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p.4 #17 · p.4 #17 · DxOmark: FE 100-400mm GM, compact and optically excellent | |
freaklikeme wrote:
Hmm, your copy with the 1.4x looks better than my rental at 400 without the extender. Did you do anything to these in post?
Hi sorry for the delayed response, but yes, there is some minor sharpening applied in post. I can post some RAW files on Dropbox for anyone interested.
The more I examine the difference with and without the TC on this lens, the more it comes down to subtle differences in sharpness really only seen at 100% before applying any post sharpening. Some people say they see no difference between shots with the TC and without. I'm certain those folks are not pixel peepers.
The TC definitely does slightly reduce sharpness and contrast vs shooting without it, but it still captures all the detail, if not a bit more, so when you apply a bit of added sharpening and levels you get images with the TC that are just as good as without, but obviously magnified.
This makes sense if you think about what the TC is doing optically, which is magnifying the image circle to be 1.4 times bigger... all the same detail the lens resolves is still there but it's magnified or projected larger on the sensor. The edges are slightly less refined. Sharpening things a bit or adding some clarity or structure snaps the image back to non-TC like sharpness and contrast without artifacts.
Personally, I would have no trouble sharing a 100% crop of an image shot at 560mm with the TC after a bit of sharpening and levels like the samples above, and the same obviously goes for a 100% crop of a shot at 400mm without the TC. But what is ugly, of course, is comparing the 400mm cropped to 140% vs the 560mm at 100%... so if you need that added reach, the TC is better than cropping, or buys you even more reach, as both can be cropped about the same amount before they get ugly.
Now one other thing I've looked at, is should I be taking the TC off when shooting a FoV between 100-400mm? The answer is, it doesn't really matter. Shots between 100-400 without the TC will be sharper out of the camera than the same composition with the TC on there, but as I say above, you can get the TC images looking just as good as the non-TC ones just by adding a bit of sharpening and contrast in post. Where the TC kills you is not in optical sharpness, but in doubling noise from a stop higher ISO.
Hope that makes sense. If anyone disagrees, I'm open to a discussion as I'm really just still wrapping my head around this combo and can guarantee I haven't got it all figured out just yet. I need to spend some more time with it.
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