Confused...help

marcuskill

marcuskill

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marcus
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Hi

I am hoping that you can point me in the right direction, I am starting to like taking a few bird shots, but however, my current longest focal length lens is a Canon zoom EF-S 55-250mm, I have found this product and not sure if it will do what I want, which is to give me a greater focal length. I dont want to go and spend £900 plus on a 500m lens and not know if this is the route I want to take....this is the product I found..http://www.mpbphotographic.co.uk/us...ma-1.4x-ex-apo-dg-teleconverter,-canon-fit-2/

Will it do what I want, any help is always greatly appreciated.

Regards

Marcus
 
I would be very suprised if a TC would work with that lens.

Even if it is compatible, you will loose at least a stop of light, and at 250mm that lens is already f/5.6 even without the TC. Autofocus will be near impossible.
 
As Tom said using a TC wont work on that lens as it wont autofocus at f8 which is the base aperture you will have using it.

You have a couple of avenues open to you and don't need to spend a fortune if you dont want to.
The Tamron SP 70-300 VC is a cracking lens with IS that beats canons yet can be picked up quite cheaply, its also sharp wide open @ f5.6, I used to have one and got some lovely bird shots with it even though I was shooting through double glazing.

Of course that would mean you could PX or sell your current lens to recoup some of the costs.
 
Let's back up a bit before we totally dismiss the teleconverter option. It's far from ideal but it might not be completely useless.

First thing to note is that your lens is not designed to work with teleconverters. For that reason, a Canon TC (Canon call them extenders) won't even physically fit. Some 3rd party TCs *might* fit - I've heard that Kenko TCs fit a lot of lenses which aren't designed for TCs - but you'll need to find someone who has actually tried it.

Next, with a 1.4x TC fitted, your lens effectively becomes 77-350mm f/5.6-8 lens. With your camera it will not autofocus, except at the 77mm end. But it will allow you to use manual focus and it will provide full support for metering and image stabilisation. So you'll have all the functionality of the lens except autofocus. That might or might not be acceptable to you.

Next, we have to recognise that your image quality will take a hit with the TC. It *should* be better than the results you'd get by cropping and enlarging your images, but I wouldn't be totally confident about that. Pro quality zooms can accept a 1.4x TC without much image degradation, but not your lens. Of course everybody's requirements for image quality are different and the only way to find out whether the results are acceptable *to you* is to try it.

What other options are there? Well, if you sell your 55-250 and add the proceeds to the money you'd spend on the TC, you could get a decent 70-300mm zoom. All the manufacturers make decent ones for around £300 new. (Avoid the ones which cost £100-£150 new.) The image quality probably wouldn't be any better than your 55-250, and it would only be 300mm not 350mm, but it would be lots better than the TC option and you would be able to AF at 300mm. To go longer than 300mm you either have to use a TC on an unsuitable lens, as you propose, or you'd need something like the Sigma 120-400mm which is £600 new.

Hope this helps.
 
Keep practising with the lens you have and save up for a used 100-400L or 400 5.6L. Both great lenses and the iq will be better than the options mentioned. You'll get them between £750~£900. I know you've said you don't want to part with that much but it will be worth the time effort and money. You'll not regret it. If you're serious about bird photography you'll end up going down this line anyway because both these lenses are fantastic, even as walk abouts (the 400L prime being the lighter option).
 
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..........look in the Canon Classifieds on here, there's a couple there just now. That'll give you an idea.
 
StewartR said:
First thing to note is that your lens is not designed to work with teleconverters. For that reason, a Canon TC (Canon call them extenders) won't even physically fit. Some 3rd party TCs *might* fit - I've heard that Kenko TCs fit a lot of lenses which aren't designed for TCs - but you'll need to find someone who has actually tried it.
Click to expand...

'Frayed knot.

No TC will fit an EF-S lens.
 
Thanks guys for the help, took the a little plunge and got a second hand lens, a Sigma 80-400mm F4.5-5.6, couldn't afford anything higher priced this side of christmas, but to be fair...i'm happy with it, took it out today for a test run, and these are the results..

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/first-heron-shots.520584/

Still a lot of learning to do, which I am here to do, but things are moving forward.

Thank you all for you input

Marcus
 
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