70-200 + 1.4 converter

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andy
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hey peeps, if i were to buy a canon 70-200mm f4 L and add a canon 1.4x converter on a 40d what sort of range would i be looking at and how would the quality hold up?

Thanks Andy.........:thumbs:
 
40D + 70-200mm F/4 (IS) + 1.4x TC did not work very well for me and I ended up selling the TC. The problem is that TC's work better with fixed length (Prime) lenses, and on most zooms provide little extra or variable quality. My testing showed little real benefits over upscaling an image taken without a TC. On a 300mm F/4 the TC worked fine, and my 70-200 was as sharp as something very very sharp without one.

On the 40D a 70-200mm lens is equal to 112-320mm on FF. Add a 1.4x TC and you get 157-448mm effective range.
 
At 280mm you will get a usable image (bot not L-great), and you may want to stop down to f/8 to get the best resolution. AF slows down a lot too. Unfortunately 280mm f/8 non-IS is a terribly slow combination in some real life situations, where you want f/2.8 or at least f/4. At f/5.6 it will still get you a good image if you are using at least 1/500-640s shutter speed, and stick to around 250mm.

280mm 1/800s f/8 - "good" lighting conditions
3938873311_c820022d17.jpg


That combo would easily get you that, your dog if you have one, zoo animals, etc. I found it way too short for proper wildlife like birds and foxes.

I was rather surprised 200mm f/2.8L (otherwise 100% excellent lens on its own) + 1.4x combination was not perfect either - slow AF, some loss of resolution at pixel level, and some CA - but a bit better and faster.

My take on this is that it will get you a photo if you only need it occasionally for non-critical images. IS would help but Orville for some reason wasn't happy with that combination either. The best way might be 300mm f/4 L IS USM lens if you are going to use it a lot. It should take 1.4x better too.
 
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