Soccer; 70-200 & 1.4x extender

[cwphoto]

Guys, I think I've found my combo.

It was Arigato who posted a comment in one of my earlier threads about the combination of the EF 70-200mm f/2.8 and a 1.4x extender. Well I tried it out on the weekend and it was gold. More versatlie than the 300mm f/2.8 and sharper/more consistent focus than the the 300mm f/4!

All the following series were shot with an EOS-1D Mark II N with the Zoom Lens EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM & Extender EF 1.4x II (just for the record). This one's at 170mm, 1/2,000s @ f/4.5, ISO 200:

[cwphoto]

Sharp enough for me.

[cwphoto]

160mm, 1/400s @ f/6.3, ISO 200:

[cwphoto]

215mm, 1/2,000s @ f/5.6, ISO 400:

[cwphoto]

115mm, 1/1,250s @ f/4.5, ISO 400:

[cwphoto]

190mm, 1/4,000s @ f/4.5, ISO 400:

[cwphoto]

180mm, 1/5,000s @ f/4.5, ISO 400:

[cwphoto]

98mm, 1/2,500s @ f/4.5, ISO 200:

[cwphoto]

185mm, 1/1,250s @ f/4.5, ISO 320:

[Bluedog]

Nice shots and that is an excellent combination thats hard to beat.

[phatkid77]

GR8 PICS!!

im contemplating geting a TC for my D70s sigam 1.4 or nikon 1.7??

anyway, why change ISO and shutter speed from pic to pic..?

thanks

[coldrain]

Well... I see feet... and a round thing... lets call thsi football! :D :p

So what are you going to do, cancel that 300mm f2.8?

[cwphoto]

145mm, 1/2,500s @ f/4.5, ISO 400:

[24Peter]

Cool shots Christian! I have to try some sports shots with my 70-200 f4L plus I have a Tamron 1.4XTC. My preliminary tests show it's a pretty good combo as well.

[cwphoto]

GR8 PICS!!

im contemplating geting a TC for my D70s sigam 1.4 or nikon 1.7??

anyway, why change ISO and shutter speed from pic to pic..?

thanks

Thanks Phat, the light was changing a lot from overcast to full sun, so I was just adjusting accordingly - no point shooting at 400 if you don't have to!:D

[cwphoto]

Well... I see feet... and a round thing... lets call thsi football! :D :p

So what are you going to do, cancel that 300mm f2.8?

I dunno what to do now! I need to spend a little before end of June to minmise my tax liability, but I would find a fast 200mm more useful for a wider variety of my work - and I hear whispers of a new one being announced at Photokina...;)

Decisions, decisions. Of course the ultimate combo would be a 300 on the stick and the 70-200 on a separate body...:eek:

[cwphoto]

Nice shots and that is an excellent combination thats hard to beat.

Thanks Dog.:)

I can't believe how many keepers there were. Much more than the 300mm f/4. I'm really impressed with two things:
1) the way it kept up with the play (focus wise), and
2) the IQ at near-as-dammit wide-open.

[JTL]

Those are AMAZING. The first shot in the series is a jaw dropper.

Who honestly would have thought that the 70-200 with the 1.4x extender would so postively beat the 300 f/2.8? No one until they saw this, that's who...great work. We all owe you and Arigato a big thank you for pointing the way...:)

[cwphoto]

Cool shots Christian! I have to try some sports shots with my 70-200 f4L plus I have a Tamron 1.4XTC. My preliminary tests show it's a pretty good combo as well.

I'd love to see what you get out of that combo as from what I hear there's not much in IQ between the f/4 and the f/2.8.

[jwhite]

I dunno what to do now! I need to spend a little before end of June to minmise my tax liability, but I would find a fast 200mm more useful for a wider variety of my work - and I hear whispers of a new one being announced at Photokina...;)


What kind of whispers are you hearing!?!? Please tell!! :D

Jason

[cwphoto]

Those are AMAZING. The first shot in the series is a jaw dropper.

