Marco Nero
Veteran Member
Canon EF 1.4x III Extender
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CANON's EF 1.4x III Extender is a useful accessory lens if you own (or are contemplating) one of the numerous lenses that it was designed to work with. I'd have liked to have mounted it to an EF 100mmL Macro lens but not all lenses are recessed at the rear to allow an Extender to fit. However, it will fit the 180mm Macro lens. That being said, the Extenders were made to suit telephoto lenses - but be sure to check before purchasing either a lens or an Extender to ensure compatibility. A popular Lens combination with extenders is the 70-200mm f/2.8L lens and I sometimes see people on the beach using this combo with a Canon 7D II to capture surfers on the waves.
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The Mk III Extenders are superior (construction-wise and Optically) to the earlier Mk II Extenders. There's less barrel distortion as well. They don't affect the Minimum focus distance of lenses and your DSLR camera will calculate exposures correctly with an Extender in place. Most DSLR's will be able to utilize AF at Apertures of f/8 although there are some variations and a lens that is f/2.8 or f/4 will normally have no problems but an f/5.6 lens with an Extender will end up above f/8 and so the the AF will be neutralized on most cameras when it kicks over the f/8 mark. The resulting images. when using an extender - will vary depending on the lens used because each type of lens will have different inherent image quality. A good lens will produce good images with an extender. An excellent lens will produce excellent results. A poor lens (eg soft lens) will produce inferior results.
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As a property of optical physics, you're going to lose some light by adding an Extender so you won't be able to use the native Aperture range that the lens itself would normally offer. Most Canon DSLR cameras are designed to ignore/deactivate AF and IS with Extenders if certain criteria are met. But the higher end DSLRs will usually allow these functions (eg 1D+, 5D III and 7D MkII ). I was surprised to find that even the Canon EOSM mirrorless cameras allow the use of the Extenders although performance of AF will vary depending on both the camera and the lens used. Using it with an APS-C sensor has the added advantage of offering yet another 1.6x magnification due to the crop factor.
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First Impressions:
Though I had no interest in using it with this lens, I first tested the extender with the EF 135mm f.2.0L USM lens on the EOSM Mirrorless camera ...and I had mixed results with this combination. The older 135mmL lens is SUPERB on its own. It's one of the most highly regarded Canon lenses. But this lens was somewhat "buggy" with the EOSM. The images had some Purple Fringing (typical of the lens and to be expected) and AF was slightly unpredictable and it was certainly quite slow. I also found the camera would freeze every so often (a property of the EOSM which did not occur using the Extender with other lenses.
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EOSM + EF 1.4x III Extender + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.
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Adding a recent Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens to the EOSM produced a superior experience. I had bought the extender to use with the EOS 6D but I was curious to see how it worked with an adapter on the EOSM so I could take advantage of the added increase in focal range with the APS-C crop effect. Note that when using a Full Frame camera like the EOS 6D, the AF won't work unless you switch the camera to Live Preview mode. But it will work on other models like the 5D Mk III (and above) and the 7D Mk II. On the EOSM the Extender slowed down AF considerably. Canon explains that this is to improve AF accuracy and that it's a normal function of the Extender to do so. For shooting astro-photography shots of the Moon or a glorious sunrise, the Extender gave me excellent results. On the 6D the Extender slowed down AF less than it did on the EOSM. I've seen reports from 7D II users that the Extender barely slows the AF at all... which really makes me want to buy a 7D II body now.
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The PROS:
* Excellent image quality.
* Can be used as a Manual Focus Only tool with compatible lenses.
* Sharper than the EF 2x III extender (which is slightly softer).
* Lightweight and easily carried.
* Matches the stark-White tone of the newer white Canon L-Series lenses.
* Extremely well built.
* More robust (more lock-down assembly screws!) than previous versions.
* Increases the focal length of the lens used by 1.4x
* EF 1.4x III matches the White-tone of the newer L-series lenses.
* Electronic contacts transfer lens information to the camera.
* Image Stabilization still works with compatible lenses.
* In-Camera lens correction recognizes Extender when matched to specific lenses.
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The CONS:
* Not inexpensive.
* Only works with SOME lenses (Telephoto).
* Can no longer be stacked with EF 2x III without a 'spacer'.
* Magnifies any lens flaws.
* Reduces image Contrast.
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Sticking a 400mm lens on an EF 1.4x Extender and adding an APS-C (1.61x) camera to it will give you an astounding 900mm+ lens at a fraction of the cost of anything in a similar range. The benefit is that you're getting a powerful zoom without the exorbitant costs associated with a dedicated super-telephoto lens. The downside is that your combination will result in less light and smaller apertures... assuming AF and IS isn't shut down by the combo selected. The optical quality of the elements used inside the Extender are absolutely first-class. Technical reviews show these elements to be on par with Canon's best glass.
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EOSM + EF 1.4x III + EF 100-400mmL II - [JPEG Edited, Cropped and then Reduced in scale]
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TIPS :
* Stopping a lens down will increase the clarity of the Lens+Extender combo, resulting in slightly sharper and more refined images.
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* Mark your protective end caps that come fitted to the Extender so that you don't mix them up with those that came with your camera or other lenses etc. Although they look just like the ones that protect and fit your camera (and they look just like the ones that come fitted to your lenses) the FRONT cap is unique. The protective-cap that fits your camera lens-mount ring (to keep the dust off your sensor when shipping) won't fit the Extender. Even though it looks the same. This is because there's an extended inner lens element that protrudes from the Extenders by a few millimeters. The usual cap from any Canon camera won't fit it ...and will fail to lock into place. You'll want to use the original caps that come with the extenders.
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* You can use an Extender on any compatible lens with ANY type of DSLR camera with an EF mount (or EF adapter) and it's a very common thing to see people using it as a Manual Focus Only tool. If I'm shooting the moon or a landscape, I'll simply use Manual Focus and I'll set it using the Magnify tool built into most Live Preview modes. Even on the EOS 6D I can switch to Live View and use the LCD display to lock focus using the AF.
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* Mount the Extender to the lens first. Then mount the Lens+Extender combo to your camera. Try not to mount the extender to the camera body and then attach a heavy lens... it's just a precaution to prevent accidents.
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* Check to see that your lens is compatible with an extender. Most, but not all, telephoto or high-zoom lenses are designed to work with an extender.
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* Some users have found that you can apply tape to two of the gold-plated EF transfer terminals on the Extender to stop it reporting back to the camera - thus allowing for AF beyond f/8. You can search this technique online for more details but I have chosen not to gum up the components of my lenses by adding adhesive tape.
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RATING:
The lens Extenders do exactly what they're supposed to do. I'm rating the EF 1.4x III Extender at 4/5 Stars because of the excellence of build and the quality of the images it produces. It's a considerable improvement on the Mk II. I've dropped a star because of the decision by Canon to cripple the AF with some cameras and not others and because the RRP is slightly too high IMO. If you're a wildlife photographer, an astrophotographer or a landscape photographer, this is an invaluable tool. Like a Circular Polarizer, you won't need it all the time - but it makes an enormous difference by magnifying the details in your scene when you use it. Prices have dropped slightly since the extenders were released and I think it's an essential tool for certain subjects. I'm quite happy to own this accessory and I recommend it for others.
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Canon EOS 6D + EF 1.4x III + EF 100-400mmL II [partial moon with atmosphere distortion]
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Regards,
Marco Nero.
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