I received my 1.4XII TC today and I essentially picked it up for the times when 200mm is just a tad short. Couple of initial observations for my uses/needs. I haven't played with the setup just yet on anything other than stationary objects, but the IQ seems to be very acceptable. AF acquires easily, not quite as quickly as the bare lens, or my bare 300 f/4. IQ seems to be affected very little to none (I know the additional glass may cause some degradation, but for all practical purposes, it's just fine.) It's nice to have very close to 300mm with a great IS system, and this setup seems to be better than either of the 300 f/4L IS lenses I've used. This isn't a scientific review, but for the everyday shooter who does care about his overall outcome, it's a great alternative to an additional lens. Having the 300 f/4L also, I'll be using it for moving targets when I need the additional 20+ mm length, and the IS isn't beneficial in the shooting situation...

Oh, and Merry Christmas and a very Happy Holiday Season and New Year !!!

Merry Christmas.

Looks good Reno, thanks for sharing. I'd like to pick one up at some point, but I am not used to shooting long yet to begin with

I rarely use my 300 f4 anymore. The quality is very nearly the same, the IS is much better, and having a 98-280 f4 zoom is hugely valuable. Enjoy yours and I wish you many years of great shooting with it.

Are those 100% crops?

EBH

EB-1 wrote:
Are those 100% crops?

EBH

They look like Christmas ornaments.

Gregory Edge wrote:
EB-1 wrote:
Are those 100% crops?

EBH

They look like Christmas ornaments.


Yes, but what is the point?

EBH

Don't forget you now also have a 420mm f/5.6 that can also give you very acceptable results!

EB-1 wrote: Are those 100% crops? EBH

No, they aren't 100% crops. I'm not the person to be asking about pixel level critical sharpness. I think the overall images look good at the web size, as do most re-sized for web viewing. I did make the comment that they it wasn't a scientific setup. I did pull close to 100% spots from the AF point area. It appears that it may be front focused by a millimeter or two, I have yet to MA the setups. However, my overall use for this setup won't be cropping 90% of the image away from the overall shot, so if I have to crop for composition and straightening, I'm not too worried...

DemonAstroth wrote:
Don't forget you now also have a 420mm f/5.6 that can also give you very acceptable results!
400 f/5.6. You get 420mm if you put a 1.4x TC on a 300mm lens only.

Hey Reno

I found my 70-200 f/2.8L IS MK II + 1.4X II TC to be such a good combo I sold my 300mm f4L IS. Focus is faster IME and I find the sharpness to be on a par, or maybe slightly better. Thankfully I dont need to MA on either of my camera bodies. I also find the zoom with the 2 x extender iii to be better than the 300 was with 1.4 x ii so the 300 was definitely redundant in my bag. Selling it freed up money to put towards a 35L, which after calibration and service by CPS focuses accurately and is sharp wide open (in the centre )

Enjoy and Merry Christmas

While I love the 300mm f/4 IS, having it with the 70-200 II with a TC is a bit silly (for me). I wish I had money to have both, but in the end the IQ is not much different. I did love the 300 MFD though, it was awesome!

Reno, you obviously need to do a bit of AF calibration touchup in order to get maximum sharpness out of your images.
I have tried both 1.4xTC MkIII as well as 2xTC MkIII on 70-200 f/2.8 IS MkII, and the resulting combos have a very good IQ. In fact, the 1.4xTC based combo practically eliminates the need for a 300 f/4 prime.

Here are two shots with 70-200 f/2.8 IS MkII + 1.4xTC MkIII, done on 1DsMkII, about 50% crops.

Thanks for those couple shots Peter, they show the capability of the lens and the TC very well !!! Your knowledge and shooting skill are surely showcased there also!!!

I am hoping to get to some true fine tuning on my setup in the near future, I'm also going to play a bit more with the 1DII combos. I'm not 100% sure with letting the 300 f/4L go, just because it's a very nice, fast, light lens, and when I am positive that I'm going to be shooting long, and don't need IS, it's a peach to have attached to any camera I own...

So the comparison sounds like the 300/4 + 1.4tc Vs 200/2.8 II + 2x tc (420/5.6 Vs 400/5.6) in terms of IQ / AF speed. If the 70-200 is still that good with the 2x tc then justifying both lenses would be pretty difficult IMO.
Jeff

Here is another shot from the same series as above, done with 70-200 f/2.8 IS MkII + 1.4xTC MkIII.
This is probably one of the most difficult shot types to make with the current EOS cameras' AF system. (We''ll see what 1DX will bring in this regard).

In fact, Servo AF can not really track that kind of fast head-on motion by a smallish/limited contrast target. What it does is oscillate focus around the target, and if a high frame rate is used, one or two shots might end up in focus. Stopping the lens down, and using 10 FPS might also help some.

Therefore, the slowdown of the lens +TC is only a contributing factor to the AF system getting stonewalled. I have observed a very similar type of Servo AF behaviour even with f/2 lenses.

i shot this short video clip w/ the 1d iv, 70-200mm 2.8 is II w/ 1.4x hand held.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgzCCnDBpdg