Need some help to decide what to buy

[h1ho]

I'm going to buy a new lens for nature photography and i've found 2 lenses which would be great:

1. Canon 70-200/F4 USM EF-L
2. Canon 70-300/F4-5.6 EF IS USM

The first one is obviously a better lens, but I think it would be too short for me, so from this perspective 70-300 would be better. Of course I could buy an extender, and i want to, so my next question is which one is better: 1.4x or 2x extender. I know 1.4x extender is sharper than the other one, and I've ready many times that it's not really worth getting one. With 70-200 it would be a must to get a 2x extender in my opinion, but with 70-300 I would be ok with a 1.4x one. I'm talking about canon extenders, but i've heard that Kenko extenders are just as great as the canon ones, but they're much cheaper. What do you suggest: which lens with which extender should I get?

Overall:
Canon 70-200/F4 USM EF-L + 2X extender vs Canon 70-300/F4-5.6 EF IS USM 1.4 or 2X EXTENDER

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Another question: Is it worth getting an ND filter? I kinda can do the same with photoshop or lightroom/whatever, and filters decrease the sharpness.

PS. If you would recommend me a third lens, let me know but I'm kinda limited with money, and I havent found better ones.

 

[jrizal]

Which is more important to you? Overall IQ or longer focal length? Knowing which is more important will help you decide. As for the extender, which brand and model? A lot of extenders (especially the cheap ones) are so bad and I mean really bad as in the pictures are so blurry that they're not even worth saving.

 

[gsgary]

dont put a 2x on either lens but dont put any extender on second lens it will turn your shots to mush

 

[Infinite_Day]

If you can swing it, get the 300mm f/4 IS USM lens. If you're shooting wildlife you're going to want all the length you can get. I have the Nikon 300mm f/4 with a 1.4TC. It needs a lot of light or high ISO to perform at it's peak but it does very well in good conditions. A 70-200 f/4 with a 2XTC will give you a lens combo with a minimum aperture of f/8. You may have focus hunting issues with that. Not completely sure.

 

[TheBiles]

The 70-200 with a 1.4 extender will still beat the 70-300, which is a very disappointing lens both optically and with build quality. You can't use a 2x extender with an f/4 lens unless you want to lose autofous.

Sent from my Nexus 7

 

[sovietdoc]

70-200 f/4 and 1.4 extender.

2x extender ruins IQ too much and 70-200 f/4 will outperform 70-300 any time of the day.

 

[TheBiles]

70-200 f/4 and 1.4 extender.

2x extender ruins IQ too much and 70-200 f/4 will outperform 70-300 any time of the day.

The 2x extender III is actually very nice on the 70-200 2.8 II.

Sent from my Nexus 7

 

[TCampbell]

You really can only use a 2x extender on an f/2.8 lens. As soon as you get to f/4, the 1.4x extender is the only option.

The "problem" is that phase-detection focus needs a low focal ratio to work. Really the f-stop needs to be f/5.6 or below. I have a 35mm film camera and if I set the aperture preview to f/8 the split-prism focusing (manual focus) no longer works. You can see one "half" of the moon or the other... you can't see both halves to fit the image together to confirm focus. You can still use "phase detection" focus (e.g. switch the camera to "live view") and that will work... but it's annoying to _have_ to use the camera that way.

 

[Heitz]

You really can only use a 2x extender on an f/2.8 lens. As soon as you get to f/4, the 1.4x extender is the only option.

The "problem" is that phase-detection focus needs a low focal ratio to work. Really the f-stop needs to be f/5.6 or below. I have a 35mm film camera and if I set the aperture preview to f/8 the split-prism focusing (manual focus) no longer works. You can see one "half" of the moon or the other... you can't see both halves to fit the image together to confirm focus. You can still use "phase detection" focus (e.g. switch the camera to "live view") and that will work... but it's annoying to _have_ to use the camera that way.

I think you mean switch to contrast detection... But yea that's an interesting problem