Canon EF 1.4X II Extender Telephoto Accessory film camera Reviews

Canon EF 1.4X II Extender Telephoto Accessory

Does exactly what it says 2008-03-26

I only pair it with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras and my Canon Digital Rebel XTi 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera (Black Body Only) at this point, but it has done wonderfully. Yes, it does cost me a stop of light (just due to the math on it), but I can't really see any quality difference between with and without. I also have the ability NOT to use it when I don't need it, which means I get a better lens at the short end of the range than I would have just getting a longer lens. I'm definitely looking forward to having other lenses to pair this with.

Does what it is supposed to 2008-02-28

The 1.4X II teleconverter is a great addition if you are using 'L' lenses. Like others have said it takes my 70-200 f2.8 to f4 but is that a big deal?...NO...yes it makes 'some' shots a little softer but is that a big deal?...NO..play with the sharpness adjustments in your camera and you will see differences in the same shot as far as softness goes. it gives that "extra reach" at a very reasonable price. Now if you are a pixel nazi then you will obviously write pages & pages of the technical junk listing the limitations of this piece of equipment but for the rest of us that love shooting and not expecting each and every shot to be an excercise in perfection...we buy it and love it..

Work as designed 2008-02-16

Good product. I knew already (obvious) it would turn my 70-200 f/4 into a 98-280 f/5.6, but I was not sure what the effects would really be when I bought it.

The product is well constructed and have very good optics. I would definitively recommend.

The only reason I dont give 5 start is because I think Canon should improve documentation on their website, explaining better the effects of the extender (reducing speed in 1 f-stop).

Great, cost-effective accessory...a must-have 2007-12-28

Super product, providing a little extra reach at a fraction of the price of a 400mm L lens. My only criticism, initially, was that it produced images a little softer than those coming from a naked 70-200 4L. However, I compensated by boosting in-camera (Rebel XT) sharpening to the highest level, and the results are excellent. The 1.4x should be in every photographer's bag.

Great Option For that Little Extra Reach 2007-12-28

I have used this with varying results with my Canon EF 28-70mm f/2.8"L" USM, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8"L" IS USM, & Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6"L" IS USM. Always with a tripod and on manual focus. Its no substitute for a long prime. but it can be handy in a pinch.

Great Accessory, Great Service from Amazon 2007-12-17

I bought this extender to use with my EF70-200L f/2.8 lens on my Rebel XT. I expected the extender to soften my images, but was very pleased to see no softening. And, on my lens, the autofocus still works just perfect.

Amazon did me right yet again with their pricing and delivery, as well. I don't hesitate to recommend Amazon to anyone looking for camera gear.

Get 1.4 times closer 2007-10-30

This is a handy item to have in your camera bag. I use it with my 70-200 f/4L when I need a little more reach and don't want to take my 300 f/4L. Since it's made by Canon it works flawlessly with the EOS system. I've noted no discernible image degradation using the extender.

Extra reach at minimal cost 2007-08-07

I've used the Canon 1.4x tele-extender for about six months with my Rebel XTi and two lenses - a f/4.0 70-200mm (non-IS) and the f/4.0 300mm IS. Most of my shots are of kid soccer and baseball.

For these applications, the 1.4x tele-extender is a great accessory. Because of the extra reach, you can get more frame-filling shots. The loss of image sharpness is minimal and tends to be offset by the fact that you can doing less cropping. Since both lenses are f/4.0, they maintain their autofocus capabilities. If there's any slowdown in focusing speed, it's not obvious.

I took the same equipment on a two week safari in Tanazania. Without the extender I'd have had a much harder time capturing decent wildlife shots. The f/4.0 300mm + 1.4x gave me an effective f/5.6 420mm lens with image stabilization. That was about the minimum for many shots (a leopard with its kill in a tree 120 yards away, for example). Even then, I often wished for more length, but to get it you have to move up to serious telephoto lenses that are much more expensive (and much heavier).

As other reviewers have pointed out, there are many lenses - including Canon lenses - that are not compatible with Canon tele-extenders. Check the list of compatible lenses carefully before you buy. 3rd party teleconverters from Tamron and Kenko are reputedly less finicky, although image quality may not be quite as good.

Many photo equipment reviewers (e.g. Bob Atkins) claim that teleconverters work better with primes than with telephotos. That may account for the complaints about the 1.4x with the Canon 100-400mm telephoto. It works fine with my 70-200mm, but that's generally thought to be a sharper lens than the 100-400mm.

Overall, the 1.4x teleconverter is a relatively inexpensive way to extend the range of your Canon telephoto lenses without significant loss of image quality.

