M6 ii+70-300 IS USM ii+teleconverter

Hi all, is anyone using this setup? Is it possible? If so, which brand/model teleconverter and what are the limitations?

TIA

I'm specifically after a bit more reach when photographing BIF without breaking the bank!

Poulty wrote:

Hi all, is anyone using this setup? Is it possible? If so, which brand/model teleconverter and what are the limitations?

TIA

Hmmm. With the M6ii I’d characterize the (BIF) limitations as due more to the body than the lens. Specifically it has to do with the representation of the subject (BIF) in the viewfinder. The “slideshow” effect during a burst makes it very hard to follow the bird, and when one’s own tracking is poor, then the AF strays badly. This has resulted (for me) in a very low BIF keeper rate.

Certainly, BIFs can be done (myself and others have had some success), but even with a mighty lens like the Canon EF 100-400 Mark II, I’ve found them to be an extreme challenge. In fact, virtually every DSLR I’ve owned has out-performed the M6ii for BIFs. (This is the only subject I can say this about though ).

Do you already own the body and lens? Are you in the market for just a TC?

I have a (cheapo) Tamron non-reporting TC that has worked well with my 400 f/5.6. AF is substantially faster than my Canon 1.4x Mark III on that lens. IQ is fair (lots of purple fringing). I much prefer the Canon TC on my 100-400ii though.

I don’t own any of the 70-300 lenses, but I suspect AF would be OK at f/8.

R2

Yes I already own the body and lens! I know what you mean about the slideshow but I seem to have reasonable success.

AFAIK none of the Canon 70-300mm lenses (incl the L lens) are compatible with the Canon TCs.

I do have a vague recollection seeing a post or two mentioning that there was a 3rd party TC that worked, but I can't remember which Canon forum it was in. Perhaps try a search in the Canon forums ?

Colin

Poulty wrote:

Yes I already own the body and lens! I know what you mean about the slideshow but I seem to have reasonable success.

That’s great. My hat’s off.  

I guess my warning is that it all does get harder for the camera (and operator) as the focal length increases, and as the angle of view and the apertures decrease.

You might do some research on the various Kenko TC’s though. Some have purportedly worked with Canon combos.

Best of luck!

R2

Andy01 wrote:

AFAIK none of the Canon 70-300mm lenses (incl the L lens) are compatible with the Canon TCs.

I do have a vague recollection seeing a post or two mentioning that there was a 3rd party TC that worked, but I can't remember which Canon forum it was in. Perhaps try a search in the Canon forums ?

Colin

The Canon 1.4 one is apparently compatible at 200-300mm with the 70-300L

KEG wrote:

Andy01 wrote:

AFAIK none of the Canon 70-300mm lenses (incl the L lens) are compatible with the Canon TCs.

I do have a vague recollection seeing a post or two mentioning that there was a 3rd party TC that worked, but I can't remember which Canon forum it was in. Perhaps try a search in the Canon forums ?

Colin

The Canon 1.4 one is apparently compatible at 200-300mm with the 70-300L

Well yes. I was referring to "full" compatibility. I would not want to try to remember not to zoom back and have the lens & TC make contact.

Colin

R2D2 wrote:

Poulty wrote:

Hi all, is anyone using this setup? Is it possible? If so, which brand/model teleconverter and what are the limitations?

TIA

Hmmm. With the M6ii I’d characterize the (BIF) limitations as due more to the body than the lens. Specifically it has to do with the representation of the subject (BIF) in the viewfinder. The “slideshow” effect during a burst makes it very hard to follow the bird, and when one’s own tracking is poor, then the AF strays badly. This has resulted (for me) in a very low BIF keeper rate.

R2

I'm not sure what you're referring to with the 'slideshow' effect, can you explain a bit further? I turn power saving mode and image review off, and set display mode to smooth. Eye detection to 'off' although I use continuous tracking AF.

My vision isn't so great so perhaps I'm not noticing the slideshow effect you guys are seeing. I've had pretty good luck with the M6ii at 14 fps with BIF using the M6ii's AF 'tracking' mode, I'd say 50% or more are sharp. But you're right, if the camera loses tracking and starts to hunt focus, that sequence is 'kaput.'

