Canon Teleconverter Compatibility

by Robert
(West Bath, Maine)

"I have a Canon Rebel XT with a 70-300 mm 1:4-5.6 IS USM lens. Is there a Canon teleconverter, either 1.4 or 2x that I can use with this camera/lens combination. I want to get up close and personal with birds at our feeder."


UPDATED ANSWER: Hi Robert,

thanks for asking if a Canon teleconverter will work with your 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 lens and your Canon Rebel. No, it does not fit, according to a call made by Robert to USA.canon. You need to know two things about Canon camera/lens/extender combinations. We'll get to those in a second, but first to answer your question about the tele extender fit.

Canon teleconverters are built as EF lenses. That means they use full sized lens elements and provide a full size image circle-as opposed to Canon EF-S lenses. I wrote a fully detailed article on this that I think you will find it very helpful: Ef vs. EF-S.

Teleconverter Compatibility With The 70-300

Although the Canon teleconverters will successfully mount to EF lenses (like the Canon EF 70-200) there will be some loss of sharpness and some additional chromatic aberrations.

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6

This loss of image quality isn't necessarily significant enough for some Canon shooters to be a deal breaker, but you should be aware of it. It is definitely a subjective thing and you have to make a choice based on your own preferences.

I did my own geeky test of a 1.4X teleconverter II couple up with a 70-200 f/2.8 and you'll likely find this an interesting read as well: Teleconverter Sharpness Comparison.

I did my test using a high resolution 32 megapixel Canon 90D. With the 8 megapixel sensor of the Rebel XT you may not notice the change in image quality. You'd really have to test it and do your own side by side comparison. Also realize that there are 3 different versions of the 1.4x and 2.0x extenders, each later one having significant performance improvements.

Teleconverter Compatibility With The Rebel XT

Like all the Canon Rebels, the XT is an APS-C or "crop" camera. It will accept both EF and the smaller EF-S lenses. With the 1.6x crop factor of the Rebel, you'll get the same angle of view as if you were using a 112-480mm lens.

If you could add in a teleconverter with a magnification of 1.4, your lens will behave as if you have a 157-672mm lens on your camera. That's a SERIOUSLY POWERFUL amount of telephoto magnification. That would enable you to get very up close and personal for photographing birds.

Additionally, you lose 1 stop (or half of the light) with a 1.4x teleconverter and lose 2 stops (3/4 of the light) with a 2.0x teleconverter. Shooting in good light will be even more important and you may have to set your XT to a higher ISO setting to compensate for the reduced speed of your lens.

Finally, release you're going to lose auto-focusing capabilities as well. Although you have compatibility with the 70-300mm, your Rebel, and either the 1.4x or 2.0x canon teleconverters, you'll be focusing manually. With a decent tripod and shooting your bird feeder at a fixed distance, that shouldn't be a big issue either.

Feel free to comment back about what you decide to do. It will benefit all the readers of the Canon Geek blog.


I hope this helps,
Bruce

p.s. I may be traveling along Rt. 1 through Bath on my way to a photo shoot in Acadia very soon.

p.p.s Some lenses will not accept teleconverters because of the protrusion on the teleconverters coming into contact with the lens elements on the camera end. This is particularly true with NON-telephoto focal length lenses.

Canon1.4x Teleconverter With Mirrorless EF Adaptor Compatibility

by John Cornwell
(WV new river)

"Wondering if a 1.4x teleconverter would work using an M 6 mark II mirrorless camera with an ef converter and a 70-200 ef lens."

Hi John,

Although I have no personal experience with combining an EF adapter for Canon M mirrorless and a 70-200mm lens, I believe it will work. Of course, the only way you'll know how well the adapter, the 1.4x tele-converter and the 70-200 lens will work together is to try it.

I've been disappointed with the sharpness that comes along with using a tele-converter in my own experiences, so I am biased against using them, particularly with today's high resolution cameras.

Perhaps one of our fellow readers can comment on this.
Thanks,
Bruce

My Test of The Canon 1.4X Tele-extender.
Canon Mirrorless Comparison.

2x Telephoto Converter
For Canon EF 75-300MM III

by Tim Kurtz
(Tampa, FL)

What 2x telephoto converter will work on my canon zoom lens EF 75-300mm 1:4-5.6 III?

Hi Tim!

Thanks for your question about the compatibility of teleconverters with the Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-f/5.6 III lens. There is not teleconverter that will work with your 75-300 lens.

Look at the photo above. Teleconverters have a protruding lens element. The 75-300 lens does not have an indent in the lens barrel that will allow a teleconverter to attach.

The 1.4X and 2X teleconverters are a popular way to get extra magnification when photographing distant subjects, rather than buying a bigger, heavier, more expensive telephoto.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of teleconverters. With the tests I've done, I get better image quality by using a telephoto lens without the teleconverter and then cropping closer with software. See my comparison post on this topic here.

Some folks are happy with the image quality they get with teleconverters and appreciate the simplicity of not having to crop images from their cameras.

Good luck,
Bruce

Canon 70D, 70-200mm f/2.8 Zoom Lens With 1.4 Teleconverter

by Bob T.
(Chillicothe, Ohio)

"I am taking a trip to Alaska and will be taking pictures of wildlife (think brown bear). I have a canon 70D and will be using a canon 2.8 70-200 lens with a 1.4 teleconverter. I am an amateur photographer and am not sure as to the best way to compensate for the one stop drop in aperture while using auto focus. Can you help?"

Bob T.

Hi Bob!

Thanks for asking about shooting with a Canon 1.4/x Teleconverter and a Canon 70-200nn f/2.8 lens. You're going to have a blast and I hope you get some great wildlife photos. I've only been to Alaska once, but was fortunate to be able to get a few brown bear photos, as well as moose, eagles, mountain goats etc. with my 400mm f/5.6

You definitely should read the results of the test I did using the Canon 1.4x teleconverter and my copy of the 70-200mm f/2.8: Teleconverter Test. You might want to do do your own test, comparing with and without sharpness of using your copy of the teleconverter with your 70-200mm lens before you take your trip. Results can vary with individual lenses, so the only real way to know is to experiment with your specific lenses.

Teleconverter And 70-200mm Compatibility

The good news is that the EF1.4x extender is fully compatible with your 70D and the EF 70-200mm lens. That means your auto-exposure and autofocusing will work fine. Since the 70-200 lens is a "fast" lens with a nice wide open aperture, the challenges you have with the 1 stop loss of light won't be that tough.

It all depends on the specific situation you're in when photographing the bears and other wildlife what exposure settings you'll use.

Good luck, Bob, and I hope you'll be able to share some of the photos you get with the Canon Camera Geek readers!

Bruce

Compatibility With 70-300mm lens test

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