Extender for Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM

Jase · 7 Mar 2012 at 12:43

I'm looking to get an extender for my Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM and looking at either the Canon 1.4x III Extender or Canon 2.0x III Extender.

Ideally I would go for the 2.0x but I've read that there is a differnce in quality (at least on the II versions). Does anyone use either of these extenders with the above lens and if so what are results ?

Any info on the above would be appreciated and if anyone has a sample photo taken with this combination that would be even better.

Edit : P.S. it will be used with a Canon 5D MKII.

Cheers

dannyjo22 · 7 Mar 2012 at 13:05

Why not save a load of money and buy the mk2 for £225. You will get no advantage with the mk3 on that lens.

Derek W · 7 Mar 2012 at 13:22

I've got the mark 3 1.4x extender with my mark 2 70 - 200 mm f2.8.

Samples, albiet small images can be found here

http://brechincity.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4864

Take a look at the ones from a saturday afternoon rather than the evening games as the extender comes off so i can get decent shutter speeds.

Also what is it that you're wanting to shoot?

Jase · 7 Mar 2012 at 14:25

Thanks for the replies and cheers for that link.

I'm going to stick with the mkIII as the price isn't a factor really and I have other lenses to that I can use it with but specifically mention the 70-200 as that will be the most used.

As for what I want to shoot, I have nothing specific in mind but can think of a few things that I could use it for. Mainly I want to carry it to extend the range and opertunities when I'm travelling light.

Nexus · 7 Mar 2012 at 14:55

You loose more light with the 2.0x, so it's probably best to work out which length you need. You could always rent them both perhaps first.
A pro sports tog I know prefers the 1.4 when he has to use extenders though.

Also the camera you use comes into it, if it's on a crop, you already have greater range.

Jase · 7 Mar 2012 at 15:44

Nexus said:
You loose more light with the 2.0x, so it's probably best to work out which length you need. You could always rent them both perhaps first.
A pro sports tog I know prefers the 1.4 when he has to use extenders though.

Also the camera you use comes into it, if it's on a crop, you already have greater range.

Didn't think of hiring one, not that anyone around my area does it though so probably wouldn't be costs effective to do, I will look into it though out of curiosity.

And I forgot to mention in the original post that I use a 5D MKII so full frame.

Nexus · 7 Mar 2012 at 16:10

There are rental companies that will ship it to you.

D.P. · 7 Mar 2012 at 16:39

Be aware of the extra degradation in Image quality, autofocus and loss in aperture the 2x will get you. You will probably loose critical sharpness with the 2x on the 70-200 IS depending on how fussy you are, but the 1.4x should maintain it. TC aren't great on zoom lens and are really designed for the exotic primes where they far much better.
All TC will perform better with the lens stopped down, but if if you are using the 2x then you will already be at f/5.6 and shooting 400mm equivalent at f/8 or smaller aperture is not easy (read as, you will need a high end tripod)

You need to think what kind of focal length equivalent you will need and choose the smallest TC that will get you there. If you are really needing to have 400mm a lot of the time then maybe you should consider alternative lenses (Canon do a nice 400mm f/5.6 prime which I wish Nikon would make)