telextender with 100-400mm L lens

[frederica]

Hi all.

Has anyone out there tried the canon 100-400mm L lens with one of the telextenders on a eos d30, d60 or d10?

results?

I am thinking of buying the extender but wanted some feedback first, much obliged.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Not personally, but I've heard a few say that it works well with the 1.4X

The 5th review here for instsnce;


http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=19&sort=7&thecat=27

[NILOLIGIST]

Frederica,

Welcome to the forum. Nice name, my name is
Frederique.

This links talks about the converter and give a rating.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=118&sort=7&thecat=998

NiL,

[CyberDyneSystems]

The last review in that last link says that you have to manually focus the 100-400 IS lens with the 1.4X extneder in place. :(

I thought that was only the case with the 2X,.. but I am going from memory of what I read,. not experience.

I think this is a prime candidate for taping the leads,.. assuming there is enough light.

[chris maddock]

CyberDyneSystems wrote:
The last review in that last link says that you have to manually focus the 100-400 IS lens with the 1.4X extneder in place. :(

I thought that was only the case with the 2X,.. but I am going from memory of what I read,. not experience.

I think this is a prime candidate for taping the leads,.. assuming there is enough light.

The 1.4x on a 100-400 at 400mm is effectively f8 - 1 stop outside the limit for most EOSs. The 2x takes it to f11, outside the linit for all EOSs.

The tape trick works fine on the 100-400, 1.4x and a D30 if (as you say) the light is good enough or the subject is contrasty enough. It should be even better on a 10D.

One point I've found with the tape trick - whilst tape applied to the 1.4x allows AF to try with the 100-400, it stops the 70-200/f4 (or at least my one) working properly. I've moved the tape to the back of the 100-400 to fix that.

KRs
Chris

[AJSJones]

It will AF with the 1.4x but only at the short end of the range - as soon as the combined max aperture goes above f/8 (around 200mm or so) that the AF quits (for this or any other lens/combo). The softness of the lens wide open at 400 mm (i.e. f/5.6) is still there with the 1.4x so I'd recommend stopping down below the max f/8 IF AT ALL POSSIBLE when using the combo (by cranking up the ISO) and use a tripod if possible - you'll be at 560 mm "equivalent". The combo works a treat on a Wimberley Sidekick but definitely prefers good light!
Also check out the Canon site to see which other lenses can use the 1.4x and 2x, it's quite a limited number of (mostly) telephotos- it won't work on anything with a FL of less than 70 in its range IIRC

Good luck

Andy

[FredT]

Frederica,

May I suggest another option: the Tamron 1.4X SP AF Tele-converter. This work s very well with the 100-400 and will autofocus at all focal lengths (using the pin taping trick of course). Image quality at closer distances has be excellent, less so at long distance, but i suspect that this is mostly due to camera shake (IS lenses still need to reasonable amount of stability). Another nice feature is that the front elements do not extend out from the coupling surface and so can be used over the full focal length range of the 28-135 IS lens.

Fred (short for Frederick)