5D, 300mm + teleconverter

apkent · 24 Jul 2008

I recently upgraded to a lovely, shiny, almost new Canon 5D and love it to bits. The image quality is stunning, and full-framiness very nice.

I came from a 400D where I was often using a 300mm L F4 lens (more often than not with a little too much reach than I really needed due to the multiplication factor).

My question is, if I sold the 400D on and picked up a 1.4 teleconverter, will I still get better IQ than the straight 400D + 300mm combination?

Basically, will the converter reduce IQ noticably?

Is it right that I will also loose a stop of aperture with this combo too - F5?

Anything else I've missed?

Cheers,
Andy

mmcp42 · 24 Jul 2008

you will lose aperture f4 becomes f5.6
you will lose a little quality

and compared with a 400D you will appear to lose focal length due to the crop factor

crop factor has been done to death and then some on many other threads

basically 5D has a full frame, 400D has a cropped sensor, so it only uses the middle of the picture

apkent · 24 Jul 2008

I know about the crop factor just fine, its whether the 1.4*300mm combination (which will give nearly the same reach) will be just as good, if not better than the 400D with just the 300mm that I'm wondering about.

Basically, its a question of if/when I need to have 400mm focal length, would I be better off with the teleconvertor on the 5D, or keep the 400D for just those longer reach shots.

mmcp42 · 24 Jul 2008

given the vastly superior picture quality of the 5D I would lose the 400D and go for the convertor

I have the same conundrum - and that's what I've done
(master plan is to use the 400D to fund the next big lens, but she doesn't know yet!!!)

apkent · 24 Jul 2008

Ok, think thats what I wanted to hear.

Of course the bonus is that flogged my 400D and other EF-S lens would probably bring in £400, whilst only £200 going on the TC. Pays me back for some of the 5D!!!

Cheers for your help

mmcp42 · 24 Jul 2008

talk to kerso for the converter - get a good deal!

percymon · 24 Jul 2008

Difficult one this - the pixels of the 400D sensor are smaller so potentially lesser quality. But you don't have the convertor in the way. I'd guess it'd be much of a muchness to be honest, although the better quality sensor of the 5D might show some issues on non L glass.

apkent · 24 Jul 2008

percymon said:
Difficult one this - the pixels of the 400D sensor are smaller so potentially lesser quality. But you don't have the convertor in the way. I'd guess it'd be much of a muchness to be honest, although the better quality sensor of the 5D might show some issues on non L glass.

.....but the 300mm is L glass, so the combo certainly shouldn't be any worse than on the 400D.

Think I'd better put the 400 up for sale hadn't I

purpleclouds · 24 Jul 2008

The extender and L prime lenses are made for each other, so any quality loss should be absolutely minimal!! I have the 70-200 2.8 IS and the 2x extender and notice only a small drop in IQ...but not really noticeable with standard viewing

EdBray · 24 Jul 2008

Took a few quick shots out of my loft window Canon 5D and 70-200L f4 IS with and without the 1.4x converter.

70-200 f4 IS L @ 200mm f8

70-200 f4 L IS with 1.4x converter @ 200mm f8 (280, f11)

@200 no converter

200+ 1.4x Converter

Another trial, lighting could have been a bit more contrasty, but here are three views of the nuclear refuelling crane in the local dockyard all taken from the same position on a tripod with a 17-40L @ 40mm (64mm), 100-400L IS @ 400mm (640mm) and 100-400L IS + 1.4x Extender 620mm (896mm). They were all shot on a Canon 30D which multiplies the AOV by 1.6x so the 35mm equivelents are in brackets.

Hope this helps!

apkent · 24 Jul 2008

Edbray, that is absolutely brilliant - thank you for taking the time to shoot the frames for me. Definately made up my mind, goodbye 400D, hello 1.4x tc

Thanks again all

EdBray · 24 Jul 2008

apkent said:
Edbray, that is absolutely brilliant - thank you for taking the time to shoot the frames for me. Definately made up my mind, goodbye 400D, hello 1.4x tc

Thanks again all

Glad to be of service, although I have to confess (exif data would show that anyway) I shot them for someone else on another forum last week who wanted to know how the converter performed on different L lenses, when I saw your thread I thought it may be helpful, so posted the images here too!

as-i-said · 24 Jul 2008

I asked this same question of a pro that i know( I know him getting paid doesnt make him god)he said , why bother spending the money, the 1.6 crop is 8 mp( on the camera i was comparing to the 5d),the 5d is 12mp, just crop the image, same result, stick a ton in the bank