Any experiences with a Canon 300 2.8 and 2x extender

Tobers

Tobers

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Andy
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Hi there - I'm pondering getting a 2x extender for my 300 2.8 to have a 600 5.6 option for football - specifically shooting managers on the other side of the pitch, or the goal at the far end when the action is in the wrong place. I'd be getting the newer MkII version.

Does anyone have any experience of this combination and sample (preferably action sports) shots.

Ta muchly.
 
Tobers said:
Hi there - I'm pondering getting a 2x extender for my 300 2.8 to have a 600 5.6 option for football - specifically shooting managers on the other side of the pitch, or the goal at the far end when the action is in the wrong place. I'd be getting the newer MkII version.

Does anyone have any experience of this combination and sample (preferably action sports) shots.

Ta muchly.
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I have used it on my 400 2.8 IS and it works very well.

If you would like to borrow mine for a try (you just pay the RMSD both ways) your welcome to use it for a few weeks, and decide it its for you.

Mark

EDIT - should add thats the 2xmk2 not the 400 2.8 IS ;)
 
The 300mm 2.8 is quite sharp with the 2x TC BUT it has to be stepped down to at least 6.3.

Most importantly though the auto focus slows down quite a bit so it depends on if you can pre-focus where you want and use it that way. Not sure if this would be suitable for football.

If you really need the reach I would look at the 500mm f4 with the 1.4x TC or maybe the older 500mm f4.5 (which would still AF with the 1.4x on your 1Ds)
 
I didn't get on with it particularly well...I was using it for cricket and found I lost a lot of image quality with it...particularly getting a lot of Chromatic Abberation and softness. Focus speed and accuracy suffers as well.

I much prefer the 400 + 1.4x :D
 
Thanks James - much that I'd love to have one, a 400 2.8 isn't within the bank balance at the moment. I can see that a 400 + 1.4 would be rather nice indeed.

As it happens, I got a 2x last weekend and used it at the QPR match we were both at. I was pretty pleased with the results - a bit of softness when you look at the pics 1:1 but more than acceptable for print. I found focus was really fast. The darker viewfinder is a bit of a pain, but overall it's a dead cheap way of doubling my focal length.

Didn't get any hits in the papers though - at the wrong end to get away from you :D
 
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