Tested TC 1.4 with 100-400L

[mn shutterbug]

I've heard negative things regarding this combination. I've also read where a couple people had decent results. Someone on another forum even claimed it would still autofocus.I had to find out for myself. It arrived in the mail today. Well, it doesn't autofocus. However, I was prepared to manual focus. I tried it a couple times last week and it wasn't that bad. It's certainly going to take practice. Here are a couple tests shots from this evening. Until I get more experienced, I'll definitely have less keepers. I was quite pleased the way these 2 turned out. On each of them, I cropped out about 65%. Would this be considered a 2/3 crop or 1/3 crop? This has always confused me. Anyway, I retained about 1/3.

The oriole was shot handheld at 560mm at 1/125 sec.

[mjs1973]

Thanks for the test shots Mike.

[Loupey]

Yes, thanks for sharing. In the future, please state which images you use the TC - as I am curious how this combo will play out.

[mn shutterbug]

Yes, thanks for sharing. In the future, please state which images you use the TC - as I am curious how this combo will play out.

No problem. However, if I forget, you should be able to pull the exif.

[mjs1973]

Hey Mike,

I got the lenses I rented today and played around with them a little. This is a shot taken with the 100-400mm and the Canon 1.4TC. This was shot wide open (f/8) at 490mm. This was shot on a tripod w/cable release.

[mn shutterbug]

You sure can't complain about that shot. That's very sharp, where it needs to be. I never thought about trying it on flowers.

[mjs1973]

I wasn't planning on shooting flowers with it, but I will take what I can get. I had my blind set up in the back yard waiting for some goldfinches to land in this tree. By the time I switched from the 70-200mm to the 100-400mm they were pretty much gone. I will try again tomorrow if the weather it nice, and I have the time.

[Loupey]

MJS, since you have the Bigma I'd be curious to hear your assessment/comparisions of the two big zooms.

Also, I wonder how the Bigma might perform with the Canon 1.4x.

You're trip is coming up soon? You taking a laptop or just a card-reading hard drive?

[mjs1973]

I'm planning on taking my laptop with me. I wish I had a smaller option, but the laptop will have to do.

When I hear Bigma, I think of the 50-500mm Sigma lens. That's not the one I have. I have a 170-500mm APO Sigma. As far as using that lens with the Canon TC, I don't think it will work. Do to the design of the Sigma lens, and the Canon TC's, I don't think you can even connect the two. The Sigma lens doesn't have the clearance for the part of the TC that sticks out. I will check later today to make sure.

My initial thoughts on the 100-400mm + 1.4x TC are a little better than an my Sigma without a TC. Wide open with the combo is f/8. Not fast by any means, but when you consider that I only shoot my Sigma stopped down to f/9, the combo gives me a little extra speed, a little longer reach, and IS. That is a big plus. I think the sharpness of the combo is pretty close to the sharpness of the Sigma stopped down to f/9. AF doesn't work, but the AF on the Sigma isn't that great and I end up using MF many times anyway. So the AF part is a wash in my book.