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View Full Version : 1.4X II for the 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L?


murwille
22nd of October 2003 (Wed), 11:45
I recently purchased the 100-400mm L zoom for my 10D and am enjoying it very much. I appear to have a good sharp copy.

I am interested in buying the EF 1.4X II teleconverter for it. I already know about taping one of the contacts on the TC to maintain AF and have seen that it does slow down AF somewhat. My question is, for those of you who have used this combination, how does the image quality hold up? I realize I am asking a subjective question. Perhaps you could post some examples. I know I don't want a 2X TC because of image degradation.

Mark Urwiller

Phil Hall
22nd of October 2003 (Wed), 12:09
You do not need to tape up the contacts with the 1.4x converter, you only need to do this with the 2x converter on the 100-400 mm lense. Focussing is a little slower. Image quality is better than enlarging an image 1.4x.

chris maddock
22nd of October 2003 (Wed), 17:47
Phil Hall wrote:
You do not need to tape up the contacts with the 1.4x converter, you only need to do this with the 2x converter on the 100-400 mm lense. Focussing is a little slower. Image quality is better than enlarging an image 1.4x.

You do need to tape them if using it with a 10D - that (like most EOS cameras) cops out and disables AF at f5.6, whilst a 1.4x on the 100-400 goes to f8.
Only the high end models (1D, 1DS, 1V and possibly the 3) can AF at f8, using the centre focussing point only.

KRs
Chris

CyberDyneSystems
22nd of October 2003 (Wed), 18:13
Taping one contact?

I wish I knew which one.

I have taped three contacts as this was the info I had,. but my 500mm hates it when I do that,. so I would like to try just one if it will work.

Does anyone know of taping one cantact will work?

murwille
22nd of October 2003 (Wed), 18:56
CyberDyne,

Check out this link for the info you need.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/TipsPage/

Does anyone else have experience and perhaps photos taken with this combination?

Mark Urwiller

chris maddock
23rd of October 2003 (Thu), 07:35
CyberDyneSystems wrote:
Taping one contact?

I wish I knew which one.

I have taped three contacts as this was the info I had,. but my 500mm hates it when I do that,. so I would like to try just one if it will work.


My 70-200/f4 doesn't work with a taped 1.4x, so I put the tape on the same contact at the back of the 100-400 - now both lenses work just fine with the 1.4x on my 10D, whilst the 70-200 works fine and the 100-400 reasonably on my old D30.
Obviously, those three contacts do different things with different lenses.

KRs
Chris

Ilker
23rd of October 2003 (Thu), 08:01
murwille wrote:
.... My question is, for those of you who have used this combination, how does the image quality hold up? I realize I am asking a subjective question. Perhaps you could post some examples.....


See http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo.tcl?photo_id=25707

Also see the following URL for 2x TC test

http://www.kums.be/dirk/lenstest70-200/index.htm

Longwatcher
23rd of October 2003 (Thu), 09:06
quick opinion,
The 1.4x will not noticeable affect quality in my opinion and although the 2x will. The level of detail you can get with the 2x is higher then if you took it without and then enlarged that portion of the image. Although if you took with 1.4x and then enlarged, that would be slightly better. I have however gotten some good shots (in very brightly lit conditions) with both attached at the same time, which in terms of detail were better then the enlargement of the 1.4x by itself.

Just thought you should know that the 2x can be worth it if you need the extra detail, but don't mind a slightly lower quality image.

Just my opinion,

[Trivia: detail is the ability to differentiate features in an image. Quality is how much I like it ;-) ]

fredlord
25th of October 2003 (Sat), 21:03
Tried this little tip today with my 1.4x TC II and 100-400L IS lens. Both items less than a year old on my D60.

This particular setup does autofocus. . . constantly! It hunts and dithers and clicks and whirs as long as I hold the shutter button down. I don't think I like it. It's nervewracking.

It wouldn't consistently hold at one focus point even though it was in one-shot mode. This may be because the D60 is less than satisfactory as a dim light focuser anyway. It didn't hurt anything to try and those of you with 10D bodies may find that it works because of the better autofocus capabilities. I hope so.

Good luck.

CyberDyneSystems
25th of October 2003 (Sat), 21:20
Fred,. I have had the same expeirence with one of my Lenses,. this is why I was interested in this method involving taping ONE contact as opposed to THREE. It seemed possible that taping three was too much info the camera and the lens could no longer exchange.. but I now have to assume the the "One Contact" solution was just missinformation as no one seems to know which contact.

fredlord
26th of October 2003 (Sun), 20:15
Well, there are only three so I guess we could try each one individually. I might try that tomorrow. I'm also working on multiframe-stitched panoramas and installing Mac OS X version 10.3 so I can't promise anything. This retirement thing is hell. Not enough time, too many things to do.