Crop Sensor camera vs. Full Frame with an extender questions: Hi: I have a canon 5D m4, and a 80D. My Question is to gain more reach with my canon 100-400 11 lens would I be better off...

Mr.Ft Loc: Central New Jersey

Hi:
I have a canon 5D m4, and a 80D. My Question is to gain more reach with my canon 100-400 11 lens would I be better off using my 5D M4 with a 1.4 111 extender or my 80D.

Thanks
Tom

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

I'd go with the 80D and skip the intermediary piece of glass.

Now you just whacked a hornet's nest with a ball bat -- run.

Joe

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Ysarex wrote:

I'd go with the 80D and skip the intermediary piece of glass.

Now you just whacked a hornet's nest with a ball bat -- run.

Joe

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

Mr.Ft wrote:

Hi:
I have a canon 5D m4, and a 80D. My Question is to gain more reach with my canon 100-400 11 lens would I be better off using my 5D M4 with a 1.4 111 extender or my 80D.

Thanks
Tom

Try all the iterations - m4, 80d, and each with the 1.4 - and see what works for you. As you get more reach you'll find it harder to hand hold. Cropping is a given, and you can crop more with the m4.

Here is a friend's website. She uses an m3 and m4 and 100-400 II - with and without a 1.4X.

https://untamednewyork.smugmug.com/Birds

You'll quickly realize from her images that good post processing, patience while shooting, studying the subject's habits and investing the time necessary to get great shots are all far more important than reach.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

What I can tell you is that if you look at the MTF charts of the 100-400L MKII with and without the Canon 1.4 EX (MKII or MKIII) extender, there is only a small (~5%) hit on sharpness with the extender vs without. A lot depends on how much, if any you need to crop (30.4MP vs 24.2MP) and if you’re shooting at higher ISOs where the full frame will outperform the crop in terms of noise. A quick test should not only answer your question, but provide good data for a future post.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Trade in or sell your 80D and get a 90D.

Peterfiore Loc: Where DR goes south

Ysarex wrote:

I'd go with the 80D and skip the intermediary piece of glass.

Now you just whacked a hornet's nest with a ball bat -- run.

Joe

BBBZZ BBBZZZ BBzzzz Bzzzzzz.......................................................................bBZZZZZzz OUCH!

RichardSM Loc: Back in Texas

rmorrison1116 wrote:

Trade in or sell your 80D and get a 90D.

What a stupid reply? Shame on you...

Blair Shaw Jr Loc: Dunnellon,Florida

rmorrison1116 wrote:

Trade in or sell your 80D and get a 90D.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

RichardSM wrote:

What a stupid reply? Shame on you...

It's not as stupid as you think, if you take the time to really think about it, which obviously you did not. The 90D has higher resolution than both the 5DIV and 80D making it a far better candidate for cropping. Shame on you for being so narrow minded.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Blair Shaw Jr wrote:

Thank you, I'm glad someone understands the relationship between higher resolution and cropping.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

rmorrison1116 wrote:

Thank you, I'm glad someone understands the relationship between higher resolution and cropping.

That’s a well taken point although not sure that I’d trade the 2.1 extra MP of the 90D for the larger pixels of the 5D4 as the cropping makes any noise more noticeable and the 5D4 is better in that respect. The 90D’s 32 MP vs the 80D’s 24 is certainly substantial however.

bweber Loc: Newton, MA

I would use the crop sensor camera. You will increase the reach of the lens to 160 - 640. This is a little longer than the 1.4 extender. That camera has a sharp crop sensor. In addition, when you add the 1.4 extender you reduce the minimum aperture to 6.3 - 7.8. I am not certain that lens will focus at 7.8. You may have to manually focus it.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

bweber wrote:

I would use the crop sensor camera. You will increase the reach of the lens to 160 - 640. This is a little longer than the 1.4 extender. That camera has a sharp crop sensor. In addition, when you add the 1.4 extender you reduce the minimum aperture to 6.3 - 7.8. I am not certain that lens will focus at 7.8. You may have to manually focus it.

The 5D4 will AF at f8. I use this combination and it auto focuses fine (and quickly) even in low light).

one_eyed_pete Loc: Colonie NY

bweber wrote:

I would use the crop sensor camera. You will increase the reach of the lens to 160 - 640. This is a little longer than the 1.4 extender. That camera has a sharp crop sensor. In addition, when you add the 1.4 extender you reduce the minimum aperture to 6.3 - 7.8. I am not certain that lens will focus at 7.8. You may have to manually focus it.

My 80D autofocuses fine with the 100-400L plus the 1.4X at 400 but not with a 2x.