Canon 100-400 plus Extender for air shows?

StewartR

StewartR

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Does anyone have any practical experience of using a Canon 100-400 plus an Extender for air show photography?

We have a customer at www.LensesForHire.co.uk who wants to hire a 100-400 to take to the big show at RAF Fairford in July, which I'm sure is a good choice, but he's not sure whether an Extender would be a good idea.

Pro: Extra reach.
Con: Lower quality, loss of autofocus (camera=400D).

I think the trade-off is that the cons are probably worth tolerating if (a) the extra reach is necessary and (b) the loss of autofocus is manageable. What would you advise? 1.4x Extender? 2x Extender? Or neither?
 
cant help much but I was thinking of contacting yourselfs to hire something similar for the Sunderland air show to go with my 70-200 on my 40D.

I was thinking 2x for me purely because that would be usefull onwards from the 200mm I already have. I have never been to an air show before so want to cover all bases, but I imagining I will get most shots at 400mm max :|

That really isnt much help is it? sorry
 
I don't do air shows Stewart, but my gut feeling is he'd be better off with neither. 400mm should get him some decent shots with the convenience of AF.

For what it would probably cost, he could take a converter and try it, but I personally find the image quality too compromised with even a 1.4 converter on the 100-400L.
 
My very limited experience of this is with my own 35-350L and a 1.4x. This is not meant to work but when I tried it out in the shop, sure enough it did :D

I think the 100-400 is similar to the 35-350 in terms of speed, f5.6 at the max focal length. This is not the fastest lens to start with and the TC slows it down some more but the AF still works on my 40D. It is a bit hit and miss which is fine for wildlife but an airshow it could be a real pain. I find airshows quite tricky for the af anyway as you can be dealing with a lot of sky with little contrast, just at the point you want to take a shot the af goes off on a little trip :bang:

Bottom line is that I think it will work, the af will probably be ok but he will have to be careful with it and not expect it to be a accurate or quick as the lens normally is. Might be better off just cropping the shots from the 400 and get the benifit of the improved quality?

For the price though, worth a try.
 
AF doesn't work at all with this lens with a 1.4 TC on either my 20D or 40D bodies - not that I expect it to. :D
 
Talk your him into hireing your Sigma 120-300 and a 2x converter to go with it Stewart(y)
 
CT said:
AF doesn't work at all with this lens with a 1.4 TC on either my 20D or 40D bodies - not that I expect it to. :D
Click to expand...

Perhaps it's the IS that stops it from working with this lens? as I say my only experiance is my 35-350L and that is ok, just.

Did have a play with a 120-300 and my 1.4x today to see if would work and that seemed fine also :D

Stewart, do you hire the 120-300?????
 
Cool, might have to hire to try before I buy :D Only played with it in the shop today briefly but would be better at home.

Anyway, back to the thread, sorry :bonk:
 
As a slight addition, the crop factor of the OP's 400D will add 1.6x to the 400mm end anyway, giving ~640mm ;)


 
Tell him not to bother with the 1.4x.
AF will be useless and the quality will be poor.

Nice move getting the 120-300 F2.8 :)
 
I wouldnt recommend the 1.4 on a 100-400 full stop, it will not AF on anything but a 1D or DS. Unless you tape the pins, and i wouldnt recommend that specially not on hire equipment, can see insurance doing their nut ;) Will be far better off just using the 100-400 as is, is a very flexible lens for airshows :)
 
The 200mm F1.8 looks tempting !
 
I've done a couple of shows & displays and did RIAT(Fairford) last year - the 100-400L on it's own it will be fine!! I'd also suggest that they look a the 120-300 2.8 that's mentioned but I think the IS will make a massive difference :)

I went a 70-300mm IS and the reach was absolutely fine!! :)

Matt
 
I've used a 1.4 TC on a 100-400L (on a 1 series body), quality is reasonable (using a canon 1.4TC) but it's like waiding through treacle with regards to tracking/focussing.

I agree, for an airshow, I wouldn't bother, even a Sopwith Camel would be in Iceland before you got focus lock :)
 
This year will probably be the last year a 400mm lens will be long enough, 2006 was fine, i struggled in 07, dont know what this year will produce.:shrug: Did masses of shows last year, only a handful were okay with the 100-400.
Moral of this story.....hire him a 500mm;)

Dean:)
 
So a 120-300 and tc will be ok at RIAT? Not sure about me holding it though after having a play with one today, boy they are heavy!! :LOL:
 
done Biggin Hill twice and duxford and normally have to use much less than 300mm, I use my 70-300 no problem you are extremely close to the action these days
 
Nice shot but way oversize! 800 pixels longest side please, or just leave the clicky link.
 
SDK^ said:
1.4x will be fine. This was taken with the 2x :)
BTW - get down the gym ;)
Click to expand...

Excellent :D So tempted, so tempted. Don't know how I walked out of the shop today after having one on my 40D, oh yeah, the price :D

What, and spoil this finely tuned machine of a body :LOL: :exit:
 
Got my 2X today. It really isn't that bad. It does get softer, as expected, but it really is acceptable. And if you step down at f/8 (which you would really, the DOF of a 600mm at f5.6 is only milimiters), it's really quite sharp. At f/11 it's great. Needing to work on my long-tele technique though. The new tripod really helps.

Tell him to go for the 120-300mm + TC. He wont regret it!
Oh and andyjayh, found this on the web, I think you'll find it useful. It's in japanese but who cares, check out all the photos!!!
 
Is that the Sigma 2x you have? I wonder if there is any difference between the Sigma and Canon tc's? I tried a Canon 1.4x on a 120-300 yesterday and it seemed to work fine.

Thanks for the link, just reading the poorly translated version via google :D
 
edster said:
Why not :thinking:
Click to expand...

LOL - popcorn anyone?

I'd say the 100-400 on it's own would be OK for Fairford. I have this lens and a Canon 1.4Tc and it doesn't autofocus.

There's a trick about taping some pins, but I found it slows it down so I don't bother anymore.

I'd say the biggest problem would be the huge lens on the tiny body of the 400D:D
 
OK folks, thanks for all the input. I'll advise the customer that an Extender probably won't be very useful, and if he doesn't want to hire a 500mm f/4 (good idea, Dean!) then the 100-400 will be fine for his needs.
 
andyjayh said:
Is that the Sigma 2x you have? I wonder if there is any difference between the Sigma and Canon tc's? I tried a Canon 1.4x on a 120-300 yesterday and it seemed to work fine.

Thanks for the link, just reading the poorly translated version via google :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've read somewhere that the 2X tc from Canon doesn't work well with this lens and from all the different brands out there (canon, kenko, jessops etc), the Sigma is the best.

I've opted for the 2x instead of the 1.4x for now, because I can't justify the cost of a 1.4x. I am totally sutisfied with the lens as it is, I just wanted to go to the extremes. 600mm f/5.6. It does sound tempting doesnt it?
 
I use a 400 mm fixed L and its just gorg, my friend uses a Bigma and is really chuft. Probably dont help but just thought i'd offer??????
 
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