Time to lens swap... Which one to sell?

So looking to add another prime back to the kit, and will likely part with either my 70-200L II or 100-400L II.

I picked up the 100-400 the past spring to shoot a bunch of sports, which it did very very well. Amazing lens. The 70-200, as well know is also an incredible lens, which has been a workhorse at the occasional wedding or portrait session. I'll be adding a 35 or 50L, to go along with a 24-70 II. I'll still be shooting sports in the fall and spring.

What say you guys? I guess I could spring for the new prime and keep both of the others, but it's not terribly high on my list.


FWIW I shoot primarily landscape/weather/spor​ts with occasional wedding/portrait work.

You can still get 400/5.6 with the 70-200/2.8 using a 2x tc. I would want to keep both but if I had to cut one, I would go that route.

You'd keep the 70-200 and sell the 100-400 by picking up a 2x TC?

Is there a huge degredation in IQ using the 2x for sports?

SCMedic wrote in post #18069563
So looking to add another prime back to the kit, and will likely part with either my 70-200L II or 100-400L II.

I picked up the 100-400 the past spring to shoot a bunch of sports, which it did very very well. Amazing lens. The 70-200, as well know is also an incredible lens, which has been a workhorse at the occasional wedding or portrait session. I'll be adding a 35 or 50L, to go along with a 24-70 II. I'll still be shooting sports in the fall and spring.

What say you guys? I guess I could spring for the new prime and keep both of the others, but it's not terribly high on my list.


FWIW I shoot primarily landscape/weather/spor​ts with occasional wedding/portrait work.

Heya,

Landscape = Full depth of field often
Weather = Full depth of field often
Sports = Reach & speed

Occasional Wedding/Portrait = No need for top reach, 24-70 handles this already near completely

The 24-70 & 100-400 cover the most of what you do. The gap between 70 & 100 is so minimal that I wouldn't even care.

The 70-200 straddles the two but limits sports, so you'd have to use a TC for more reach, or a smaller sensor (or a combo of the two) and is still not optimal with a TC.

I'd keep the 100-400 II based on what you're doing and already having a 24-70 II.

I'd consider perhaps the Tamron 45 F1.8 VC & 35 F1.8 VC, as you get fast aperture, 4 stop stabilization primes, for cheap, you could get both.

Otherwise, 50L & 35 F2 IS, to get some things you don't already have.

Very best,

Thanks for the reply. I've been trying to work through all possible scenarios and see where the holes are in my kit and you spelled them out well!

SCMedic wrote in post #18069573
You'd keep the 70-200 and sell the 100-400 by picking up a 2x TC?

Is there a huge degredation in IQ using the 2x for sports?

That's what I would do. There going to be an IQ hit and an AF speed hit but the 70-200/2.8 II with a 2X TC can do 400/5.6 better than the 100-400 II can do 2.8.

FEChariot wrote in post #18069668
That's what I would do. There going to be an IQ hit and an AF speed hit but the 70-200/2.8 II with a 2X TC can do 400/5.6 better than the 100-400 II can do 2.8.

In all past testing of multiple versions of 70-200 FL lenses from Canon, photozone.de found the zooms to do very well with the Canon 1.4X teleconvertors...typic​ally a -10% hit in MTF scores. No tests ever published with a 2X teleconvertor, though. I did some testing on my own, is in the below crops, though not with quantative assessment.

Canon 70-200 f/4L lens only, in all cases only about 10% of the entire frame

Just to throw in my $0.02 in regards to the 70-200 + 2.0X...I eventually sold the TC after a short 2-3months. The image quality wasn't terrible, but to me it was noticeably worse. I went back through old pictures sorted by Lightroom for the 70-200 and could easily tell the difference at normal viewing sizes.

I guess it really depends how picky you are from 140-400mm. The 70-200 is so good, so it "feels" like it loses so much with the 2.0X. Kind of like being used to driving a 1000hp car and having it modified to 700hp. It's still a fast car, but feels like a go-cart relative to what you are used to driving.

That's kind of my worry. It's always been the lens I felt I'd never have a reason to part with.

Another option would be to just add a 1.4 TC for the 70-200/2.8 II and crop from 280 to 400 if needed. It wouldn't take as much of a hit in the 201-280 range as using a 2x TC and you would keep f4 even if you had to crop to 400 equivalent.

I think the image quality when using the 2X is very good, especially in good light.
The autofocus speed suffers quite a bit, so not great for action.

I tried the 70-200/2.8 II + 2x III for birding. Does not work reliably for me.

AF speed and accuracy are more important than lens MTF as far as final image quality is concerned.
Also, we are talking a total of 32 (!!) lens elements which must be perfectly calibrated to get optimal results. Results will vary depending on your samples combo of zoom, extender, and body.

SCMedic wrote in post #18069563
So looking to add another prime back to the kit, and will likely part with either my 70-200L II or 100-400L II.

I picked up the 100-400 the past spring to shoot a bunch of sports, which it did very very well. Amazing lens. The 70-200, as well know is also an incredible lens, which has been a workhorse at the occasional wedding or portrait session. I'll be adding a 35 or 50L, to go along with a 24-70 II. I'll still be shooting sports in the fall and spring.

What say you guys? I guess I could spring for the new prime and keep both of the others, but it's not terribly high on my list.


FWIW I shoot primarily landscape/weather/spor​ts with occasional wedding/portrait work.

Your three priorities are landscape, weather and sports. To me the three lenses I would place at a priority would be the 24-70 II, 70-200 IS II and 100-400 II.

If you sell the 100-400 II, you can get by with a 2X TC on the 70-200, but the AF performance will suffer and it will not perform anywhere near as well as the naked 100-400 II.

I just don't see anything in your priority list that makes a 35L or 50L a must have lens over the 100-400 II. You have the 24-70, and to me the super fast aperture of the primes is not going to be a must have quite the way rock solid AF performance from 201-400mm would be.

JeffreyG wrote in post #18070331
Your three priorities are landscape, weather and sports. To me the three lenses I would place at a priority would be the 24-70 II, 70-200 IS II and 100-400 II.

If you sell the 100-400 II, you can get by with a 2X TC on the 70-200, but the AF performance will suffer and it will not perform anywhere near as well as the naked 100-400 II.

I just don't see anything in your priority list that makes a 35L or 50L a must have lens over the 100-400 II. You have the 24-70, and to me the super fast aperture of the primes is not going to be a must have quite the way rock solid AF performance from 201-400mm would be.

I agree with this. I have all three of these lenses and will not part with any of them. I sold my 2x III as I was not happy with the IQ and the faff of using it in the field. You have your weddings covered with 24-70 and 70 - 200 as well as the your three priorities listed above.

SCMedic wrote in post #18069563
So looking to add another prime back to the kit, and will likely part with either my 70-200L II or 100-400L II.

I picked up the 100-400 the past spring to shoot a bunch of sports, which it did very very well. Amazing lens. The 70-200, as well know is also an incredible lens, which has been a workhorse at the occasional wedding or portrait session. I'll be adding a 35 or 50L, to go along with a 24-70 II. I'll still be shooting sports in the fall and spring.

What say you guys? I guess I could spring for the new prime and keep both of the others, but it's not terribly high on my list.


FWIW I shoot primarily landscape/weather/spor​ts with occasional wedding/portrait work.

Medic.
You have the beginning stages of "Buy Twice"
My recommendation is to stay home for one week.
Appreciate what you have currently. Do not let your urges get the best of you.
After one week, let's meet here again and see how we can ADD a prime to your Arsenal, without depleting.
You can set up an appointment at the front desk on the way out.
Take care.