Introduction

This page is focused on looking at the Canon options for achieving longer focal lengths. The investigation is limited to Canon’s own lenses for quality and compatibility reasons, although third party possibilities are mentioned.

The main constraint in this study is cost. Long lenses of any quality are expensive, possibly very expensive.

Typical applications for these lenses would be sport and wildlife and possibly some specialist landscape work.

Generally for wildlife work in particular the lenses need to be as long and fast as possible so only prime lenses are studied.

Canon produce teleconverters that are specially matched to their L-series telephoto lenses including MTF data for each combination in their Eyes of EOS III book. See this information for background on MTF data. An EXEL Spreadsheet is used to produce the plots and this is downloadable here.

In this study lenses of about £1000 are considered affordable but two slightly more expensive lenses of over £3000 are also looked at.

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Overview

This section tabulates various lens information in a convenient way.

The following two tables list the basic information regarding the lenses and teleconverters, the two expensive lenses are highlighted in red.

Some of the lenses have image stabilization. Some have IS mode 2 (for panning) and some are tripod compatible (this seems to just mean they turn themselves off so perhaps is not too important). The Canon literature seems to suggest that IS has benefits with monopods (See test here) also but it is not clear if all lenses have a stable IS control loop for monopods.

Make	Model	Dia mm	Length mm	Volume mm^3	Mass g	Filter Size	FE Rotation	Focusing	IS Mode 2/Tripod OK	Tests
CANON	EF 200mm f/2.8 L USM MK2	83.2	136.2	740481	765	72mm	AN	RFS	N/A	[1] [2] [3] [3 1.4X] [3 2X a] [3 2X b]
CANON	EF 300mm IS f2.8L USM	128.0	252.0	3242727	2550	52mm Drop-in	N	IFS	?/?	[1] [2] [2 1.4X]
CANON	EF 300mm f4L IS USM	90.0	221.0	1405941	1190	77mm	N	RFS	Y/?	[1] [2] [3] [4] [4 1.4X] [5] [5 1.4X]
CANON	EF 400mm f4 DO IS USM	128.0	232.7	2994375	1940	52mm Drop-In	N	IFS	?/?	[1]
CANON	EF 400mm f5.6L USM	90.0	256.5	1631782	1250	77mm	N	IFS	N/A	[1] [2] [3]
CANON	EF 500mm f/4L IS USM	146.0	387.0	6478979	3870	52mm Drop-In	N	IFS	?/?
CANON	EF 1.4X II	72.8	27.2	113220	220	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	[1] [2] [3]
CANON	EF 2X II	71.8	57.9	234432	265	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	[1] [2a] [2b]

Make	Model	AF Actuator	FTMF	Distance Scale	DOF Scale	Zoom Control	Max Mag	Closest Focus M	Apr 05 Price UOS
CANON	EF 200mm f/2.8 L USM MK2	USM	Y	Y	Y	N/A	0.16	1.5	£529
CANON	EF 300mm IS f2.8L USM	USM	Y	Y	Y	N/A	0.13	2.5	£3,249
CANON	EF 300mm f4L IS USM	USM	Y	Y	N	N/A	0.24	1.5	£949
CANON	EF 400mm f4 DO IS USM	USM	Y?	Y	N	N/A	0.12	3.5	£3,799
CANON	EF 400mm f5.6L USM	USM	Y	Y	Y	N/A	0.12	3.5	£899
CANON	EF 500mm f/4L IS USM	USM	Y	Y	Y	N/A	0.12	4.5	£4499 (02/07)
CANON	EF 1.4X II	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	£239
CANON	EF 2X II	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	£239

Y? Canon data is contradictory.

The following table list the physical and cost characteristics for lens and teleconverter combinations.

	Total Length			Total Mass			Total Cost
Lens/Converter	None	1.4X	2X	None	1.4X	2X	None	1.4X	2X
EF 200mm f/2.8 L USM MK2	136.2	163.4	194.1	765	985	1030	£529	£768	£768
EF 300mm IS f2.8L USM	252.0	279.2	309.9	2550	2770	2815	£3,249	£3,488	£3,488
EF 300mm f4L IS USM	221.0	248.2	278.9	1190	1410	1455	£949	£1,188	£1,188
EF 400mm f4 DO IS USM	232.7	259.9	290.6	1940	2160	2205	£3,799	£4,038	£4,038
EF 400mm f5.6L USM	256.5	283.7	314.4	1250	1470	1515	£899	£1,138	£1,138

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Independent Options

The Sigma 300mm f2.8 EX APO HSM is a cheaper option fast long lens that has at least one positive review and has matched teleconverters available. Some say that Sigma lenses sometimes have compatibility issues with new Canon bodies. Also Sigma do not publish MTF data so an objective comparison of even manufactures data is not available.

Make	Model	Dia mm	Length mm	Volume mm^3	Mass g	Filter Size	FE Rotation	Focusing	IS Mode 2/Tripod OK
Sigma	300mm f2.8 EX APO HSM	119	214	2380100	2400	46mm Rear	?	?	N/A
Sigma	2x EX Apo	68.5	52	191630	243	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Sigma	1.4x EX Apo	68.5	19.5	71863	143	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Make	Model	AF Actuator	FTMF	Distance Scale	DOF Scale	Zoom Control	Max Mag	Closest Focus M	Apr 05 Price
Sigma	300mm f2.8 EX APO HSM	HSM	?	Y	?	N/A	0.13	0.2	£1499
Sigma	2x EX Apo	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	£169
Sigma	1.4x EX Apo	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	£139

Usage

The following table lists the basic effective lens performance with and without teleconverters.

Where the converted maximum aperture falls below f5.6 autofocus will no longer be possible on Canon bodies such as the 20D, these are marked in green. Some Canon professional bodies may provide autofocus down to f8.

The stopped down columns refer to the less that maximum aperture MTF trace in the Canon MTF plots. Thus listed is the converted stopped down aperture that Canon quote in the plots; the effective set aperture on the lens (this converted aperture will appear in the viewfinder); and by how many stops from maximum aperture this trace is.

The closest focus is assumed to be unchanged by the teleconverter (should be a safe assumption), so the maximum magnification for the lens is then multiplied by the conversion factor.

Lens + Converter	Focal Length	Conv Factor	loss # stops	Eff Focal Length	Natural Max Ap	Conv Max Ap	Stopped Down Conv Ap	Stopped Down Set Ap	Stopped Down By	Max Mag	Closest Focus M
EF 200mm f2.8L II USM + 1.4X	200	1.4	1.0	280	2.8	3.9	8	5.7	2.1	0.224	1.5