Andy01 wrote:

KEG wrote:

Andy01 wrote:

AFAIK none of the Canon 70-300mm lenses (incl the L lens) are compatible with the Canon TCs.

I do have a vague recollection seeing a post or two mentioning that there was a 3rd party TC that worked, but I can't remember which Canon forum it was in. Perhaps try a search in the Canon forums ?

Colin

The Canon 1.4 one is apparently compatible at 200-300mm with the 70-300L

Well yes. I was referring to "full" compatibility. I would not want to try to remember not to zoom back and have the lens & TC make contact.

Colin

I've had a lot of luck using the 'lowly' EF-S 55-250mm IS STM with Kenko teleconverters and Kenko optics.

You can see some photos I took this morning of birds with this setup here:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/65439466

In my case I physically modified the mount of the EF-S lens so that it would mount on EF teleconverters. The rear element of the lens doesn't stick out so this works.

I use most successfully a slightly older Kenko 1.5x Teleplus SHQ teleconverter. The camera would not autofocus using the 55-250 and the 1.5x, but after I removed the electronics from that TC the combo works perfectly (except the EXIF data for focal length and aperture doesn't reflect the TC in the optical path).

The 1.5x SHQ only slightly degrades the sharpness and contrast of the EF-S 55-250 IS STM, so much so that I have a hard time telling which shots I used the TC for and which I didn't.

I also use a Kenko extension tube into which I've mounted the optics from a vintage Kenko MC7 2x teleconverter. The results are only slightly better with this setup than using the 1.5x TC and cropping. The problem is partly that with a 2x teleconverter you're now shooting 2 stops lower wide open at f11, and are past the 'diffraction limit' of the M6ii's high res sensor --- so at the pixel level the image is noticeably softer.

With a 2x converter, there is also the challenge that you need a lot more light.... but many in this forum have recently discovered that DxO's Photolab 4 and its Deep Prime Noise reduction appears to be a game-changer and lets us push images one or two EV higher, and still get great results. I used DxO to process all the images in the referenced post.

Here's a link to another post with some of my sample images - that thread contains links to more of my posts where I share details of how I modified the lens and the teleconverters.

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/65366346

Larry Rexley wrote:

R2D2 wrote:

Poulty wrote:

Hi all, is anyone using this setup? Is it possible? If so, which brand/model teleconverter and what are the limitations?

TIA

Hmmm. With the M6ii I’d characterize the (BIF) limitations as due more to the body than the lens. Specifically it has to do with the representation of the subject (BIF) in the viewfinder. The “slideshow” effect during a burst makes it very hard to follow the bird, and when one’s own tracking is poor, then the AF strays badly. This has resulted (for me) in a very low BIF keeper rate.

R2

I'm not sure what you're referring to with the 'slideshow' effect, can you explain a bit further?

It's just the way the EVF displays the frames during a burst.  It's a bit choppy and a little delayed.  makes it hard to follow fast action.  Canon improved this effect in the R5/R6 with a firmware update, but not thus far with the M6ii.

I turn power saving mode and image review off, and set display mode to smooth. Eye detection to 'off' although I use continuous tracking AF.

Exactly how I shoot too.

My vision isn't so great so perhaps I'm not noticing the slideshow effect you guys are seeing.

The detrimental effect does seem to vary from person to person.

I've had pretty good luck with the M6ii at 14 fps with BIF using the M6ii's AF 'tracking' mode, I'd say 50% or more are sharp.

That's great.

I try to shoot my birds with a very tight frame (sometimes too tight even!), and their motion is VERY fast at these levels of magnification (and distance).  Samples of what I like to shoot...

https://pbase.com/jekyll_and_hyde/loaded_with_talon

But you're right, if the camera loses tracking and starts to hunt focus, that sequence is 'kaput.'

Yeah.  I take more responsibility when that happens than I blame the camera.  But having an excellent tool really helps too!

R2