Who honestly would have thought that the 70-200 with the 1.4x extender would so postively beat the 300 f/2.8? No one until they saw this, that's who...great work. We all owe you and Arigato a big thank you for pointing the way...:)

Yeah it's very interesting. The 300mm f/2.8 obviously has the IQ (but I tell you not by THAT much) but for flexibility this combo is gonna be perfect for the little fellas. Notice most of these were under 200mm too where the 300mm would be too tight.

What I'm most disappointed in is the 300mm f/4. Maybe I had a dud?:(

[cwphoto]

What kind of whispers are you hearing!?!? Please tell!! :D

Jason

200mm f/1.8 L IS USM - don't bet the house on it but I'd have a quiet little each-way bet. One things for sure - I can't afford both, and knowing my luck I'd buy the 300 and the 200 would get released the following month - and the 200 would be more flexible for my work.

[aparmley]

200mm f/1.8 L IS USM

Have you seen the prices for the older 200 1.8?? I'd imagine this would be one, if not the most expensive canon lens.

But again Christian for these little guys, the zoom is so advantageous - and your close at this age! The field is so much smaller I mean. In 5 years you won't be able to get as close with 200mm as you can now.

I think the IQ in these images is great; thats the 1D for you. But I'd personally like to see tighter framing. . . At this age though, they tend to bunch up a lot so I can image that its difficult to isolate. . .

Its hard for me to tell, but it looks like you are shooting at a lower height than you would be if you were standing, can you confirm this? Are you kneeling?

Anyway - Very cool pictures. Glad to hear that combo worked for you. Looks like a proud dad and happy photographer and a great day for some ole football.

[cwphoto]

Have you seen the prices for the older 200 1.8?? I'd imagine this would be one, if not the most expensive canon lens.

But again Christian for these little guys, the zoom is so advantageous - and your close at this age! The field is so much smaller I mean. In 5 years you won't be able to get as close with 200mm as you can now.

I think the IQ in these images is great; thats the 1D for you. But I'd personally like to see tighter framing. . . At this age though, they tend to bunch up a lot so I can image that its difficult to isolate. . .

Its hard for me to tell, but it looks like you are shooting at a lower height than you would be if you were standing, can you confirm this? Are you kneeling?

Anyway - Very cool pictures. Glad to hear that combo worked for you. Looks like a proud dad and happy photographer and a great day for some ole football.

Yeah the 200 is pretty exe. When they were selling new they were around the same price as the 300 f/2.8 but the market has gone crazy over that optic since it's demise. Good copies are now fetching somewhere between USD4-5k and I know a Sydney retailer who has a brand new one for sale for AUD10k.

Still nowhere near a 600mm f/4 though. If a new 200 with IS is released I reckon those guys who payed USD5k for this superceded lens will see their asset drop by at least USD1-2k in value.

I agree I could come in a little tighter - I'm new to this sports stuff so I'm sure there's room for plenty of improvement, thanks for the advice.

BTW, I was kneeling for most shots.:)

PS: Maybe I should try the 100-400 L too...

[aparmley]

I agree I could come in a little tighter

I think you have enough pixels with that 1D, :D.


BTW, I was kneeling for most shots.:)


Good deal I thought soo - those guys are still shorter than you kneeling so looking back on it, I see the error in my thinking. . . But thought I'd mention it anyway. . . I know a lot of guys love shooting from the goal line - to the right or left of the goal perhaps half the distance from the corner to the goal - as most of the more professional and older athletes spend most of their time heading either way - not so much side to side - but I can't speak to this on the youth level - they might spend the same amount of time in each direction - or at center field "Bunched" up - again, I don't have personal experience. . . just thinking out loud in case it should help.

[arigato]

CW, Im glad your happy with the result with the 1.4 extender and 70-200. I just had to cringe at you spending a $3800 US (new) for a 300mm lens when you already had some good stuff in your bag.

[aparmley]

CW, Im glad your happy with the result with the 1.4 extender and 70-200. I just had to cringe at you spending a $3800 US (new) for a 300mm lens when you already had some good stuff in your bag.

How INconsiderate of you. . . How many of us here are every going to spend that kinda dough, Chrisitian can! way to ruin for all of us!

