Hi All
After buying a wide angle lens i will be looking at upgrading my Sigma 170 - 500 lens....hopefully to a Canon 500 F4L
I realise these are very very expensive and am going to take a while to think about it before i take the plunge but i was wondering if anyone could fill me in on the 1.4 and 2X converters that you can get.
I have a 40D, and if i do go ahead will be looking at the 500 F4L
Will the converters work, will i loose any quality, F Stops, etc etc
I do a fair amount of wildlife photography and really enjoy it...although i do not do it as a profession or really sell any pictures...as of yet
Any advice on the Lens, and converters would be very welcome
Many Thanks
Nick
Nick.
40D on a 500 F4 is definitely in the ballpark of long lens wildlife photography, almost as sharp as a 300 F2.8, focus and IS to die for.
Its pretty much the staple kit for most wildlife photographers.
If you are serious about it then it'd be the best investment you could make, these things hold their value like gold. I've seen 4-5 year old models go for £700-800 cheaper than the brand new one!
I would however say, (having had a fair amount of experience using such lenses on different bodies) that you'd get the most out of it on a 1D series body. Not so much because of the IQ, but because the way the 1D bodies drive big lenses. The autofocus is bonkers and these lenses were designed to be used by such bodies.
I do however understand that this game is very expensive and the lens would be an amazing upgrade, however i'd seriously consider picking up a second hand 1D MkIIn or 1D MkIII if possible to get the most from this lens.
Or even better a 1Ds MkII as there are some very good deals to be had on them if you know where to look. Either way you'll still be impressed by it
Regarding tele-converters, all the big Canon primes, (200 F2, 300 F2.8 400 F2.8, 400 DO, 500 F4, 600 F4, 800 F5.6) will take the 1.4x converter with practically no reduction in image quality. You have to be a real pixel peeper to notice and nobody can really tell.
You lose 1 stop and on a 500 F4 the focus will slow down a tad, but its giving you 700mm which is quite a long way, even wide open at F5.6 you'll notice practically no loss in IQ.
With a 2x converter, things start to get a little desperate, I survived with a 2x converter on a 300 F2.8 for around a year and a half before I bought a 600 F4. And it was pretty difficult, especially for focus critical action stuff.
The 300 wasn't *that* bad, but a 2x converter on a 500 or 600mm lens really does start to get desperate. You'll only have 1AF point (on a 40D you lose AF altogether *I think) Contrast colour and sharpness all suffer quite badly, and you start to get funny patterns in the bokeh.
Obviously you lose 2 stops, so wide open you get F8, but to get any kind of decent sharpness you really need to stop down to F10-F12, you can get the contrast back in PP, but images lack the same quality of the standard 500mm lens. Shooting wildlife in morning/evening light at F10 and F12 obviously presents nightmare problems with shutter speed.
That said, I have seen some great images with the 500/600 and a 2x, (I even did my moon pictures with a 1.4 AND 2.0x stacked, however you can't see the colour loss because their is none!)
I only ever use a 2x if i'm desperate.
Also something to take into consideration is decent support. A long lens like a 500 really does take some getting used to, many people hate them at first and struggle to get good results.
Depending on what sort of thing you want to shoot, you can't really go wrong with a Wimberley head, they're expensive (£500) however its the only way you can really use the lens for long periods of time without breaking your back. The biggest ballhead capable of handling such a lens costs the same anyway (Arca swiss), so you may as well go with the Wimberley.
A good carbon fiber tripod will also help, its not much good having £6-7ks worth of lens on a £50 tripod. A Gitzo 3 series (3530LS) is about perfect for a 500mm lens, nice and light and very rigid, the vibration reduction qualities of the Gitzo's really do make a difference. I thought it was all a gimmick but it really made a difference. I have a 5541LS which is very big but its so well made and a real joy to use. Also quite easy to strip down and clean if you use it in water/sand often.
Er, apart from that get that credit card swiped!
Just realised how much i've written
been printing and mounting pictures all day, on my day off, all that 3M Photo weld spray must be giving me insomnia!
It weighs in at around £100 in comparison to the rather silly £500 Wimberly, the only downside that I can see is that its a big chunk of metal to cart about.
I can use it in an emergency and throw a plastic sheet over it and turn it into a tipi if i needed to as i can stand up straight under it when its fully extended. In all seriousness though, the reason I went for that one was so I could use it downhill while shooting up into trees without having to bend my back.