70-200mm f2.8 II with 2x TC good?

[mreco99]

Hi

Any one happy with the results from the 70-200mm f2.8 II with 2x TC at 400mm? on say a 5dmk2
I like the 70-300L but its a fair bit shorter on a FF than im used to on a 1.6 crop

Bear in mind im coming from a 450d and a 70-300mm non L
I know the 70-200 with 2x tc on 5dmk2 wont quite get me the same reach as the 300 on the 450d, but not far off.
Just planning my upgrade path for better IQ

thanks

 

[Loswr]

Decent. Not as good as any Canon lens which natively reaches 400mm, but you can get acceptable results.

Here's a shot with the combo on my 7D:


EOS 7D, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L II IS USM + EF 2x II Extender @ 400mm, 1/160 s, f/5.6, ISO 3200

 

[mreco99]

looks good thanks, I should notice better IQ with that upgrade right over my existing? even with using the TC?

 

[Loswr]

The 70-200 II + 2x (II or III) will definitely deliver better IQ than the non-L 70-300, on any body.

 

[pelebel]

The 70-200 II + 2x (II or III) will definitely deliver better IQ than the non-L 70-300, on any body.

Yes, better IQ. Here's a quote from Slrgear.com : "With the Extender attached, sharpness is noticeably reduced. You'll never get tack-sharp results with the 2x II Extender attached: at f/5.6, the lens produced images of only moderate sharpness, with some improvement stopped down. Images at f/8, f/11 and f/16 show essentially the same level of sharpness, good but not great, and then things soften up again as the lens is stopped down to f/32 or smaller. At f/45 and especially f/64, things get pretty fuzzy."

http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/434/cat/62

And their review about the 70-300 : http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/253/cat/11

But you see the sharpness might not be as different, depending on your aperture.

 

[dr croubie]

The 70-200 f/4 L IS with 1.4x TC compared to the 70-300L is a very tough call, the 70-300L is only a smidge sharper.
Then take into account 70-200 f/2.8L IS II is a bit sharper than the f/4 (esp on the FF edges).
Then take into account that the 70-300nonL is just squishy at 300mm (hence i sold the one i had and bought the L).

Even the 2x tc instead of the 1.4x tc may make IQ on the 70-200 tc combo a bit worse than the 70-300L, but compared to the 70-300nonL you'll really notice how much sharper it is.
check out a direct comparison here

 

[Loswr]

The 70-200 II + 2x (II or III) will definitely deliver better IQ than the non-L 70-300, on any body.

Here's a quote from Slrgear.com

http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/434/cat/62

Note that Slrgear was testing the 2x III with the 200mm f/2.8L II (the 70-200 II is sharper than the 200/2.8 prime).

 

[Mencho(22)]

I think this is a great combo...

Just take a look of some test shoots:

A crop

All taken with a 7D

 

[hokieshu]

As with any "tool" the answer depends on what you plan to do with the "tool". I would tell you that in my experience with all TCs that I have used (1.4x II, 2x II, 1.4x III) that I have been happy and I have been disappointed. I have been happy when the object that I am shooting is standing still or moving slowly. Image quality is very good with a TC - only moderate impact to my mostly untrained eye - when photographing a deer, a floating duck or goose, a bird sitting on a limb, etc. I've been disappointed in that autofocus impact makes the combination unacceptable for sports photography. There is a marked impact on autofocus performance - even in AI servo mode with a superb lens like a 200mm f/2 IS (my fav by the way). I purchased a 1.4x II to turn my 200mm f/2 into a 280 f/2.8 thinking I might be able to avoid buying a 300mm f/2.8 for sports photography. The autofocus impact lowered my keeper rate considerably. The autofocus impact was too negative so I sold it, purchased a 1.4x III thinking that the IQ advancements would help the issue enough and while the autofocus improved it didn't improve enough so off I go to try to keep my wife from divorcing me for buying another $4000 lens.....