Converter help please.
 

Probably a silly question,but i have the Canon 2x TC and i use it with both the 70-200L f2.8 IS USM and the 100-400L on either the 20D or the MKllN, with either tripod or a monopod, but still i find i have unsatisfactory images, (slight blur) nothing horrific but its there, i was wondering if its the 2x converter and is the 2X "ll" a much better optic?

My main subjects are wildlife, bird shots,either static or in flight.

Presuming you are using a good strong tripod and head that won't shake when you tap the lens gently, I can only suggest using a cable release just in case pressing on the shutter release button is causing vibration... You are of course switching the IS off on the 70-200 when the camera is tripod mounted... Pro wildlife photographers have been using the MKI for years without problems so unless you have a bad copy there should be no problems...

Thanks Kennymc for your reply, i will give the cable release a try as i have a good tripod and head and with the 100-400L wide open i have good images, its only when the converter is attached.
Yes I always turn the IS off with the 70-200, and its good news about the MKI (I presume this is my model as it has nothing on it apart from 2X).

I'd have thought that a 2X converter on a zoom lens was really asking too much. I don't have a 2X converter, but I do have a 1.4X Canon TC, and I don't think the image quality of the converter & 100-400 is up to scratch. With the 500 prime, it's fine - very nearly as good as the bare 500, and better than the bare 100-400 at 400mm too. The differences are small, but they are there. If I was to try and quantify them, I'd say TC & 500 is one (very small) step down on the bare 500, and two of those same very small steps up above the 100-400.

It's probably worth mentioning that I generally shoot the 100-400 at f/6.7 (because I think the half stop improves the sharpness - might be imagination, but that's what I do), and do the same with the 1.4 & 500 combo, but I shoot the bare 500 wide open wherever possible.

Anyway, my feeling is that expecting ultimate sharpness out of a zoom lens (100-400 or 70-200) with a 2X converter on it is just going to lead to frustration. Too much glass in there.

But thankyou for raising this question. I've practically never used the 100-400 & 1.4 combination, only a few shots to try out when I first got it. So, just for fun, I'll have a crack at it again one day soon.

By the way, speaking of the 100-400 and add-on items, the other day I tried a 13mm extension tube on the 100-400. I know that Canon says not to use the tubes with zoom lenses, only primes, but I was doing some macro work with a largish leaf hopper and wanted more working distance than I could get with the 60mm macro on a 20D. So, just to see what would happen, I fitted the tube to the 100-400. The result was pretty much what Canon said it would be - unusable.

Tannin I don't understand what problem you had using the the extension with the 100-400mm I have tried it with my sigma 80-400 and my husbands Canon 100-400mm and found it brilliant. I have some examples in my gallery. Most of the macro shots were done with this combination.

It wouldn't auto-focus, and the manual focus was weird, really weird. I did sort of OK by just focusing manually roughly and then moving the camera to fine-tune, but it was weird. Perhaps I was predisposed to expect it not to work and could have tried a little harder. In any case, I soon found that the leaf hopper was fairly docile and went back to the trusty 60mm macro after all. Sounds as though I had better experement some more though, Sapphire!

BTW, what length of tube do you recommend with the 100-400?

Tannin I have just taken two photos one with the Sigma 80-400 and 31mm Ext tube and one with the Canon 100-400 + 31mm ext tube. The 80-400 worked with autofocus so may be a tad sharper. The canon I had to manually focus. Both were F8 and 200s with on top flash. Just an example that they can be used.
For both I was 12ft away.

Nothing wrong with those, Sapphire! I'll do some more tinkering. Thankyou for the tip!

Tannin another little point I found, I stand at the distance I want to take the photo then use the zoom to find the object and then fine tune with the focus. If it won't zoom and you can't get a clear focus, then you have to move yourself because you are not within the working length of the zoom position. I think I have explained it right. If not someone else might pop in to correct me.

Another example Tannin, what I like is the better close focusing you get. I used for next next test the 21mm Ext tube on my 80-400mm lens F8 and the on top flash on my 30D. The closest you can focus is 9ft. But with the 21mm tube I could focus down to 3ft at 400mm. The first photo was taken from a 3ft away from the grasses I did have to move my body slightly until I could hear the af wanting to focus. The second photo is a 100% crop. I have done nothing to the photos apart from the conversion and the crop, no sharpening.

You lose two stops with a 2x converter and that means the lens will not autofocus as the Canon body will not autofocus if it thinks the aperture of the lens is greater than f5.6 or with some models f8. Some people ''tape the pins'' to overcome the problem or use a converter without the relevent pins (Tamron) but I'm not sure which pins they tape. Puzzled by the weird manual focus bit, maybe just a very dark viewfinder due to the 2 stops loss making it hard to see properly.