Decent sharpness, poor Bokeh. 2007-08-02

I compared this extender on my Canon EF 70-200 USM F/2.8L IS to the new Canon EF 70-300mm F/4-5.6 USM IS lens. For sharpness wide open, the 70-300mm has the edge, but when stopped down to F8, the 70-200mm w/1.4 has the sharper picture. Granted I was pixel-peeping, but when you have the luxury of comparing for quality alone, not disregarding contrast, resolution etc., you can pixel-peep too (just don't limit yourself by that). In fact, the color of the 70-200mm lens with 1.4x was slightly better even wide open. Now here's where I have my beef, and none of the reviews I've read seem to delve into this aspect: Bokeh. When shooting wide open with the 1.4x extender, I found the quality of objects out of the depth of field to look strange. For example, I was shooting elephants at the zoo (no bullets), and I noticed that the leaves on the trees behind the elephants looked very peculiar--something like compressed green jelly-beans. They were out of the depth of field, but they didn't look natural to me. I mounted the 70-300mm lens and took the same shot, and the leaves were nice and soft, even at f/5.6 compared to the 70-200mm w1.4x extender. So, if you ask me, I don't find the extender useful unless you have no lens to reach the subject as close or closer or you shoot at F8-F11. I certainly wouldn't buy the 2x unless I had no other choice, and weren't going to print anything larger than an 8x10 or go to the web with the pics.

For background, I was determining whether to buy the EF 70-300mm USM F/4-5.6 IS lens over a mere extender for my existing EF 70-200mm USM F/2.8L IS w/1.4x extender. I finally resolved to buying the 300mm F/4 IS Prime Tele instead of either.

Works well 2007-07-31

This product works as advertised. It reduces sharpness a little bit, and costs 1 f-stop, but you get more reach.

cuts your lens by 1 f-stop 2007-07-18

This extender cuts your lens f-stop by 1, so if you have 2.8, it becomes f4, if f4, becomes f5.6 etc.

When i have this one, i usually make a AE +1 compensation and then 1/3 bracketing just to be in the safe said.

This extender will not fit on all Canon lenses, so make sure you double check before buying, i believed that this is only for the "L's".

I tried experimenting with it on my other lenses by putting a 12mm extension tube between the lens and the extender, AF wont work, Depth of Field is very limited to a few inches and is only good to shot flowers or jewelries you want to sell online.

Overall, if you have a 2.8F lens and just want some extra reach every now and then, this is for you, if you shot more telephotos, you might want to buy a real telephoto lens, AF is slowed down, F-stop is slowed by 1 and sharpness is also compromised.

I have this just to give my 70-200mm L IS USM 2.8 some extra reach but the difference is easy to spot between the straight and with the extender.

For avid photographer with limited budget, i will say, this is a must. :)

canon extender won't interface with Tamron lens used on Canon 30D 2007-07-12

How disappointing! I expected the Canon 1.4x extender would fit my Canon 30D with Tamron 18-200 lens which I have used with 2 Canon cameras but alas the mount for the lens has a part sticking out so that the Tamron which fits on Canon camera won't fit on Canon extender lens. It seems it will only fit with a Canon fixed focal length lens. Would be nice if the ad makes that clear before ordering.

None of my Canon lenses would fit! 2007-07-05

Something I really wanted, to extend the range of my Canon 70-300mm lens for use in zoo photos, nature, etc. Well, it fit the camera body just fine, but would not fit ANY of my Canon lenses that I had for my (former) Digital Rebel or my (new) 30D. What? So what Canon cameras does it fit? So I had to send it back. I even double checked the 'compatibility' of the extender from previous reviews on Amazon, and double checked them against Canon's own site. My lenses included the 'standard' 17-58mm, 10-22mm, 100mm Macro, and 70-300mm Zoom. NONE of these lenses would attach to the front of the 1.4 extender. Why was the front of the extender so small, that none of these lenses would connect? Someone made a big mistake in the list of lenses that don't fit. Does it work with L Glass only?

Pricy but nice 2007-06-30

Be sure the lenses you have will work with the unit. I have seven lenses for my canon and it works only on the 100-400 "L" series. Course I bought it to extend that lens and it does a great job on it. But, it DOES NOT work with the great EF 24-105 f/4.0 'L'lens.

A hex on Canon for not making a lens capability list easily available!

great for an African safari 2007-06-20

If you're going to Africa and want to travel light, this is a great companion for the 300/4 IS lens. As others have noted, the 2X converter reduces contrast and sharpness so much that you are better off cropping at home. The 300/4 plus 1.4X converter still enables good autofocus, a reasonably bright viewfinder, and pictures with good punch and sharpness. The 420mm reach is about right for large animals with a full-frame camera and almost long enough for bird photography with the Canon Digital Rebel.

