uz2work Offline Upload & Sell: Off
|
If you have had the 1.4x II for a few years, there is, at least, the possibility that it is not performing at the level that it should be performing or once did perform.
Teleconverters, especially when used over a period of time with heavy lenses, are subject to gradual distortion in the mount, and that distortion can cause them to show degraded performance. I had a 1.4x II for which this was the case. When I sent it to Canon, and they confirmed that there was distortion in the mount, after 2 failed attempts to repair it, they gave up and sent me a new 1.4x II.
Also, for what it is worth, I have since bought a 1.4x III, and I'm in the camp that sees, at best, negligible difference in performance between the 1.4x II and 1.4x III. I've only used it with the 500/4 original version, but, with that lens, AF speed and accuracy are identical, and, if there is any difference in image quality, I'd have to be looking very carefully at 100% on the screen to see it, and, if such minor differences are there, they certainly don't show up in a print.
Over the years of reading posts on internet forums, one of the things I've learned is that, when people spend their money on new equipment, whether it be camera bodies, or lenses, or even teleconverters, a level of cognitive dissonance kicks in that forces them to look past reality and "see" significant improvement in the new product on which they have just spent their money. I start by being extremely skeptical when people use the term "blows away" to describe improvements in new products, but I've also learned that, when people talk about even minor improvements, they can be extremely minor. One improvement that I have noticed in the 1.4x III over the 1.4x II is that Canon did beef up the way that the mount is secured to the converter, which might lessen the chance of deteriorated performance over time. Otherwise, if I crossed paths with someone who was interested in buying a 1.4x, I'd be happy to sell him/her either my 1.4x II or my 1.4x III, and I'd be happy to keep the other.
Les
Edited on Aug 09, 2012 at 09:47 PM · View previous versions
|