1.4x Teleconvertor, Canon vs Kenko

MisterBG wrote:

Steve Balcombe wrote:

MisterBG wrote:

I'm considering a 1.4x teleconvertor and I was looking for opinions and comments on the Canon EF 1.4 MkIII against the Kenko 300 DGX.

Most use will be for wildlife, including BIF, and principally with the 70-200 F4L and 100-400 F4.5-F5.6L lenses on my 6D body.

What are the Pros and Cons of the two convertors please?

I have both. The Canon is the right choice for the MkII big whites - it's more solidly constructed which matters when you are handling all that weight, and it's the right diameter (the Kenko is smaller). Plus it includes electronic cleverness which (apparently) cooperates with those lenses for better AF performance. I honestly don't know how much difference that actually makes, but I know that both the MkIIIs perform superbly with my 300/2.8L II.

The Kenko on the other hand comes into its own when you want to put a TC on a lens which wasn't necessarily designed for it. It fits any lens with an EF mount (but NB not EF-S) so it's incredibly versatile. I've used mine on, for example, the 70-300L and the Sigma 150 macro.

But your lenses fall between those two situations, and you could make a case for either teleconverter. Do you have any other uses, or future upgrades, in mind?

Remember that with the 100-400L you will have an f/8 lens and AF performance will be reduced with a TC. Not necessarily a recommended combination for BIF! It might be wiser to use the bare lens and just crop those beautiful clean 6D images.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I recently changed from a crop to the FF 6D, and I was considering something that would make up the difference due to the "crop factor."
Maybe I should give things a try re cropping the 6D images, before I make a decision.

I don't plan on changing any of the lenses in the near future, so whatever I do will be with the lenses I mentioned previously.
And Yes, I'm concerned about the long end of the 100-400 being down to f8 with a convertor, although I'm mostly going to be using it in good lighting, and there is always the excellent high ISO of the 6D to fall back on if necessary.

I think I need to try the existing combinations before I make my decision.

The DGX will work with the 100-400 at 400 but only with the outer focus points, and it does slow down acquisition a bit.

That said, I agree that you should test cropping your images vs the TC; you may very well decide you don't need it.

I've gone both ways and been satisfied with cropping (on a 7D).

Loren