1.4x extender: I recently purchased the Tamron 100-400mm lens for my Canon 5D4 and am looking into purchasing a 1.4x extender for it. Tamron makes a 1.4x extender which should...

jws

I recently purchased the Tamron 100-400mm lens for my Canon 5D4 and am looking into purchasing a 1.4x extender for it. Tamron makes a 1.4x extender which should logically be the one to get however, Canon's 1.4x extender is considerably less expensive (ya, that surprised me too!). I was wondering if anyone has tried both of these and has an opinion as to which one I should consider. I would prefer to not kick out the extra bucks for the Tamron but if there is that much of a difference, maybe I should spend the bucks.

Thanks for any and all opinions.

Bill_de Loc: US

Unless I'm reading this wrong (it happens) the latest Canon is $10 more than the Tamron.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=canon%201.4%20extender&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=

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jws

In Calgary here, the Tamron is $750.00 CAD and the Canon is $580.00CAD. Perhaps I should be checking online🤔.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

jws wrote:

I recently purchased the Tamron 100-400mm lens for... (show quote)

It is my experience (with an 80D) that you must have a Canon lens and a Canon extender to AF @ f8.

It is also my experience that if ANY extender physically fits (and I doubt that either the Canon or Tamron will) and happens to actually try to AF, it will be at f9 - where focusing will be very erratic - IMO.

Surprising to me, this review - https://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Tamron-100-400mm-f-4.5-6.3-Di-VC-USD-Lens.aspx claims that the Tamron extender fits and does ATTEMPT to AF thru the prism finder. Af is no problem in using the LCD (live view).
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robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

jws wrote:

I recently purchased the Tamron 100-400mm lens for... (show quote)

Check very carefully about fit, that Canon 1.4x was designed for a limited number of Canon lenses.

I you want a less expensive extender that is made to fit almost all lenses then look at the Kenko brand.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

robertjerl wrote:

Check very carefully about fit, that Canon 1.4x was designed for a limited number of Canon lenses.

I you want a less expensive extender that is made to fit almost all lenses then look at the Kenko brand.

Agree. I would tread lightly with any expectations that a Canon Extender will work acceptably with any lens other than the specific Canon L lenses for which it was designed. The OP would be better served by using the teleconverter made by his lens manufacturer, in this case, Tamron.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

I have Canon, Kenko, Sigma and Tamron teleconverters, and a couple Nikon teleconverters also. The teleconverter on my EF 100-400L II is the Canon 1.4X III. I don't understand why the Tamron teleconverters are so expensive as they are optically no better than Canon's. I found the Sigma teleconverters to work quite well, especially on my Sigma 150-600 lenses. I've also found that for the money, the Kenko teleconverters are hard to beat. If you want quality at a reasonable cost, go with Kenko. I personally don't believe the overpriced Tamron teleconverters are worth the extra money.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

jws wrote:

I recently purchased the Tamron 100-400mm lens for... (show quote)

Get the Tamron one.
It is matched to the Tamron lenses.
The Canon one is matched to the Canon specific lenses.
Yes, mixed it should work either way but not optimally.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

jws wrote:

I recently purchased the Tamron 100-400mm lens for... (show quote)

Tele extenders are meant to be used on fast, prime lenses, and a very small number of fast zooms (70-200 F2.8, 200-400 F4, 180-400 F4, etc). If you can get one to physically connect and work on an F6.3 lens, you AF performance will suffer. The cheapest way to get to 600mm these days is with a 150-600mm lens without taking a crippling performance hit on AF.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

Be careful with teleconverters. Had a problem once with a Tamron lens where our Nikon teleconverter wouldn't work so ended up buying the Tamron 1.4. Recommended to a friend doing the same thing to purchase the same Tamron 1.4, which they did but it didn't fit. I went down to the local shop and found that Tamron has two 1.4's - a Mk 1 and Mk 2. They were physically different and the newer lens had a glass element that interfered with the lens. I managed to find a used Mk 1 1.4 that solved her problem.
So be very careful buying.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Gene51 wrote:

Tele extenders are meant to be used on fast, prime lenses, and a very small number of fast zooms (70-200 F2.8, 200-400 F4, 180-400 F4, etc). If you can get one to physically connect and work on an F6.3 lens, you AF performance will suffer. The cheapest way to get to 600mm these days is with a 150-600mm lens without taking a crippling performance hit on AF.

Depends on the manufacturer.
Canon 100-400 mm is not "fast" by any means but teleconverters work incredibly with it.
Don't know about other makes as they perhaps do have problems.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

jws wrote:

I recently purchased the Tamron 100-400mm lens for... (show quote)

NO extender(teleconvertor) improves image quality, this statement gets worse on zoom lenses, and gets worse on telephoto zoom lenses, and gets worse on third party glass like yours.
My advice, stay away, the Tamron 100-400 is suspect on image quality already at 400 mm, it will only get worse with a extender.

WJShaheen Loc: Gold Canyon, AZ

robertjerl wrote:

Check very carefully about fit, that Canon 1.4x was designed for a limited number of Canon lenses.

I you want a less expensive extender that is made to fit almost all lenses then look at the Kenko brand.

Concur wholeheartedly. I have their 1.4x "Kenko Teleplus PRO 300 DGX 1.4x AF Teleconverter" and it mates well to my camera and lenses.

jws

Thank you for all the thoughtful replies! It definately gives me lots to think about🙂🤔

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

billnikon wrote:

NO extender(teleconvertor) improves image quality, this statement gets worse on zoom lenses, and gets worse on telephoto zoom lenses, and gets worse on third party glass like yours.
My advice, stay away, the Tamron 100-400 is suspect on image quality already at 400 mm, it will only get worse with a extender.

This is not an accurate statement, it depends greatly on the lens, the extender, and the camera body, I would gladly put my 300/mm with a 2X extender up against your 500mm.

Below is a substantial crop of an image of a Snowy Egret shot with the 300 and a 1.4x extender.

I will say that the OP needs to study extenders and make sure that they are compatible with the equipment he intends to use, too many people purchase extenders only to complain that they either don't work with their lenses or that their cameras won't autofocus with the extender because they did not understand the piece of equipment they were buying.

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