Canon 400mm F5.6
 

I get my new lens tomorrow it is the Canon 400mm F5.6 Prime does anyone know what converter will still allow AF or will I still have to tape the pins. I am all excited.

Hi, as I understand it only the Canon 1.4 converter will allow AF, enjoy the lens, can't wait to see some results, John
P.S. My information came from Jessops when I enquired about the same lens.

I will still give a go with the taped pins I have a kenko pro 300 and it works all be it slow on the 100-400 canon. I have just had tracking confirmation that its on its way.:D .

Another case of wrong information given out by Jessops.

More to do with the camera body. 20D,30D,350D and 400D has a AF limit at f5.6 so your have to do the tape trick to maintain AF. I think your find the 1D bodies have a limit of f8 so it would take the 400 f5.6 + x1.4 and still AF.

For the 20D the AF working range of light is EV 0.5 - 18

For the 1D the AF working range of light is EV 0 - 18

Christine ,a great lens,very easy to handhold.Yes,you do need to tape the pins if you want to use AF with the 1x4.I have been out and about today using the 2x ,with MF and a tripod.Not very good,but it was worth a try.All my KF pics on BF were taken with this lens,and most of them in not very good light,but they came out ok.Just make sure you use the 1x4 in decent light,it does help.

I believe any lens with F/2.8 is compatible with 2x extender Version II to give full AF (A tad slower than if extender not used).

1.4 x gives AF on some EOS bodies at F/5.6 this is lens dependent also.

400mm F/5.6 L gives you AF with 1.4x if it is used on 1D, and manual focus if used with other bodies including 30D and 5D.
2x is only operable on manual, no matter what combination, when used with this lens.

You don't need to tap the pins as the pin coupling for electrical confirmation of focal length should function as usual. Taping is needed when you use the extender with a manual lens on adapter such as FD. In that case the chips in body gets confused of the lens' focal length, thus giving you error I believer 01.

The reason to use a prime lens is the extra ordinary sharpness it offers. Do you really want to decrease it by extender? Also don't forget the 2 stop drop in x2 that can turn a lens into very handicap if light not friendly, in addition to difficulty focusing manually due to very dark view finder. I wish the new DSLRs could incorporate some sort of prism split etc for old fashion manual focus confirmation or at least one such changeable optional viewfinder screen.

Hope I have not confused you.:)

I frequently use this lens with a Canon 1.4 tc on a 350D. To achieve AF you must tape the last three pins on the converter thus fooling the camera into thinking there is no TC present. The only TC which will achieve AF without taping the pins (on a non 1 series body that is) is the cheap 4 element Kenko/Tamron but trouble is this is a poor quality converter.
AF with the pins taped can be a lot slower than normal and will sometimes 'hunt' quite a bit. I have found there are a few ways of overcoming this:-
1) By manually focusing near enough and then using the AF for the final focus.

2) When the AF starts to 'hunt' take your finger off the shutter release and depress again - it will almost always lock on right away by using this method.

First photo taken today in between showers with the lens..

Nice start with the new lens Christine - I am sure you will be very happy with this lens, especially when the light gets better.

Thanks Roy its not been the best of days to try things out. I did try with the 1.4 converter, its still very sharp but no AF unless I tape the pins. I may give it a try as I am not the best a manual focusing.
I think will have to master my stalking technique so I can get that much closer.

Well done,Christine,keep with it.

Hi Saphire

Like the Robin - seems like a great lens, Exif shows 1/200 at f5.6 so will be expecting super shots from you when light levels improve.
Enjoy.

Brian

Christine,you were asking re extenders with this lens.Here is a shot taken with a 2x on Wed.I only used the P prog ,ISO 400,and had to focus manually,cam was on a tripod,I just thought I would give it a try.The Redshanks were so far away,they were only visible with binoculars,so hope this shows what this lens is capable of producing,esp if someone who understands cam settings had taken this shot.The only editing ,is a highlight and crop in Picasa and a file re-size in Elements.Light was not very good,although there was a little sunshine,along with a 9 force gale,this is a shot one would normally have digiscoped(ie in the absence of a 600mm,2x !!!)

I've also inc a Red breasted Merganser shot,which was taken in very poor light,lens pointing down to the grey water.

Wow! Christine they are fantastic shots, really sharp. I wish the sun would hurry up and come out, so I can test the lens properly. I took some today with the 1.4x taped and they were not bad but had to have the camera on 1600 to get a 1/125s. Keeping fingers crossed for tomorrow.

The Goldfinch was perfect,Christine.Very good.

Thanks Christine, I tried to have another play today but it has been very dull again. They promise sun tomorrow so hopefully I will have a better chance to get out and about.

