Beginner Canon 100-400 V1 Canon 400mm & 1.4x?

Messages
2,655
Name
Russell
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi, Not a beginner at photography but at bird/wildlife photography yes. I have the 7d Mk ii, 100-400mm ver 1 and 400mm lenses and the question is would it be worth the layout for a 1.4x ver iii to add that extra reach? Where I live there are only two man made resivours and approach to the both is over rocky/bouldered ground with not a lot of veg cover.
 
You need to find out if the camera will maintain AF at f8 as the 1.4 TC adds one stop and both lenses are f5.6 at 400mm.
 
I believe the 7D2 does af at relative f8. I'd only buy the mk2 version of the extender though as the mk3 extra features only really work well with later lens/camera combinations. Well worth buying though for the extra reach at little financial cost. Both take the extender well, I had both lenses and a 5D3.
 
Thankyou for the help.
Matt thanks for the heads up on the version ii a lot cheaper than the ver iii.
 
Russ which 400mm lens do you have?

cheers

stu
 
Russ I sort of wonder whether your reservoirs are the best place for a budding bird tog to cut his teeth,it all depend on how tame the birds are?? I asked about the 400 because I'm lucky to shoot with one myself,mine being f4 opens the door to the 2X as well. That isn't an option for you bar maybe tricking the camera with a kenko??????

For me, there are going to be two big limits to an F8 combo ( I haven't used the 7dii but it would apply to any I guess) ,being stuck on center point,is something I personally hated. 2nd the amount of light needed at f8. We are not always blessed with lots of light here often shooting in lower light especially birdz and beasties.

Russ reach is cool,but you want to be close to your subjects,if humanly possible..bar the bird scape types of images,naturally. Find some tame stuff have a bash at gulls for your muscle memory with birds in flight. I'd honestly star with the bare lens especially with BIF tracking gets progressively harder the more reach one has

Mate i'm not trying to put you off : if you are going to tackle those watery places get a little chair you can carry try and pick a cool spot pref sun behind you set up and sit still, the lower to the ground the better. It sounds like you have little chance of stalking to get closer with no hides low and wait may be a good tactic,give it an hour for the brids to start to forget about you. Mate this time is never wasted,you will learn pretty quickly which birds like which places on your patch you'll start to see favoured spots where they come and go from the lake...flight lines.....the more your learn your little patch the more you learn your subjects, the closer you'll get and the more the chances will come!!

Your water fowl flight lines will strengthen at dawn and dusk they move at these times of day from food to roost, may well worth trying to exploit.

So yes the exts are worth the bang for the buck but they come with some limitations.Reach is cool but again limitations Knowing who does what and when helps all ways

all the luck maybe slightly left of the reply you are looking for it might help:)

stu
 
Russ I sort of wonder whether your reservoirs are the best place for a budding bird tog to cut his teeth,it all depend on how tame the birds are?? I asked about the 400 because I'm lucky to shoot with one myself,mine being f4 opens the door to the 2X as well. That isn't an option for you bar maybe tricking the camera with a kenko??????

For me, there are going to be two big limits to an F8 combo ( I haven't used the 7dii but it would apply to any I guess) ,being stuck on center point,is something I personally hated. 2nd the amount of light needed at f8. We are not always blessed with lots of light here often shooting in lower light especially birdz and beasties.

Russ reach is cool,but you want to be close to your subjects,if humanly possible..bar the bird scape types of images,naturally. Find some tame stuff have a bash at gulls for your muscle memory with birds in flight. I'd honestly star with the bare lens especially with BIF tracking gets progressively harder the more reach one has

Mate i'm not trying to put you off : if you are going to tackle those watery places get a little chair you can carry try and pick a cool spot pref sun behind you set up and sit still, the lower to the ground the better. It sounds like you have little chance of stalking to get closer with no hides low and wait may be a good tactic,give it an hour for the brids to start to forget about you. Mate this time is never wasted,you will learn pretty quickly which birds like which places on your patch you'll start to see favoured spots where they come and go from the lake...flight lines.....the more your learn your little patch the more you learn your subjects, the closer you'll get and the more the chances will come!!

Your water fowl flight lines will strengthen at dawn and dusk they move at these times of day from food to roost, may well worth trying to exploit.

So yes the exts are worth the bang for the buck but they come with some limitations.Reach is cool but again limitations Knowing who does what and when helps all ways

all the luck maybe slightly left of the reply you are looking for it might help:)

stu
Hi, Many thanks Stu for all that advice and can assure you will not be wasted, I am lucky in one respect though and that is weather although sometimes far to hot as now up in the 90's F, obviously not as good in Winter time but still more sunshine than rainy overcast days. Russ
 
Help Russ not advice,:) I don't know enough to be advising folks;), a bit of help is nice though . i'm just paying off the dept I owe to all the clever sods that help me tis all, and you are utterly welcome. I'm no expert bro but have had so much help from wildlife togs,one wants to at least try to help the next guy,ie you !!


Mate I shoot in the grey often I don't have your luck, I actually described my self as a cloud whisperer recently, as it's uncanny how the sun sods off when I have a subject :LOL: The grey is a double edged sword bro..... with wildlife two things become apparent: a hot sunny day means one's subjects seem to laze about for starters and secondly the middle part of the day becomes tricky as the dynamic range of the light is so great. So here a light bright cloudy day can be a real asset for us,keeping the birds and beasties a bit more active secondly the light cloud acts like a big old diffuser making the light much softer and easier for us to cram the highlights and darks onto our camera sensors. Essentially I adore shooting under the sun but really it wants to be very early or very late,then i'll take a bit of cloud in the midst of the day somewhat begrudingly as the softer light is "nicer" to make images under. I think this is what makes really good wildlife images so damn hard to obtain,it's hard enough on it's own getting some of the subjects close let alone doing that under some magical light . One needs a certain amount of luck however much thought and effort has been put in

all the luck

stu
 
Help Russ not advice,:) I don't know enough to be advising folks;), a bit of help is nice though . i'm just paying off the dept I owe to all the clever sods that help me tis all, and you are utterly welcome. I'm no expert bro but have had so much help from wildlife togs,one wants to at least try to help the next guy,ie you !!


Mate I shoot in the grey often I don't have your luck, I actually described my self as a cloud whisperer recently, as it's uncanny how the sun sods off when I have a subject :LOL: The grey is a double edged sword bro..... with wildlife two things become apparent: a hot sunny day means one's subjects seem to laze about for starters and secondly the middle part of the day becomes tricky as the dynamic range of the light is so great. So here a light bright cloudy day can be a real asset for us,keeping the birds and beasties a bit more active secondly the light cloud acts like a big old diffuser making the light much softer and easier for us to cram the highlights and darks onto our camera sensors. Essentially I adore shooting under the sun but really it wants to be very early or very late,then i'll take a bit of cloud in the midst of the day somewhat begrudingly as the softer light is "nicer" to make images under. I think this is what makes really good wildlife images so damn hard to obtain,it's hard enough on it's own getting some of the subjects close let alone doing that under some magical light . One needs a certain amount of luck however much thought and effort has been put in

all the luck

stu
Hi, Bought a 1.4 Mk ll from here at £140 to give it a go but won't see it until July, thought if it does not fit I can always sell it on again maybe without loss. Russ.
 
Back
Top