Lens Extenders

[amandakifer]

Okay so my primary business is wedding photography and I have a bunch of great lenses but my hobby is nature photography. I have a Canon 70-200mm 2.8 lens. I was thinking about getting a lense with a greater reach... mainly for bird photography. The wide aperture would not be as important since low lighting wouldn't be an issue.

I was thinking about getting a lens extender. Is this a good idea or am I better off just buying a new lens? What has been your experience with lens extenders?

 

[usayit]

On a budget... get a lens extender. The canon x1.4 is a known good performer. The canon 2x is only ok.

Unlimited budget... always better to get a longer lens. I personally like the 300 f4L IS. or ( if even really big budget) 300mm f2.8L. I also like the 100-400mm zoom.

 

[soylentgreen]

The 1.4x TC is a great addition, especially on the f/2.8's. I really like the zoom capability of it over my prime lens for bird photos especially. Try it and see if it works for your style of shooting. If not, than upgrade to a longer lens.

 

[itoncool]

On a budget... get a lens extender. The canon x1.4 is a known good performer. The canon 2x is only ok.

Unlimited budget... always better to get a longer lens. I personally like the 300 f4L IS. or ( if even really big budget) 300mm f2.8L. I also like the 100-400mm zoom.

I'll second usayit, even the best lens extender you can get cannot replace a single lens, because it cannot avoid the tendency of reducing the lens sharpness. But, if you have a good performance lens extender then the result are still satisfactory sharp enough, with much lesser cost.