Well I have been out and took hundreds of photos at a lake and Wow! which ones do I pickto show. Out of all I have taken today I have only binned a few so having to sort the bad posses out LOL! I will post some later in this thread as they are all of water birds. Don't want to hog the gallery, I will post some on BF.

My first real trial of the 400 f5.6 the Heron was approx 200yds away maybe more so it is heavily cropped. All Taken at Shakerley Mere and we missed Ange (Epona)and Dek

Nice shots Chris. Can't believe we missed you, we could have done with a brew.:) Can't believe my comment to Dek when I said "One day we'll be out and about and bump into you both" little knowing we were yards away. Spookie.

Thanks Ange, yes it is spooky but how you could miss our van at 25ft long. LOL! I don't know. Anyway thanks for pointing me there its a brilliant place, next time it will be in the car then we won't have to sit and wait for people to leave to turn around..

Well done, great first day out with the new lens Christine.

Thanks prostie, I am glad I went now the weather is on the turn again.

I'll second that. Excellent, and I'm sure you enjoyed yourself knowing whats comming weather wise.

Don

Thanks Don, yes I have seen the weather reports for the rest of this week:( .

Christine,

Pics in todays paper showing scenes from the west country suggest any members from that area need underwater housings.

Perhaps some time to look at minimum focus performance indoors in the dry.

Don

Nice images Christine, spring is on the way and better weather I hope, day off today and tomorrow and the weather is horrid.
John

Nice pics....so now the mother-in-law will not want to try out my Tamron 300mm f/2.8 anymore then! LOL

Thanks Joe, glad you joined the site at long last.

Don I have had a go with all tubes on. here is the result a simple shot of the grass again.I was about 6ft away. F5.6 with 580 flash.

Christine,

Very shallow dof as expected, but it does show excellent detail in the zone of sharpness.

After your other pics I did not really expect anything else though. ;) :)

Don

The depth of field is very shallow but it was on its widest, it would be interesting to try stopped down a bit and with the 1.4 on as well. Hopefully looking at the weather for tomorrow it looks like it maybe sunny for a while. I will go and try to take some close focus shots outdoors.

Christine,were you using the Kenko ext tubes?.I have a set of these,bought at the end of the year,and only tried once.I tried with the 400F5.6 and then with the 100-400,but only obtained a pic with the latter.But I was much closer than 6ft,more like 2ft.Did you use any specail settings,and did you use all the tubes.I would love to try this method for butterflies etc,in the summer,as I am unable to crouch down close to the subject,but would find it much easier to be able to shoot from my normal distance.
I did take a couple of shots in low light using the 1x4 on auto focus today,and not bad.When I have re -sized,(it takes ages) will post one.

Christine,

You can really take advantage of the shallow dof to blast distracting backgrounds. If you are lucky enough to have anything in flower yet that would make a good subject as you can make the background disappear.

You have me wanting to join in but not a single thing is out here, hence the desperate measures of a bug hunt. :D :D

Don

Christine. I used all the Jessops ext tubes but could only get as close a 6 ft I have just tried again and took note of the distance, so really only gained about a metre. I would have expected to be able to get closer but couldn't focus, I may do with the 1.4x as well, I will have to wait until tomorrow to try. I will post some shots tomorrow.

Christine,

1.4 on the body followed by tubes then lens will increase magnification. My bug in the flash thread is 55mm + 2 tubes ( I only have 2 ) + 2x converter on the body. Field of view 10mm. Lens + converter then tubes has less magnification effect.

Look forward to your results if the rain holds off. Fingers are crossed for you tomorrow. :)

Don

Christine, with the 400mm f5.6 and around 50mm of extension tubes you can still only focus down to about 2 metres (as opposed to 3.5 mtrs without the tubes).
I think you were probably closer then 2 metres when you tried thus focussing was not possible.

Here are some sample images all taken without flash the first three are with the 1.4, all ext tubes at F8, the last one is with the 1.4, 31mm ext tube at F8. I did take some with flash but found I need to use a diffuser. The closest I could get with both setups was around 6 feet. My Conclusion is that for close-ups the smaller zoom lens and tubes is a better option for getting really close and filling the frame.

You're welcome to try my Tamron 180mm f/2.5 with those extension tubes if you don't mind manual focus LOL!....it's got a B&W protective filter on it but can be taken off for better digi resolution.....and it's no where near as heavy as the 300mm ;)

Joe, I'll take you up on that, just make sure you don't forget the canon adaptall mount. Anything has got to be lighter than the 300mm what does it weight about 5kg or more.

Well done Christine,

The colours in image 1 are a real spirit lifter on these dull wet days. :)

Don