Lens extender (teleconverter) for a 70-200mm f/4L lens

NeilS

G'day from downunder. I have a 70-200mm f/4L IS lens, however, I want a little more reach. I don't have the money to buy a new lens, but have been looking at extenders. Can you recommend one? Cheers and love your site. - Neil

Stalwartjah

I'm looking for tips on this as well. Maybe Moose or someone else can make a new topic thread dedicated to expressing the use of these items. There's so many out there and it'll be easy to throw good money and getting bad results.

Moose

Howdy @NeilS - Thanks for the kind words! When it comes to teleconverters (extenders), I highly recommend sticking with Canon. There are third party options out there, but none can compete with Canon branded teleconverters, in terms of optical quality and focusing speed.

Teleconverters extend your reach based on the magnification set forth by the extender. For example, a 2x teleconverter will double your zoom power. So your 70-200mm lens becomes a 140-400mm lens.

One caveat with teleconverters is that they lessen the amount of light entering the camera, which affects your maximum aperture. For example, a 2x teleconverter results in a two stop loss. So the lowest aperture you can use with your 70-200mm lens, goes from f/4 to f/8.

As for recommendations, if you're looking to photograph wildlife outdoors in bright light, I'd go for the longer reach of the Canon 2x (see here).

If you're looking to capture fast action in low light, I'd go with the Canon 1.4x (see here) as this only results in a loss of one f/stop, allowing you to obtain an aperture of f/5.6. When you need faster shutter speeds in low light, every f/stop counts.

Hope that all makes sense. Happy shooting! :)

NeilS

Thanks for your quick response @Moose. Will go with the Canon. Now to work out whether I want extra reach or that extra f/stop. Is it true that if I use the 2x extender, the 60D may not auto focus due to the f/stop going above f/5.6? Once again thanks for your advice. Cheers, Neil

Moose

@NeilS - Yep, I forgot to mention that. Pro Canon bodies (1-series) can autofocus at apertures beyond f/5.6 with the extender...unfortunately the 60D isn't capable of this. So, if you want to retain autofocus with your 70-200mm f/4L you'll need to go with the 1.4x extender. Happy shooting! :)