The 600 and stacked TCs

[William Nguyen]

Hey guys,

Just came back from a trip out to a Billabong (largish water hole) about 150km from my home. I wanted to test the 1DM3's AF capabilities and was more than impressed! The following shots were taken with the 1DM3, 600 f4 IS, 2.0x TC and 1.5x TC so effective reach was 2340mm and it still AF'ed!!!

I knew sharpness wouldn't be great but some turned out ok which surprised me. I think user error was partly to blame though I'm still trying to tame this beast One thing I realised Image Stabilisation is a god send at 2340mm

Anyway here's a few samples of the stacked TCs:

Black Cockatoo - f9, 1/320, ISO 1600, 2340mm


Black Cockatoo - f9, 1/320, ISO 1600, 2340mm


Darter - f11, 1/1250, ISO 1250, 2340mm


Here's a few with just the 1.5x TC:

Rainbow Bee Eater - f6.3, 1/400, ISO400, 900mm, Handheld


Brown Kite - f6.3, 1/320, ISO400, 900mm, Handheld


Cheers
William

[Teddy Regpala]

Those are nice captures with stacked TCs William. You really need a very good light, if it'll AF at all.

Correct me if I'm wrong, with the 600 f/4, isn't it the effective aperture will be f/13? Unless the TCs are not reporting the corrected aperture right.

Ted

[William Nguyen]

AFAIK it doesn't report the TC that's stacked, with the 1.5x Kenko I was able to dial it back to "f8" which of course isn't the correct aperature.

[Eric Patdu]

Wow! The first three shots were almost 47x zoom and were far better than what my 4x P&S can shoot. Amazing!

[Romy Ocon]

Looks very decent even with the stacked TCs, William..... very nice shots!

[Neon Rosell II]

Great Job - William!!

If the TCs are not recognized then the aperture reading of the bare lens should be multiplied by the TCs magnification factors to get the actual aperture value.

When using the stacked TC's was it still on AF or you were focusing it manually?

I might have sometime to go birding in Darwin in the afternoon of 30th July most probably I'll be just walking around the Esplanade st., Bicentennial park.

[William Nguyen]

Hey Neon,

Thanks for that info re: aperature... AF worked fine with stacked TCs, the light was pretty good so that definitely helped.

Shoot me an email before you arrive in Darwin, might be able to tee up a shoot - I've got wheels

Cheers
William

Jul 27, 2008 23:30:41 GMT Neon Rosell II said:

Great Job - William!!

If the TCs are not recognized then the aperture reading of the bare lens should be multiplied by the TCs magnification factors to get the actual aperture value.

When using the stacked TC's was it still on AF or you were focusing it manually?

I might have sometime to go birding in Darwin in the afternoon of 30th July most probably I'll be just walking around the Esplanade st., Bicentennial park.

[William Nguyen]

Thanks Romy,

Yes not bad at all, I was rather impressed

Jul 27, 2008 23:19:15 GMT Romy Ocon said:

Looks very decent even with the stacked TCs, William..... very nice shots!

[Bob Kaufman]

Holy cow - fine detail for an AF with stacked TCs. Great job, William!