the image to achieve anything like the image (FOV) that an APS sensor will get.
My point is that a 1.4x extender will get me nowhere near what I am seeing from Keith et al ??:C
Clearly I am new to digital photography as the last camera I owned was a 35mm Olympus OM4 and whilst I may not have the terminology down pat I'm pretty sure you know what my issue is
So in my attempt to learn from folks that are/have been doing DSLR bird photography using long lenses and talking about 560 or 896mm is puzzling.
I would really appreciate if you, or anyone else could enlighten me to what I am trying to ask?
For all I know I could be making a big mistake trying to stick a 1.4x extender on a 5D, so what would really be appreciated is some help rather than just a suggestion that I go Googling for focal length as opposed to FOV.
Thanks
Jamie
==================================
http://www.millhouse.nl/digitalcropfactorframe.html
The field of view reduction of the digital camera is obvious.
This is also known as the crop factor.
A 25 mm lens on a DSLR camera is no longer a wide angle lens, but corresponds to a 37 mm lens on a 35 mm film body.
The D1X (and currently all other Nikon DSLR cameras) has a sensor size of 23.7 x 15.5 mm.
This sensor size is sometimes referred to as APS size.
As a result the effective field of view is 35/23.7 = 1.5 times smaller.
This is indicated in the picture below.
Roy C
Occasional bird snapper
The crop factor is why a lot of bird photographers would prefer, say a 30D to a 5D. But having said that the 5D is a superb Camera and you still have the option to crop your shot to suit (image quality will probably be better than a 30D to start with !) the only difference will be that after you have cropped the image you will be left with a smaller number of pixels. If you crop a 5D image to give the same field of view as a 30D you will be left with about 4 megapixels which is still good enough to print up to A4.
I do not think you would be making a big mistake by adding a 1.4 tc for use with your 5D as you are still increasing the focal length by 1.4 - the same as with any other camera. It could be argued that a tc is needed more with a 5D than a 30D. Hope this helps.
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mjmw
formally known as mw_aurora
Not sure why you seem upset - Roy seemed to answer your question...what do you actually want to know? Stop me if I get close...
Can you use a 1.4x with the 5D on the 100-400/5.6? Yes, with all the caveats discussed earlier in the thread about AF, taping pins etc.
Will it give 560mm focal length? Yes.
Will you have to crop to get the same field of view as Canon DSLRs with small sensors? Yes.
Further reading...
Ken Rockwell's article on the subject:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/crop-factor.htm
An article I just found from a Google search (using: What does 1.6x crop factor mean?):
http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/crop-factor-explained/
Hope that is of help.
Just noticed I crossed with Roy's response.
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shoshone
Well-known member
shoshone
Well-known member
-----------------------
Thanks Mark, I'm not upset with Roy, indeed his latest post helped me. I am however upset with myself thinking I would buy a full frame camera because it (DSLRing) had finally reached a price point that I could pick up again where I left off with a 35mm camera with a traditional perspective vis-a-vis lenses.
Now that I am getting into bird photography I start to realise I am not going to get anywhere near as close as most everyone else and seeing Keith's results made me realise that I am going to have to crop right in there to achieve anything like his results (jealosy?...definately!)
Now if I have to crop into an image that much, bearing in mind it started out in life after using a 1.4x extender, I started to realise I could very well have made a completely wrong decision buying a FF camera. I bet an APS sensor will make a much better job of 'cropping' the image than I will be able to do with mine after having used a 1.4x extender.
So if you picked up on a vibe...you were right...however the blame was not intended at Roy. The point about trying to help and recommending a Google search was however from the heart. Roy came back and explained.
Maybe the problem folks have is just getting the terminology right....clearly if one is unable to do that you might not get the help you are seeking.
thanks
Jamie
shoshone
Well-known member
Roy (et al), A bit of feedback. I tried the Canon 1.4x extender II on my 5D with 100-400 lens at Jessops yesterday (I obviously couldn't tape the pins in front of the guy). The result was very good though it would have been better on a tripod and with a bit more time to get focus just right.
I took roughly the same street pictures with and without the TC including text on posters in Waterstones window for example.
I then cropped into the 560mm pix quite a way and cropped the 400mm pix to get the same resulting size image and the pictures taken with the TC are better!
A rather cheap and dirty test but it makes me feel better as I had images of having to hunt down a good second hand 30D (not cheap)
cheers
Jamie
:hi:
gmax
Sontium Dweller
Hi Jamie,
are you serious? |8.| Perhaps it depends on the way pictures were taken ...
