EOS 40/50D with 4/500 + 2x ?

[Markus Jais]

Hello,

a few weeks ago I photographed a White-tailed Eagle which was about 80 meters away with my EOS 40D + 4/500 + 1.4x.
Of course the bird was too far even for a 2x but at least the bird would have been considerably bigger in the frame with a 2x than it was with the 1.4x.

Unfortunately Canon does turn off AF above f5.6 for all cameras but the EOS 1 bodies (probably to make people buy one of those).

I once tried the 2x and manually focused on some tern. The sharpness was ok but the viewfinder was pretty dark and it was very hard to focus. Unfortunately I had only very limited time to test it.

Does anybody use a 4/500 + 2x on a 40D/50D body? How are your experiences?
Where I live the birds are always very shy and often a 2x would be much better than a 1.4x.

Of course I know that I will need very good long lens technique to get sharp shots and this combination is
not usable for moving birds.

I wanted to read some opinions of people who have been using that combination for a longer time.

Maybe in the future I will get a 1D body or Canon will fix this in cheaper cameras but for now I will stick to the EOS 40D. The 1D Mark III is too expensive and a switch to the Nikon D300 would be even more expensive.

thanks in advance for all your help.

Markus

[Dennis Connell]

Markus,

I was in the same situatioon that you describe(40D). I do use the 2x and manually focus and have had some pretty good results. Most of the time my use for the 500 and the 2x comes in winter when I go after bald eagles. Where I live there is a lot of snow and ice in the winter so there can be a lot of light reflecting around. That said, I just purchased a used but pristine ID mark IIn to take advantage of it's ability to autofocus @ F8 for use with the 500mm+2ex.

Good shooting,
Dennis C

[Roger Clark]

Markus,
Try focusing with live view. You can zoom in and get very sharp focus. It works well for stationary subjects. You can also stack the 1.4x and 2x, but you need a good tripod and head as the magnification is getting very high. Even atmospheric turbulence can become a factor at long focal lengths.

Roger

[Markus Jais]

Markus,
Try focusing with live view. You can zoom in and get very sharp focus. It works well for stationary subjects. You can also stack the 1.4x and 2x, but you need a good tripod and head as the magnification is getting very high. Even atmospheric turbulence can become a factor at long focal lengths.

Roger

Live view is a great tip. Thanks. I have a good tripod (Gitzo 3540LS) and use a Wimberley II head.

I think I will go for a 2x. Currently there is one for 322 Euros which is not too bad.

Markus

[Doug Brown]

Another vote for Live View when using a 2x or stacked teles on an XXD body.

[Rocky Sharwell]

Interesting.....I never thought about using live view.

[Rene A]

I have been using live view with the 50D 500 & 1.4 but I had 3 batteries running out wthin 10-30 min. Does anybody have the same problem? (1 Canon & 2 new oem)

Markus'

a remote cable release would also be good with the setup!

[Jamie Strickland]

I have been using live view with the 50D 500 & 1.4 but I had 3 batteries running out wthin 10-30 min. Does anybody have the same problem? (1 Canon & 2 new oem)

Markus'

a remote cable release would also be good with the setup!

why would you use liveview with the 500 & 1.4? if its the 500 F4 IS you can still use AF, if its the older 500 F4.5 why not use the tape trick on the TC to get AF?

I have not been able to get good results with the 40D & using a 2x TC without liveview, the viewfinder is to small / dark like mentioned above

[Rodney Flowers]

Like jamie said, the tape trick will work. But autofocus is slow with the 2x on a xxD body. You may get better results then trying to do it manually. Here is a link showing how to tape the converter.
http://www.fredmiranda.com/TipsPage/example.html

You could also buy the tamron 1.4x pro converter and stack it with the canon 1.4x converter. You will still be able to maintain slow autofocus stacking those two together.

[Markus Jais]

Thanks for all your help. Today I ordered the EF 2x II for 322 Euros. I did a lot of tests with the 1.4x and manual focus. I was able to get the pictures (of non moving subjects) as sharp as without AF. I know it will be more difficult with the 2x but I am confident that at least in good light I will be able to get sharp results.
I will post my results here so that people who have the same question in the future can see what I've learned.

Markus