LIsnap said:
criza said:
Why not get the Canon Extender 1.4x II or 2x III? 8)
This is an option I had not considered, thanks. Do you find the IQ acceptable with the Canon Extenders? Do they reduce the AF speed?
I own the 70-200mm f/2.8 IS L II, the 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS L, and the Canon 1.4x III extender. I previously owned the rev-1 70-200mm and the rev-2 1.4x. Have shot these on the 5D2 and the 7D. From my experience:
1) the rev-1 70-200mm and rev-2 1.4x extender combo was ok...not great, definite softness introduced by the extender
2) the rev-2 70-200mm and rev-3 1.4x extender are significantly better that #1 above, can be easily seen in the resulting shots, very acceptable IQ and sharpness
3) combo AF speed does slow down. In the 5D2 it sucks really bad that I don't want to use this combo with it. The 7D is a faster system and keeps up, but the number of bad trackings resulting in OOF shots increases by about 20%, shooting 8 fps. You will also notice when the AF slides off target and loses the AF lock, the camera will stop shooting until it acquires another focus lock. This happens more with the extender than without it.
4) 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS L is sharper and much faster than either combo above. Very speedy on the 7D, locks AF, etc. Effective focal length is 480mm at the far end, a bit longer than the 70-200mm and 1.4x combo on the 7D.
5) the 70-200mm f/2.8 IS L II beats them all, BUT...... at f/5.6 and up the 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS L is pretty damn close that you'd be hard pressed to tell. Obviously the constant aperture and f/2.8 is the advantage of the 70-200mm.
I just got the 5D3 but have not shot anything but a few test pops, and only with the 50mm f/1.2 L on it. I will be using that camera this weekend at a wedding (with the 5D2 and the 7D). Once I get a chance and I'm not so damn busy, I plan to try the 70-200mm w/wo the extender and the 70-300mm on it with the new AF system.
To give it a workout, I'll be shooting equestrian jumping so the targets will be 10-40 yards away, moving at various speeds, parallel and towards/away from the camera, in different lighting directions, will have objects moving into and out of the foreground. It's a real test of any AF system and lens. When I get a 1Dx, I'll run this again.
When I'm done with the shooting, I'll post some results and include complete burst sequences at 6fps in a strip of shots, linked from my web site for anyone that wants to examine them.
Meantime are a few shots:
http://www.imagicphotography.com/Photography/Preview-Gallery/12384118_G8pMWH#!i=1240165276&k=GELoj&lb=1&s=A
^^^ Canon 7D, 70-200mm f/2.8 IS L II and the 1.4x III extender, @ 280mm (by the lens not factoring the 1.6x crop of the 7D), f/4, 1/1000 sec, ISO 400.
http://www.imagicphotography.com/Photography/Preview-Gallery/12384118_G8pMWH#!i=1524536644&k=V2htfvm&lb=1&s=A
^^^ Canon 7D, 70-200mm f/2.8 IS L II and the 1.4x III extender, @ 155mm (by the lens not factoring the 1.6x crop of the 7D), f/4.5, 1/1600 sec, ISO 3200 (yes this is ISO 3200 on the 7D).
http://www.imagicphotography.com/Photography/Preview-Gallery/12384118_G8pMWH#!i=1255559047&k=dWxFzLm&lb=1&s=A
^^^ Canon 7D, 70-200mm f/2.8 IS L II, @ 70mm (by the lens not factoring the 1.6x crop of the 7D), f/2.8, 1/1600 sec, ISO 250, with a B&H circular polarizer (-1.3 stop loss).