1.4x I versus 1.4x II

[sharky]

I was walking past a camera store yesterday and saw a secondhand Canon 1.4x extender for about $200 US, and I have a couple of questions.

1) I'm not sure if it was a version 1 or version 2 (the store was closed), so I'm wondering if there are significant differences between the two?
2) If it's a version two, would that be a reasonable price?

[Tom W]

From what I understand, for the 1.4X, the only difference between version I and II is that II has weather seals. Optically, they are the same.

Only the 2X converter had optical improvements when Canon upgraded from I to II.

At $200, if its in very good shape or better, it appears to be a good deal, unless something's wrong with it.

[CyberDyneSystems]

It is quite hard to find either for less than 200.00 ... thats about the lowet I've ever seen them go for.

[Citizensmith]

I think the mark 2 also had 'improved' flocking to reduce internal reflections. Probably doesn't make the slightest difference.

Several reviews (Check over at photo.net) have actually shown things like the much cheaper Kenko Teleplus-Pro are as good as the Canon TCs. They also work with all your lenses (Canons only work the L zooms and L primes longer than 135mm), and at least your lenses try and AF if the TC is pushing them slower than f/5.6. With Canon it disables AF if the appeture slips below f/5.6.