LMAO

Just kidding -

[cwphoto]

CW, Im glad your happy with the result with the 1.4 extender and 70-200. I just had to cringe at you spending a $3800 US (new) for a 300mm lens when you already had some good stuff in your bag.

Yeah, the 300 has gone from my shopping basket back into the wishlist.:D

Have you contacted your mate yet who was keen on this setup too?

[cwphoto]

How INconsiderate of you. . . How many of us here are every going to spend that kinda dough, Chrisitian can! way to ruin for all of us!

LMAO

Just kidding -

Sorry about that mate. BTW, the Reserve Bank just lifted Cash Rates by 25 points today. That's an extra $135 a month I've got to shell out at the stroke of a pen.:(

[arigato]

CW - Yea I told him about that setup but he thinks he needs the extra DOF to shoot Lacrosse. Im not completely conviced since im sure he will run into the 300 being too tight in alot of cases. He was looking at a used 300 for his Nikon and its much cheaper - $1300. I asked him why it was so cheap he told me that alot of folks are dumping their Nikon lenses at the long end for sports work and switching to Canon. It also looked like it fell of the truck when I saw pics of it. Im sure that makes a difference in price too.

[cwphoto]

CW - Yea I told him about that setup but he thinks he needs the extra DOF to shoot Lacrosse. Im not completely conviced since im sure he will run into the 300 being too tight in alot of cases. He was looking at a used 300 for his Nikon and its much cheaper - $1300. I asked him why it was so cheap he told me that alot of folks are dumping their Nikon lenses at the long end for sports work and switching to Canon. It also looked like it fell of the truck when I saw pics of it. Im sure that makes a difference in price too.

Sorry mate, I'm confused - he wants mor DoF but a longer lens is gonna reduce the DoF anyway?:confused:

And that 300mm is gonna be like a 450 on a Nikon DSLR, I would have thought a 70-200 VR would be perfect - chuck on the extender when you need the length.

Whatever floats his boat I guess.:D

[cwphoto]

It also looked like it fell of the truck when I saw pics of it. Im sure that makes a difference in price too.

Does it look as banged up as this?

[aparmley]

Does it look as banged up as this?
I think 80% of the 200 1.8s look like that or worse! LOL

[timmciglobal]

Some rumors over @ FM saying a new 200 coming out, someone who apparently has been spot on hinting at new canon lenses (apparently hes on canons R&D team) has said a 200 is likly.

Tim

[arigato]

Yeah the Lens he showed me looked like that. In fact it may be worse since the 300 2.8 is black for Nikon :eek:

He wants to keep f 2.8 as his DOF, a 70-200 2.8 with a 1.4x extender makes it a 105-300 before figuring camera crop and sets your F stop to 4 is what I meant.

[ReF]

kinda thought you've been using the 70-200 + 1.4x for a while. well thanks for showing us that a lens much less $$$ is perfectly capable of keeping up.

so you've got cash to burn eh? how about a second body? other than the one you have, 5d if you ever need more MP or 30d which would bump that that 127-364mm fov you have now to 157-448mm

btw, tried that 100-400 ever so briefly, took the shots home, and wasn't impressed at all with the sharpness at 400mm. i see the same kind of results from comparison shots online.

[cwphoto]

so you've got cash to burn eh? how about a second body? other than the one you have, 5d if you ever need more MP or 30d which would bump that that 127-364mm fov you have now to 157-448mm.

5D is tempting (borrowed one a while back and love most of it), but I wanna wait to see what is announced at Photokina before I commit, hence more glass is probably where I'll invest.

Now that the 300mm isn't necessary, I'm thinking 24L, 35L, and 180L Macro combo.

[ReF]

I'm thinking 24L, 35L, and 180L Macro combo.

damn! :eek:
oh yeah, forgot how much you can buy for the price of that 300. i'm wanting a 5d too, but realized how much i can cross off my list for the cost of one camera

[cwphoto]

damn! :eek:
oh yeah, forgot how much you can buy for the price of that 300. i'm wanting a 5d too, but realized how much i can cross off my list for the cost of one camera

Yeah, there are other reasons - thinking about starting up a lens rental business over here so I obviously need to have something to offer, watch this space.