TC conudrum...

odd jim

odd jim

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So I'm off to Silverstone on Friday to photograph the two practice sessions (cant wait!!). I now only have my Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 as I sold my Canon 55-250 IS which, surprisingly, used to be my motorsport lens of choice (I didnt have the Sigma then, plus the Canon would have had 50m over the Siggy, important at Silverstone!).

My conundrum is this;

Do I use the 70-200 on its own, as I'm happy with the ability the 50d gives me to crop without losing any noticeable IQ or to I purchase a 1.4 or 2x TC (the 2x is only about £30 more than the 1.4) and a monopod?

Decisions decisions...
 
I was worried about IQ with a 2xTC on my sigma 70-200, with a trip to canada coming up I wanted to make sure I could get some decent pics without having to go toe to toe with a grizzly.

Ended up leaving the TC on almost all holiday. Definately lose sharpness wide open, but I was using F8-F10 with gave me results I was happy with. Obviously not going to give the same IQ of a 400L! but I am happy with the bang for buck.

Take a look in my flickr, almost all the shots in the canada set are using the sigma 2xTC (except the landscapes obviously)
 
I would have suggested hiring a longer lens, but seeing as you'd probably use the tc more often then not,it might be a sound investment.

Would it be Canon's Tc's or a 3rd party's version?
 
John Mc said:
I would have suggested hiring a longer lens, but seeing as you'd probably use the tc more often then not,it might be a sound investment.

Would it be Canon's Tc's or a 3rd party's version?
Click to expand...

Hopefullly a siggy one or one of theose instant coffee ones.
 
John Mc said:
I would have suggested hiring a longer lens, but seeing as you'd probably use the tc more often then not,it might be a sound investment.

Would it be Canon's Tc's or a 3rd party's version?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies so far! It would be the Sigma EX one, keep full AF and supposed to be the best for IQ. At £240 I would hope so too!
 
I'd probably go for it,(thats me but :P) supposed to be a very sunny day friday, so you'll have plenty of light to play with. Gutted im not going this year like i planed to :( oh well, a week in Cornwall will have to do :P
 
Hi Jim

Have not looked at todays prices (too tired now) but for £240 you are likely to get BOTH Kenko pro 300 dgx x2 and x1.4 TCs. Both are cracking converters and seem better value than the Siggy at that price. I have a number of converters incl the x1.4 Sigma EX and the Kenko pro 300 models are at least as good IMHO.

Just a thought.

Gary
 
gary43 said:
Hi Jim

Have not looked at todays prices (too tired now) but for £240 you are likely to get BOTH Kenko pro 300 dgx x2 and x1.4 TCs. Both are cracking converters and seem better value than the Siggy at that price. I have a number of converters incl the x1.4 Sigma EX and the Kenko pro 300 models are at least as good IMHO.

Just a thought.

Gary
Click to expand...

Hi Gary,

Thanks for that, just looked at the Kenko pro 300 dgx x2 and it does seem to get very good reviews! Think this could be the one :thumbs:
 
OOI, you are probably too late to get one delivered now from them but Simply Electronics did a great deal for me on one of these. Worth checking out.

Good luck at the weekend and hope you get to see a Button victory.

Gary
 
odd jim said:
Hi Gary,

Thanks for that, just looked at the Kenko pro 300 dgx x2 and it does seem to get very good reviews! Think this could be the one :thumbs:
Click to expand...

Before you get the Kenko check it will work OK with your lens - some sigma lens don't play very well Kenko tubes, they tend to hunt when focusing, my 120-300 being of of them - swapped to Sigma all OK now.
 
^

Will do! I've found a used one for only £89 at an LCE not far from me, which according to them is in VGC and boxed! Will be taking the exact body and lens combo I'll be using it on to check compatibility and IQ, being an x2. They also have a Keno 2x MC-7 CAF for £80 which seems to get reasonable write ups, though I'm a bit worried IQ would suffer with the x2's?

If this isnt to my liking I'll go back to looking for a Sigma EX variant.
 
Last edited:
Ok, so the 300 DGX had been sold by the time I got there but I had a play with the Kenko MC-7. I brought my body and Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 and the guy in the store actually let me leave the store with the TC attached to have a little play. I have to say I'm mighty impressed!

Very good IQ and good AF, though it does seem a little slower to lock than before, but its still very acceptable as the Siggy was so fast anyway (and I'll only be using it in good light)! Now the strange thing. I know you lose about 1 stop when using an x2 TC. But when attached to the 50d it overexposes by 1 stop! So I brought the exposure compensation down 1 stop and its perfect, so in theory I have got my 1 stop lost back, lol!!

Anyway, here are some test shots with the Kenko MC-7;

1 - 330mm (165 on lens)

IMG_1454 by Odd Jim, on Flickr

2 - 270mm (135mm on lens)

IMG_1471 by Odd Jim, on Flickr

3 - 400mm (200mm on lens)

IMG_1486 by Odd Jim, on Flickr

4 - 140mm (70mm on lens)

IMG_1469 by Odd Jim, on Flickr

For £80 and a lot more reach at Silverstone this Friday, I'm pretty chuffed!
 
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