Extender EF 2x II with EF 70-200/2.8 IS

[greg_buzeski1]

Does anybody has experience with this combination. I am considering

this combination for soccer and baseball. How is the AF and IS

performance? I have Canon 10D body.

 

Thanks

 

Greg Buzeski

[beauh44]

Hi Greg, I'm <I>close</i> but not quite: I have the above-mentioned lens and a 1.4x with a 10D. With the crop factor, that's a not too shabby 448mm. I shot some lacrosse matches with that combination and got some excellent shots. Some say the 2.X is slightly less sharp. Best wishes . . .

[robert_turner]

I have used exactly that combination (for baseball, as well), but mainly nature/everglades shots, and I got rid of the EF 2X, replacing it with the 1.4 II. I thought the difference in image quality between the two was large, not even mentioning the extra stop lost with the 2X.

 

Some of my results with the 70-200 2.8 IS and 1.4x have been so sharp and pleasing to my eye, I had to re-check my records to see if I actually was using the extender.

 

In my opinion, any focal length you are losing here can be made up easily by cropping in PS, with superior quality end results as well. That lens is SO wonderful across the board- to me it is a shame to muck it up unless there is no other workaround.

 

Good shooting,

GTD

[yakim_peled1]

<P> Have a look <a href="http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/c-ext.shtml">here</a>, <a href="http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/lenses/400v400.shtml">here</a> and <a href="http://bobatkins.photo.net/photography/reviews/tcs.html">here</a>. </P>

 

<P> Happy shooting , <br>

Yakim. </P>

[jim_doty]

Greg:

<p>

I have the Canon 10D, the EF 70-200 f/2.8L non-IS lens, the EF 2X II, and the EF 100-400L IS lens. Not exactly what you are asking for but close enough that I might be of some help.

<p>

With a 2X II on my 100-400L lens, the IS is fine so I would think the same would be true of the 70-200L IS with 2X II.

<p>

AF is slow and disappointing when I put the 2X behind my 70-200 and put it on my Canon 10D. The darker it is, the worse the AF gets. I think this might be the deal breaker. Unless someone else has had a better experience with the 70-200 IS/2X II combo, I think you would not be happy.

<p>

The old EF 2X on my 70-200L was disappointing in terms of sharpness and I did not consider it a workable combination. The new 2X II is much better, though not as sharp as the the 70-200L by itself. The 70-200L and 2X II combo is just about as sharp as the 100-400L IS lens - much to my surprise.

<p>

For sports, I think the 70-200L IS & 2X II combo is too slow in terms of autofocus. The 100-400L by itself is much faster, gives you the focal length you want and the sharpness is pretty close to the same as the 70-200/2X combo. This would be a much better lens for your purpose. If you could live with 200mm of focal length, the 70-200L by itself would be very nice.

<p>

I did a quick and dirty lens comparison with a newspaper as a target the camera/lens combo on a tripod with mirror lockup. I shot with the 70-200L and 2X II with an aperture of f/5.6 (effective aperture of f11 with the 2X). To keep the image size the same, I moved to half the distance and took the same photo with the 70-200L alone at f/5.6. F/5.6 is a very good aperture on my 70-200. Lastly, I backed up to my original postion and shot the 100-400L at an aperture of f/8 ( a good aperture for my 100-400). The 70-200L by itself was sharpest. The other two were about the same. If shot a big section of newspaper and cropped down to the center at 100% "actual pixels". If I do the upload correctly, you will see a comparison. I did not do any unsharp masking.

<p>

 

Good luck in our sports lens search

<p>

Jim<div></div>

[micheal_kelly]

I use the 1.4 and the 2x II on a 70-200LIS. I think the image quality is good with the 2xII but you will find the autofocus poor in less than bright sunlight. The autfocus works better with the 1.4.

 

For wildlife in bright conditions I have used the 1.4 and 2x stacked and it makes a pretty nice 900mm f8 lens on the 10D.

[ilia]

I stopped using 2x and use 1.4x Canon TC exclusevly w/my 70-200IS because of lack of sharpness with 2x+70-200IS combo wide open. Go <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=004Yiq">here</a> for description of my trouble....

[simonpg]

I have both 2X II and 1.4X II and the 70-200 f2.8L (non-IS). I've used the 2X II for sports having heard it's a little soft on various web sites under various tests - by technical perfectionists. My experience is that it produces very high quality results on 100, 200 and 400 ASA film. The change in AF was minor and not a problem to me. If I kept the shutter up above 1/500sec all shots was very sharp. It is a very good option.

Using the 1.4X II (only a couple of times) showed no reduction in AF speed, no noticeable change in image quality - excellent performance.

The fact is they are very high quality converters. But any top quality converters are not a perfect substitute. 1.4x always performs better than 2.0x - it stands to reason.

If you have no other option it will not disapoint you at all unless you produce massive enlargements or wants shots published.