Worth every cent! 2007-06-14

On an EF 500mm f4L IS lens, this has to be the ultimate bird photographer's choice. Incredibly sharp combination even wide open. Using any EOS camera with a 1.6x factor, you're looking at an (apparent) EFL of 1120mm at f5.6 ! Who needs the 2x converter! It eats its larger brother for breakfast image-wise anyway, is extremely light, and is an optically perfect relation to any L series Telephoto.
Although it is also advertised as being compatible with the long zooms, don't expect quite the same results as you'll get from a prime lens. The images, though still first-rate, do lack a little of the impact by comparison. That aside, I couldn't recommend it highly enough!

Double the fun! 2007-05-14

If you have a compatible zoom, and you need to spend some serious dough to get one, DOUBLE CHECK, then this is a great item to jack up your distance without the loss of quality.

BETTER THAN MY 2X 2007-04-24

I have both the 2x and 1.4x. I just received the 1.4x today and tried it out on a cloudy day. It is not as sharp as I would like but may be better on a bright day. I would suspect it needs quite a bit of light on my 300MM f/4 lens that goes to 5.6 with the extender. My 2x has to be tripod mounted on a sunny day to get good results. At least the auto focus does work with this extender. Overall I think it will work good enough for what I intend to use it for.I am very satisfied with the 300MM prime and as I said my first photos have all been taken on a very cloudy day and I do think my results will be better on clear days.
Will update after I have tested it some more.

The 1.4x is far superior to the 2.0x 2007-04-12

I have both the 1.4x and 2x teleconverters from Canon. Neither, despite what people say, produces an image that just as sharp as the original lens. But images through the 2x are noticably bad from even a casual inspection while images through the 1.4x hold up very well. Carefully controlled test shots are the easiest way to really see the problems in this converter. But for the most part the 1.4x won't be a liability in sharpness.

The 1.4x loses one stop of light. So while this does work on a 100mm-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens, I wouldn't reccommend it. Save this for the 200mm f/2.8 L, and the 300mm f/2.8 IS L, and any bigger primes you have.

Canon EF 1.4X II Extender (Teleconverter) 2007-04-11

I'm using my new Canon EF 1.4X II teleconverter with my Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM Lens - and so far, so good. (I've only had it for a few weeks). The 100-400mm will not auto-focus with the 1.4x attached to it. Yes, there are ways to tape 3 pins on the lens or teleconverter to override the unit so that it will try to auto-focus, but I've decided NOT to do that. Canon blocked that for a purpose. I've read that you can over-tax (burn out, though I don't know if that's the actual issue) the USM motor since it will hunt back and forth a lot in low light situations if you tape the pins.. so again, I just decided the 100-400mm was too expensive to try that option. Overall, the quality of the lens combination is still really clear (I'm using it with a Canon 30D). I am getting used to manually focusing this combination, but it really helps to use a monopod or a tripod when shotting with this set at full zoom.

Very useful 2007-03-27

Be careful since the 1.4 extender will take one stop of your lighting, making your f/2.8 lens an f/4. Note this means the f/4 lens will become f/5.6 and I think this means that auto-focus doesn't work anymore.
Beyond that, for the L lens series, this is a great piece of equipment to get more focal length. The 2x extender loses 2 stops and apparently gives very apparent sharpness loss, so the 1.4x is the one to get.

Depends on the Lens and your Intentions 2006-12-23

With the 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM lens, this extender is a fantastic accessory. The AF continues to work and the image quality, although down just a notch from images without the extender, is acceptably sharp.

A little extra reach at a price 2006-07-15

This extender is limited to which lenses it will work with, most of them L lenses. Using this extender with any lens will eliminate one f stop and decrease sharpness. Auto-focus is possible on any EOS camera when used with an f/4 or faster maximum aperture lens. The version II extender adds enhanced weather-resistant construction, and improved anti-reflective surfaces in the barrel.

I rented this extender to use with the Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS USM telephoto zoom lens. This lens while sharp and high in quality, is not the sharpest L lens I have used. I found adding this extender with the 100-400mm caused the sharpness to degrade too much for my tastes; outweighing the benefit of having the extra reach. This is a matter of personal preference; others may be satisfied with the 100-400mm extender combination. The minimum 6.7 f-stop limits creative abilities with this combination too.

I would imagine that using with an extremely sharp lens like the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM telephoto zoom lens would better handle the reduction in sharpness with minimal effect. I didn't own this lens when I rented the extender, so I cannot say for sure. Also be aware, the extenders will not work with every Canon lens.

I would suggest renting or taking your camera and lens to the store and trying this extender out before buying. I can see where certain combinations may benefit the photographer. In my case, it didn't work out for me.

PROS:
Provides extra reach

CONS:
Eliminates one or two f-stops
Decreases sharpness of the lens

Just a Little Extra Reach 2006-04-29

Make sure to check the compatibility charts to verify that your lenses will work with this before buying it since only a handful of L series lenses are compatible. If you do already have one or more of these lenses though this is a nice addition. The AF only works with lenses f/4 and faster on most camera bodies. You do also give up a little image quality by putting this between your lens and camera body, but the extra reach is really nice.

