A Few Questions Regarding the EF 400mm f/5.6 Lens

I've got the 400mm 5.6L ordered along with the canon 1.4 Extender lll. I've been through a good portion of the EF 400mm f/5.6L USM sample photo archive thread and still have some questions.

I'm shooting the 5D mark lll.

It sounds like the AF will not work when using the Canon 1.4 Extender lll...is this correct?

The pins can be taped but what you give up in IQ is significant and the AF is very erratic?

What I'm looking for is better reach and IQ without spending $6000.00 plus.

Now I'm thinking it might serve me better to return the Canon 1.4 and put that money toward a used 7D to take advantage of the crop factor and thus retain the IQ, AF and the reach I'm looking for?

I'm shooting wildlife & birds...any thoughts?

Thanks,

Pete

The new fw has been out for a month or so which supports AF @ f8 on 5D3...so yes your combo will have AF.

kin2son wrote in post #15982544
The new fw has been out for a month or so which supports AF @ f8 on 5D3...so yes your combo will have AF.

I thought there was something in the makes...now I'll just have to figure out how to download the update...THANKS!

Download and install is a piece of cake. I'm still waiting to hear how people are finding the AF speed and IQ of the 400 5.6/1.4x combo on the 5D3. Not much out there that I can find.

Only problem with the 7d option is that it's high iso noise is much worse, and that isn't a particularly fast lens, especially with a teleconveter on. If you shoot mostly outdoors in bright light that won't be a problem, but at dusk/dawn or indoors it could well push the 7d past its iso limits.

Get the 7D.

I would get the 1DIII.

I would take the 7D + lens w/o a TC over the 5DIII + lens + TC any day....but then again, I also already have a 7D.

The crop camera would really help. And my experience with the taped pins was bad. Erratic AF to say the least! I do FAR better with manual focus.

There are plenty of people who shoot wildlife with full frame cameras. I also shoot with the 5D Mark III and the 400 f/5.6 and occasionally with the 1.4 extender. I have no experience with the 7D, but I avoided buying it for years because of the noise that people reported.

As a hobbyist, I find the high ISO performance of the 5D to be extremely useful because I don't have the time to wait for good weather on the weekends. The auto focus is fantastic and I find I can crop my pictures pretty heavily and still retain fantastic detail.

If you look around on this board and others, there are many people who have found that the improvements in the 5D Mark III outweigh the loss of the crop factor. For me, I do enough video and indoor family videos that I would never consider the 7D since the 5D Mark III is so much better in those scenarios.