Canon 100-400 IS L vs 300 F4 + 1.4X Test Results

I spent the day yesterday using a Canon 300 F4 + 1.4X Extender II with my 1D Mark II shooting my RC Flying pictures. I had been using the 100-400 IS L but I wanted faster focus. The 100-400 tends to hunt in less then perfect light. I was very disapppointed. The 300 f4 +1.4x combination focused faster, but was markedly inferior in image quality. The pictures were grainier, less sharp, had less contrast, tolerated USM poorly. It's going back to B&H toady. The pictures will be up at my site later today.
Regards,
Scott

Scott:
That's been my general experience with TCs regardless of which lens you put them on. I have the 300 f/4 and love it, but only at 300mm. It's as sharp as the 400 f/5.6 plus it has IS.

If you use a TC with the 300 f/4, you lose one full f-stop anyway, so you're right where you'd be with the 100-400.

I look forward to seeing more of your RC shots.

Scott,

So will you return to using your 100-400L after this failed attempt to find something better?

I use a 70-200L now with a 1.4 extender with good results on auto racing and motocross. But now with my MK-2 and the lower crop factor I need longer glass!! I really dont care for the push pull design on the 100-400L so Ive avoided it so far. What are you going to try next? I would appreciate any recommendations.

Rick

These are some of the pictures from the 300mm + 1.4X combination.
http://www.pbase.com …rgerphoto/rc_fl​ying_61104
If you compare them to the previous RC Flying pictures they are inferior.
http://www.pbase.com …rgerphoto/rc_fl​ying_52904

I plan on keeping the 100-400 IS L. It is a wonderful lens. It gives me portabilty, IS, and hand held shooting. It only suffers in low light, low contrast focusing. That's better then poor quality images. I have no use for a 300mm prime lens as the 100-400 is tack sharp at 300mm. I'll take a look at the 400mm f5.6

Regards,
Scott

Just curious here..... using the TC is a manual focus job, right? Have you checked your diopter adjustment to make sure that it's set the best for your eyes?

I'm only asking because I had a horrible time, for ages, trying to use do any manual focus. I never got a sharp picture - I was tempted to return the camera even. I finally got the diopter tweaked just right and was able to get a better focused picture.

I know that any TC will degrade the picture, but some people get tack sharp images out of them. So there must be something they're doing..

Not on an MKII.

Scott: Photos were grainier?? I find that odd. I don't think the 400 f/5.6 is going to help your dilemma. You'd have to move to the massively expensive f/2.8 series lenses.

Scott:
The average person would be pretty happy with those shots, but you're not average. And you're right---they're not as good as your earlier efforts with the 100-400.

As I said earlier, I've had generally poor results with the TCs, regardless of which lens I use them on. The 300 f/4.0 is obvously not the hot setup for your application, but it's a great lens in the right situation.

.. the 400mm f/5.6 will

1: Illiminate the need for the 1.4X T-C... this giving superior image quality

2: It will give you even faster AF than the 300mm f/4 on it's own.

Might be worth a try IMHO...

P.S. the 300mm f/4 and a 1.4X T-con will AF on a 10D and Drebele as well...

I finally looked at the photos -- missed the links the first time around -- and what looks weird and grainy is the bokeh. The bokeh looks funky. However, the subject looks very acceptable to me.

Thanks all for looking. The pictures might be acceptable, but I was looking for something better then the 100-400 and they are clearly not better. In addition, since I'm selling the pictures, I can't afford to have people ask about the grainyness. Heck some people see it when it's not even there. I went to B&H today, about an hour by subway, and returned the 300 F4 and bought the Arthur Morris Bird Lens, the 400 f 5.6. I'll let you know how it goes. There is a Large Scale RC Flying Competition next saturday.
Regards,
Scott

Scott: I just ordered the 400 for this weekend's ChampCar shoot. I'll let you (all) know how it goes.