400mm f/4. Anything good and "affordable"?

[FarQinell]

Could you not make do with the slightly smaller image size given by the Canon 300/2.8 IS version 1?

Arguably one of the sharpest lenses Canon ever made.

Very sharp wide open with huge 107mm nominal aperture.

Resolving power is proportional to aperture (there are other things to consider of course - before anybody chips in!).

For the 400/4 DO you have to stop down to f5.6 to get half decent results from what I have read.

400/5.6 equates to only 71mm aperture - so less detail in your image. In fact the little 400/5.6 prime performs just as well as the DO and is much much cheaper.

With the 300/2.8 you get a very good 420mm with a 1.4TC.

The only thing going for the 400/4 DO is its relatively light weight.

Plenty of 300/2.8 version 1 coming on the market as rich folk trade up to version 2!

 

[briansquibb]

Could get a 400 f/2.8 and stop down :-* :-* :-*

 

[drjlo]

I have the 70-200 f2.8 IS and the Canon 2x II extender. I have to say that I was quite impressed with both the IQ and the speed of the AF. To be honest when I bought the extender I really was expecting the worst, but ended up being very happy.

Just got the Kenko 2x TC DGX. On 5D MkIII, it ONLY works with 70-200 II, not anything else, which I expected since my Kenko 1.4x only works with 70-200 II as well. Kenko can keep denying compatibility problems with 5D III and put their head in the sand, but problem exists.

On 70-200 + 2x TC, probably cropped out 80% of the photo. It was at dusk, so iso2000.


DZ3C3817 by drjlo1, on Flickr

 

[SambalOelek]

I have the 70-200 f2.8 IS and the Canon 2x II extender. I have to say that I was quite impressed with both the IQ and the speed of the AF. To be honest when I bought the extender I really was expecting the worst, but ended up being very happy.

Just got the Kenko 2x TC DGX. On 5D MkIII, it ONLY works with 70-200 II, not anything else, which I expected since my Kenko 1.4x only works with 70-200 II as well. Kenko can keep denying compatibility problems with 5D III and put their head in the sand, but problem exists.

On 70-200 + 2x TC, probably cropped out 80% of the photo. It was at dusk, so iso2000.


DZ3C3817 by drjlo1, on Flickr

Nice level of detail considering the 2x converter. There is quite a lot of visible noise, though, did you push the exposure in post?

 

[drjlo]

I have the 70-200 f2.8 IS and the Canon 2x II extender. I have to say that I was quite impressed with both the IQ and the speed of the AF. To be honest when I bought the extender I really was expecting the worst, but ended up being very happy.

Just got the Kenko 2x TC DGX. On 5D MkIII, it ONLY works with 70-200 II, not anything else, which I expected since my Kenko 1.4x only works with 70-200 II as well. Kenko can keep denying compatibility problems with 5D III and put their head in the sand, but problem exists.

On 70-200 + 2x TC, probably cropped out 80% of the photo. It was at dusk, so iso2000.


DZ3C3817 by drjlo1, on Flickr

Nice level of detail considering the 2x converter. There is quite a lot of visible noise, though, did you push the exposure in post?

It was pretty dark by then and even at ISO2000 I could see noise without pushing the exp. I had DPP in "high speed" mode, which does not offer NR, so it was converted to jpeg without any NR. Just after this quick test shot, it basically became dark, so next test shots will have to wait..

 

[K-amps]

Here's another shot of the 70-200 combo: i.e. 70-200 mk.ii + 2x mk.iii MAF'ed on a 5Diii: Lots of usable footage.

 

[wickidwombat]

I have the 70-200 f2.8 IS and the Canon 2x II extender. I have to say that I was quite impressed with both the IQ and the speed of the AF. To be honest when I bought the extender I really was expecting the worst, but ended up being very happy.

Just got the Kenko 2x TC DGX. On 5D MkIII, it ONLY works with 70-200 II, not anything else, which I expected since my Kenko 1.4x only works with 70-200 II as well. Kenko can keep denying compatibility problems with 5D III and put their head in the sand, but problem exists.

On 70-200 + 2x TC, probably cropped out 80% of the photo. It was at dusk, so iso2000.


DZ3C3817 by drjlo1, on Flickr

hmmm all my lenses seem fine on my new body with my kenko stuff, on the first body i returned none worked, I think its body dependent, do you have any other wierd focusing problems? my new body has a 3 in the 6th digit my first one was a 1

 

[drjlo]

Got to shoot some more 70-200 + 2x TC. Dusk again and ISO 6400.


DZ3C4180 by drjlo1, on Flickr