Nice accessory to get closer 2006-04-18

I have used the 1.4x II extender for over a year. It gives me amazing detail with my 70-200L f/4 lens on a 20D. I use it mostly for wildlife and butterflies. Contrast is good with colors that pop. When shooting on a sunny day the shutter speeds are still quick with the f/5.6 and the background is blurred beautifully. In shade areas and low light a tripod is a must! There hasn't been any sacrifice in subject detail. I can see individual hairs on butterfly bodies even when shooting wide open. This is a great way to get closer without paying a significant amount for a supertelephoto lens.

It's Just Not Enough 2006-01-28

I purchased this at a photographic store because a professional said you shouldn't go higher than 1.4x. Just keep in mind--1.4x is only "40% better". It worked really well, but didn't increase the zoomage enough. I decided to go with a 2x (that's twice the zoomage) teleconverter by kenko instead. I gave this one to my brother-in-law for Christmas.

You have to think about what you want--I want to get in really close to the birds. I have a 70-300mm zoom lens and 1.4x takes it to 98-420mm. It is an improvement, but not nearly enough! If you want to get twice as close, this isn't going to do it for you. If you want to get half-again-as close, this almost gets you there.

As far as quality, the quality is definitely there. Five stars for quality, 3 for insufficient zoomage.

A great way to extend the reach of compatible lenses 2005-09-28

The 1.4X II teleconverter is a modest update to Canon's earlier 1.4X TC. The mark II allows this extender to be stacked with another of Canon's extenders (either another 1.4X II or the 2X II) without having to separate the two with an extension tube (although the loss of sharpness from stacking extenders may not be acceptable to you). Otherwise, the quality of the newer 1.4X II is supposed to be very similar to the older model, which I've never owned.

The 1.4X II is a great way to extend the reach of compatible lenses. Note that not every Canon lens is compatible with this extender. The following is from Canon's Web site: "This tele extender can be used with fixed focal length lenses 135mm and longer (except the 135mm f/2.8 Softfocus lens), and the EF 70-200 f/2.8L, 70-200 f/2.8L IS, 70-200 f/4.0L, and 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS zoom lenses."

I use it frequently with my Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS, which turns it into a 98-280mm zoom. The extra reach it adds is not tremendous, but it's very welcome when I just need a little more than what the lens alone can give me.

I've found no appreciable loss in sharpness from using the 1.4X. Of course, any extender is going to reduce sharpness to some degree, but with normal examination, I can't distinguish photos taken with the 70-200mm that use the 1.4X from those that don't. The fact that the 70-200mm f/2.8L is a very sharp lens to begin with helps in this department.

Using the 1.4X decreases your lens' widest aperture 'capability' by one stop. With some lenses, that can be more significant than it appears on the surface; when using a non-pro Canon body (such as my 20D) the lens must have a minimum wide-open aperture 'capability' of f/5.6 for autofocus to work. The lens doesn't have to be set at f/5.6, it just has to be 'capable' of at least f/5.6 after adjusting for the one stop loss from the 1.4X. That means with some camera/lens combinations, adding the 1.4X will force you to focus all of your shots manually. (Note: There is a known 'fix' for this that restores autofocus. I've never needed to try it, but it involves taping over some connector pins on the 1.4X to fool the camera body. Proceed with caution if you try this, and do a Google search to learn how to do it right before attempting it.)

The 1.4X also reduces focus speed very slightly. I've only used it on my 70-200mm IS, which has Canon's USM and is a fast-focusing lens to begin with, but the decrease in speed is so slight I really don't notice it. And it does not affect IS (Image Stabilization) at all.

The 1.4X is built to the quality of Canon's L-series lenses, which means that it is weather sealed and will keep a Canon pro body and L-series lens weather sealed when used with them.

If you're considering this extender, you're probably also considering Canon's 2X II teleconverter. I do not own the 2X but did a lot of research on it before ultimately deciding to go with the 1.4X. The 2X decreases your aperture by two stops, and is reported to have a noticable decrease in sharpness--more than some photographers are willing to live with. On the other hand, I've never read a review that complained about the loss of sharpness from the 1.4X.

If you've already invested a lot of money in telephoto lenses, the 1.4X II is a relatively inexpensive way to get even more reach (and value) out of your investment while adding only a modest amount of bulk to your camera bag. Highly recommended.

Super Accessory 2005-09-15

I was able to use the Canon EF 1.4X II Extender for some nature photography recently in Wyoming. I shot elk in low light conditions so I was shooting pretty much wide open. The extender did not compromise the inherent sharpness of the lens at all. You could see the hairs on the animals heads. It's fantastic.