2x Teleconverter for Canon EOS

[Naylor77]

HI everyone my name Is Sean, I am new to this forum & new to photography. Recently Ive seen a few of these 2x teleconverters by Bower on Ebay, could anyone tell me If there any good or not. I use a Canon EOS 400D & a Sigma 170-500mm zoom lens, would I get any benefits from using the teleconverter with my Sigma....Thanks...

Sean....... I hope to speak with you soon...

[BPK]

well naylor when it comes to teleconverters there is a lot bad out there. Most cheap telelconverters are 4 elements and really compromise the lens quality. Thus your pics will look soft or worse. Another thing to consider is you lose a stop of light with a 1.4 and 2 stops with a 2x. Most camera lose the ability to AF or focus if the minimum apature goes beyond f5.6. Thus the slower the lens the less likely it will AF and the quality qill suffer for it as well. I do not think your sigma 170-500 will af with any tele you put on it.

As for tele quality, Kenko makes 3 levels of quality tele converters.

they have a MC -4 which sells for about $100. The next level up is the MC-7 which sells for $125. This is a decent step up in quality, so it will effect the lens less. You will still notice a degrading of optical quality. The next step up is the "pro" series. this sells for $215. This will have the least effect on your lens. with teles you get what you pay for. going cheap will not make you happy.

[Naylor77]

thanks for the info and advice

[BPK]

with that sigma i would look at the kenko pro line and tamron sp line.

the tamrons are $190-$210
the kenkos are $195- $215
kenko does have a 3x for $225

[Naylor77]

Hello again BPK & thanks for the Info, I have been looking at a few Kenko's, also would I benefit In one of those RC-1 remotes or not.....Ta..

Sean....

[BPK]

a remote shutter trigger?

it can help. i use a 16foot cable on my fuji and wish i had a longer one. a wireless give more freedom though. it will help with steady shots.

[Naylor77]

Thanks again BPK, Ive just got the RC-1 remote shutter, wireless as well. Its pretty good... Cheers..

[parkerlindsey]

Hi BPK

Thanks for sharing information on teleconverters.
I don't know about it so I go many details from your description.
If You know another idea about it then tell me because i don't know about any teleconverters.

Thanks in advance.

[Tusker]

Can one expect the minimum focus range to be extended when using these as well??

[bob_r]

What exactly does a teleconverter do? I am also new to photography and would like to enhance my pictures. Right now I am looking at taking a class, but I would rather just try to learn on my own. That is my own way of learning style, trial and error.

A teleconverter increases the focal length of your lens, for example: a 400mm lens with a 1.4x would give you a focal length of 560mm, but you lose an f/stop (f/5.6 would become f/8) and a 2x doubles the focal length (400 becomes 800mm) and you lose two stops (f/5.6 becomes f/11). Teleconverters work best with long prime lenses rather than zooms, although you can get usable results with zooms.

Here are some examples:

This was taken with a Canon 30D, a Canon 100-400 and a 1.4X teleconverter.
1/250s f/8.0 at 560.0mm iso400


This was taken with a Canon 30D, a Canon 200 f/2.8L and a 2X teleconverter.
1/200s f/5.6 at 400.0mm iso250


Hope thiw was helpful and welcome to the forum.