Thread: Lens upgrade suggestions please

Originally Posted by stooge

Intersting that you use a TC with a zoom lens. Most reports seem to follow a pattern that zooms rent good with tc's, only primes. Must be a goodn' lens

My understanding is that TCs generally should not not be used on zoom lenses of less than 100 mm, ie they are optically designed to enhance or extend the capability of telephoto lenses. I guess, theoretically, a TC could be designed to optimally extend shorter focal length lenses but why would you bother. The only quality TCs that I am aware of for shorter focal lengths, relate to macro lenses.

Cheers
KarlB

Originally Posted by stooge

Intersting that you use a TC with a zoom lens. Most reports seem to follow a pattern that zooms rent good with tc's, only primes. Must be a goodn' lens

The two Canon Extenders 1.4x and 2x are only compatible with the four 70-200mm L series telephoto zooms and the 100-400L. i.e. they are not compatible with the 70-300L lens etc. They are also compatible with their L series primes starting at 135mm and up.

Yes, a prime plus TC will be better than a zoom plus TC, but I can only afford and carry so many lenses... (And a prime at the correct length will be better than a smaller prime plus TC; who wants to buy me a prime?)

In my case the TC lives at the bottom of my bag and I have only really used it at airshows. Best of all they are cheap. Currently $395 for the series II extenders as the III are out.

The other consideration with the 500D is that the auto focus is limited to a lens of f5.6. Hence a f4 lens with a 1.4x TC is ok, but with a 2x TC auto focus will not work. To use the 2x you will need to get:

• a better camera
• a better lens f2.8
• or focus manually

The Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 works very well with the 1.4 converter as well.

Waiting on DWI pricing for this

Canon U.S.A. : Consumer & Home Office : EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM

List is US$1600.

Looks to me to be a good comprise on size, weight and flexibility.

Looks good, here is a review of the lens: Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 L IS USM Lens Review

The reviews of the lenses that I own on this site are fairly well on the mark. Enjoy.

This thread has had me looking seriously at the 24-70 f2.8 L again, am travelling to Europe in Dec and may be able to stretch the budget to buy it and claim the Tourist Rebate Scheme as well.

Did you have a look at the Sigma APO 120-400mm f4.5-5.6 DG OS HSM ?
DWI is asking less than $ 800 for it
Is a report HERE

Originally Posted by Chucaro

Did you have a look at the Sigma APO 120-400mm f4.5-5.6 DG OS HSM ?
DWI is asking less than $ 800 for it
Is a report HERE

Thanks Arthur. I did, but the weight puts me off. Not just that I have to lug it around, but that it'll be mounted on a 500D for some time until I can justify a body upgrade.

You already have a 200 mm lens. 300mm is 50% longer, but modern cameras have mega pixels to spare, so I don't know that I'd spend much money or carry much extra weight for 50% more when I could probably do a decent job by cropping the frame on a 200mm image.

As discussed on another thread 300mm isn't really long enough for a decent wildlife shot.

Unless the image quality of the 18-200 is poor. I'd be looking some a more dramatic increase in focal length for the money. When I was in the same situation I kept my kit 70-300 and upgraded the standard zoom to a f/2.8 one. This made a bigger difference to more of my photos.

For my money and back I'd get something sufficiently different to justify it and only take it on trips when it was worth the weight/space.

The two obvious ones are the sigma 120-400 mentioned, which I've nearly bought on a couple of occasions, and the Canon 100-400.

In my quick search the canon is slightly more expensive than the Sigma, but it is half way in weight between the canon 70-300 and the sigma 120-400.

Cheers, Steve