Teleconverter

[Overread]

Most of the pros are likely:

1) More experienced - more practice and experience makes it a lot easier to hand hold and pan a good clean shot.

2) Built up endurance and strength - big lenses are heavy and even a light setup will cause fatigue. The more you've shot with the combo the greater ones endurance will be - allowing for steadier shots.

3) Wanting to remain more mobile - as said tripods and even monopods will slow someone down. When you're in a situation where the action is moving fast all the time and where you might even have to get up and run mobility is important. Tripods are great for static shooting, but for more mobility they are hindrance (Esp proper tripods which are quite a considerable weight).

 

[JacaRanda]

Before you do anything, make sure the tc can actually be used on a particularly lens. The 55-250 is not compatible. Teleconverter Compatibility for Canon, Nikon and Sony lenses. - Wex Photographic

 

[tecboy]

A lot of my photos from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca are very clear even in 250mm at 100 iso. These were shots taken in summertime. The drifting at Sonoma Raceway were shots this season. That is maybe the fact of low lighting and smokes from burning tires that sacrificed the image quality. Many of my photos are underexposed. I boosted the exposure high enough to see better details in Lightroom, a lot of my photos contributed noises. That may explains it!

I'm looking into these canon and sigma lenses. Are there any difference in image quality. I assumed there is little difference in zoom range compares to my lens. I like to hear photographers who like Sigma, please no debates from another thread.

Canon U.S.A. : Consumer & Home Office : EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
70-300mm F4-5.6 DG OS - Telephoto Zoom Lenses - SigmaPhoto.com

 

[JacaRanda]

You would notice a difference in the build quality of the 55-250 vs the Canon 70-300. I have not used either in a while, but the 70-300 focused faster. I never noticed any significant image quality differences in the two - I did notice when I jumped to the 70-200 F4L.

 

[tecboy]

I'm happy with my 55-250mm. If the glass is better in 70-300mm, then I would buy it.

 

[robbins.photo]

A lot of my photos from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca are very clear even in 250mm at 100 iso. These were shots taken in summertime. The drifting at Sonoma Raceway were shots this season. That is maybe the fact of low lighting and smokes from burning tires that sacrificed the image quality. Many of my photos are underexposed. I boosted the exposure high enough to see better details in Lightroom, a lot of my photos contributed noises. That may explains it!

I'm looking into these canon and sigma lenses. Are there any difference in image quality. I assumed there is little difference in zoom range compares to my lens. I like to hear photographers who like Sigma, please no debates from another thread.

Canon U.S.A. : Consumer & Home Office : EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
70-300mm F4-5.6 DG OS - Telephoto Zoom Lenses - SigmaPhoto.com

I'll have to hand you over to the Canon shooters in the crowd on this one tec - I'm a dedicated Nikon guy so Canon lenses are a little out of my depth of experience. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you though and hope you find a lens that will do the job for you.

 

[JacaRanda]

I'm happy with my 55-250mm. If the glass is better in 70-300mm, then I would buy it.

Try this out Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens Image Quality

From the few equal settings I input, the 70-300 wins and seems significantly enough so.

Tell us what you think if you try it.

Edit: The differences are less noticeable as you stop down the apertures.

 

[imagemaker46]

Most of the pros are likely:

1) More experienced - more practice and experience makes it a lot easier to hand hold and pan a good clean shot.

2) Built up endurance and strength - big lenses are heavy and even a light setup will cause fatigue. The more you've shot with the combo the greater ones endurance will be - allowing for steadier shots.

3) Wanting to remain more mobile - as said tripods and even monopods will slow someone down. When you're in a situation where the action is moving fast all the time and where you might even have to get up and run mobility is important. Tripods are great for static shooting, but for more mobility they are hindrance (Esp proper tripods which are quite a considerable weight).

I've spent decades working out in the gym so that I can hand hold a 400 2.8 for 5 minutes at a time. I shot figure skating for 17 years and the long programs at over 4 1/2 minutes long. It isn't as heavy as some think, around 15lbs, but the fatigue does come into play. It is a great idea for anyone that is planning on owning and using anything over a 200mm to spend some time holding weights that are heavier than the lens and body at shoulder height. You can use a heavy book, or just buy a single dumbbell. It doesn't take long to build some muscle into the shoulders and it will make life a whole lot easier.

 

[grafxman]

A lot of my photos from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca are very clear even in 250mm at 100 iso. These were shots taken in summertime. The drifting at Sonoma Raceway were shots this season. That is maybe the fact of low lighting and smokes from burning tires that sacrificed the image quality. Many of my photos are underexposed. I boosted the exposure high enough to see better details in Lightroom, a lot of my photos contributed noises. That may explains it!

I'm looking into these canon and sigma lenses. Are there any difference in image quality. I assumed there is little difference in zoom range compares to my lens. I like to hear photographers who like Sigma, please no debates from another thread.

Canon U.S.A. : Consumer & Home Office : EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
70-300mm F4-5.6 DG OS - Telephoto Zoom Lenses - SigmaPhoto.com

I don't those particular lenses however I use Sigma lenses and much prefer them over Canon lenses. I've owned two Canon lenses and a bunch of Sigma lenses. Both Canon lenses I found to be wanting in at least one area. The Sigma lenses always seemed to be significantly better. Sigmas would have a wider zoom range, be just as sharp if not sharper than the Canons and, most importantly, focus closer than Canons. I've shot Sigmas 150-500m and 50-500mm at 1000mm with a Sigma doubler and got decent enough photos for me. I recently acquired a SigMonster (300-800mm) and used it with a Sigma doubler. I'm not saying these photos are the sharpest, greatest wildlife photos and videos ever made however the alternative was not getting the shots at all:

1600mm shots
IMG_1131 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
IMG_1159 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
IMG_1223 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
1600mm red shouldered hawk eats live snake | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
1600mm shore birds feeding3 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

1000mm shots
1000mm 1 osprey nest | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

1400mm shot
IMG_7233 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The problem with using a doubler, in addition to degrading the image to a certain degree and losing an f stop, is that with the increased power such things as dust, pollen and moisture in the air really start causing problems.

 

[tecboy]

Hmmm... I have 70D, so I use 60D because they both have same sensors size. My lens doesn't have STM.

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens Image Quality

These almost look the same. Faster autofocus, does it really help? I don't see any lag on mine. Maybe I need it for drag racing and motorcycle racing.

 

[grafxman]

Something I neglected to mention in my previous posting involves focusing issues. When using a doubler manual focusing is typically required. However there are 3 pins that can be taped over then autofocus can be achieved, often via the view screen.

 

[JerryVenz]

I have not seen anyone mention Auto-focus shift so far, so I'll put in my experience here. I found that soon after I purchased my Canon 70-200 f2.8 lens for my new 5D MKII and the Canon 1.4x extender that my point of focus shifted with the 1.4x extender mounted. The lens w/o the extender was off a little as well! This is why I always recommend to my students that they buy only camera bodies that have MICRO-FOCUS ADJUSTMENT.

You need to know where each of your lenses point of focus is! I check each of mine every 2 or 3 months with the SPYDER LENS CAL.

Anyway, I found that my 70-200 f2.8 lens was back-focusing right out of the box--back-focusing is the worst direction for your lens to shift!

And, with the 1.4x extender attached it back-focused even more! So with a -3 adjustment on the big lens and a -4 with the extender mounted everything was great. ( the body remembers these adjustments and applies them automatically )

This same issue applies to all camera makes. My NIkon system had these same problems but I could not adjust them out because my Nikon body did not have built-in focus adjustment.

hope this helps, Jerry V.