Canon 100-400 or 70-200 2.8L IS w/ TC

[my*]

I was about ready to buy a Canon 100-400 lens when a guy said, "have you considered a 70-200 2.8L IS with a 2x tc?" The latter would be about $500 more. That is a lot of doe rea me to overcome. What do you all think?

 

[MPowerM3]

70-200 2.8 IS. But opinions are like ***holes, everyone has one. Do you need the reach, are you shooting a on a tripod/monopod?? You'll have a very hard time handholding a 400mm lens. What kind of camera is it? With most crop factors, unless your shooting a 5D or something like that. The 200 is really closer to 300mm!

 

[my*]

I have the 30D. I am fairly new to the photography hobby with wildlife the focus. I will use a tripod occasionally but it will be handheld most of the time.

 

[soylentgreen]

The Canon 100-400 will be sharper wide open than the 70-200 with the 2x TC. Really depends on what sort of picture quality and reach you are after. I have the 70-200 f/2.8 IS with the 1.4X TC and it is superp in that range on my 20D. There is an article on these two two lenses head-to-head on this very subject at luminous-landscape.com if you are interested.

 

[Stretch Armstrong]

There is currently $100.00 rebates on both of these models in case your salesman didn't mention it.

I would go for the 70-200mm. I am not crazy about the push/pull action on the 100-400mm.

Good luck with the decision.

 

[my*]

Thanks to everyone for their input. I think the price and other factors are going to lead me to the 100-400. A co-worker lent me his 100-400 for a couple of days. I should have my final decision soon.

 

[Alex_B]

I have the 30D. I am fairly new to the photography hobby with wildlife the focus. I will use a tripod occasionally but it will be handheld most of the time.

for serious wildlife you will be happy to have the 400 ... and the IS will help a bit .... for wildlife i would also consider a monopod. especially if it is birds

 

[JIP]

We just had this same exact discussion. If you are talking about the same 100-400 Canon lens. If you are, and you are going to use it at 400 most of the time I say go with the 100-400 but check out the thread. There is another discussion of this topic from March as well.
Current one
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=82172&highlight=canon+100-400
March
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73439&highlight=100-400