Extender or $6000.00 lense??

[dljense]

does anyone have any experience with extenders?? If you wanted a 600mm lense can you get away with buying an extender and beefing up a 300mm lense or do you lose quality?? Just curious......

 

[tpetty]

I got a 1.4x teleconverter for Christmas and stuck it on a 70-200 mm L IS 1:2.8. I was amazed how much more it brought close. You do lose an f stop or two so dont hope for too much unless you have good light. If you do though, I am convinced it a great and much cheaper alternative to the 600mm. These birds were taken with it at about 65 yards away and very little cropping.

 

[TNhunter]

I have a Sigma 70-200 2.8 lens for my 20D and recently bought the Sigma 1.4x converter for it. It does lose 1 stop. The 2.0X converter will lose 2 stops. When I researched mine I steered away from the 2x for this reason as well as many saying you lose a lot of sharpness with the 2.0x when compared to the 1.4x. It does make those kids' sports photos and outdoor photos nicer if you have the extra light.

 

[jej]

I have extenders - both 1.4 and 2.0. The 1.4 never gets used since I bought the 2.0. works fine on my 70-200 nikon zoom ounted on a D70. It would be great on a 300mm, which is what they were originally intended for. I plan on getting a 300 one of these days.

I have read [on the Ken Rockwell web site] that zooms that have only a 5.6 f stop do not like the extenders - not enough light get through to make autofocus happy.