John Gerlach Loc: Island Park, Idaho

Crop Factor or Teleconverter?
I soon begin my “floating blind season” where I spend many mornings in the water photographing wildlife – mostly birds but last year I did muskrats and moose too. My camera gear has changed since 2020 and now I have more and better options. The eye focus on the Canon R5 will be superb for swimming birds – let the camera find the eye and compose the subject to best advantage. No longer must I move the AF point around to coincide with the bird’s face as it moves about and changes the composition.
Last year I used the Canon 600mm f/4 along with the Canon 1.4x teleconverter on the Canon 1DX Mark III. All were the latest models. This combination gave me an 840mm focal length. That extra reach is necessary for some of my more wary subjects.
This season I plan to use the Canon R5, 600mm lens with no teleconverter and when I need the reach, I have the 1.6x crop factor in the camera available to me to provide the field of view (FOV) of a 960mm lens. (600mm x 1.6 = 960). Since the sensor is some 45MPs, and the 1.6x crop is still a lot around 17MP, that seems like a reasonable tradeoff when I need the reach. I know some say there is no advantage in using the crop factor in the camera as you can crop in post, but there is one enormous advantage to me! When the 1.6x crop is set, the subject is much larger in the electronic viewfinder of the R5, and that helps me know when to actually shoot the images. With the duck, for example, large in the viewfinder, it is easier for me to see if it is looking slightly away from me or slightly toward me, whether its eye is open or not, if there is a distraction that would ruin the image, and when walking on the bank, how the feet are positioned. While I shoot a lot of images, I am quite careful when I shoot by watching the body position, background, and light carefully. Also, rather than using the teleconverter, using the crop factor keeps my lens at f/4, and not f/5.6 with the teleconverter. This is useful for low light floating blind photography where I am photographing in the fog before it burns off. (I always enter the water about ½ hour before sunrise, so I start with dim light.)
I will be running tests shortly and shooting thousands of new wildlife photos by using the 600mm with and without crop factor. Since I have not done this yet, I am wondering if anyone can offer something I have not considered. I know the file size is smaller with the 1.6x crop, but 17MP is large enough for my needs. It seems the image would be sharper by not using the teleconverter and losing some sharpness to that, plus being able to use f/4 and therefore more shutter speed or less ISO when needed. Any thoughts? And while I do make some prints, I do not anticipate making any larger than 13 x 20 and I think the 17MP file will handle that size.

From 2020. Now I will let the eye focus find the pelican eye, and if I need to make it larger in the viewfinder, I can use the crop factor.

(Download)

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

Great shot, John.

photoman43

John I will be interested in seeing the results of your tests. Do you plan any tests with the canon 800mm f11 lens?

John Gerlach Loc: Island Park, Idaho

If I had that lens, I would be trying it out. After the sun rises, there is plenty of light for the 800mm f/11, and with the 1.6x crop, that would be 1280 - oh my!

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

I have been using Sony's in camera pixel enlargement "Clear Image Zoom" for about 6 years now. There is much to be said for cropping and pixel enlargement vs tele-converter. The loss of ISO with TC is not as significant as it was with 6 years ago cameras - but, still can be a concern. When using CIZ on the cameras I have used, the image is enlarged just as if viewing with a longer lens - and this does aid in exact compositions.
17MP should do very well - but if needed, you could always use pixel enlargement software for larger printings. Heck, If cropping works well for you - you might be able to dial back/lighten the load of the 600 f4 to a 400 f4 DO II ! 8-)

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

I really like the low-angle perspective of this shot.

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

"...I really like the low-angle perspective of this shot..."
What kpmac said! Epic composition and gorgeous color harmonies...

I always try to shoot at eye level or lower for fashion and portraiture especially with the "Little Folks"
Adds an aura of nobility to the aesthetic...

Ok you've nail the stationary shot superbly...
Now take that to the next level John with the same subject in flight...
Not an easy task with the angle of view your hoping to shoot with.
I have a hard enough time with League Soccer Players at 600mm and they are moving in a horizontal plane.
BIF adds the third dimension to the mix mandating a Gimbal mount for sure...

"...I do not anticipate making any larger than 13 x 20 and I think the 17MP file will handle that size..."
No worries John... I've shot the Nikon D3 (12 megapixels) and printed client's sports imagery at 11x14.
BTW... The D3 has lots of Sports Illustrated Covers to it's credit... not a problem at 12 megapixels.
Just take care to control motion blur induced with either the camera/lens or subject movement...
Motion blur at 600mm it can be a real bear to handle.

Please keep posting on this fabulous journey John.
Your visual statement is stellar here...
So reminiscent of Canon's Explorers of Light image excellence...

All the best on your photographic journey...
Oh, not a fan of teleconverters... been there tried that and find it disappoints after becoming addicted to max acuity of the native optic... hope this helps...

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

John here is pretty much full camera resolution of the Nikon D3 at what I believe is close to 400mm captured with the "Budget" consumer grade AF-S 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR.
Thinking Canon's high end glass is likely far superior...

My take is if I can count eye lashes I'm good to print at 11x14...
Keep in mind that soccer players are rarely stationary...
Can't wait to see your results!
Please post back in this Thread so we all have those results in context.

Again hope this helps... love the download of your gorgeous waterfowl image John...
.

AF-S 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR on a Nikon D3 at full camera resolution

(Download)

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

John...the wildest creatures I typically shoot are moving trains and aircraft. I don't have to worry about eye focus for them. And I have a parallel situation to yours...whether to shoot using a D500 or a D850. With a given lens, results are essentially identical if the D850 image is cropped to DX format. The benefit I find is that "situational awareness" is much superior shooting moving subjects with the full frame camera. I can see more of what is going on around the subject, given the wider field of view, and after cropping, the results are identical. I realize that the tradeoff in doing that versus your choices is that without the EVF, I don't get the more detailed look at the cropped image. Of course, for trains and planes, that isn't a disadvantage, since they usually don't display fine expression elements, but capturing them before a signal bridge obscures them can be very important.

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

You'll need to test each combo - I've had lenses that couple well with a 1.4X TC, and others that did not. The nice thing is that when you are able to use a TC, you have the advantage of a little more freedom when cropping, and you get to choose how far to crop. There is a tradeoff between image quality and focal length, but with lenses that are really sharp wide open, the tradeoff is minimal, like 5%, which might make the TC a better deal than using a crop factor. Other lenses may not do as well, with a TC, making the results below your threshold for acceptable sharpness.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Canon primes and TC's couple very WELL ! .......

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

When presented with actual images vs internet statistics, they perform much better than other brands typically...

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

I use the Nikon D850 instead of a teleconverter. It will win every time. Yes, it really will.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

I do something like that myself on occassion (generally out of necessity). Was out yesterday trying out a Nikon 70-300 VR AF-P (that I had repaired the mount)...came across several wild turkeys behind my property - they are a wary group - no way to go back to the house for an equipment change without scaring them off, I had already been creeping around in the bushes, and I know they were aware. To get closer I did the following; 70-300 FOV of 450 on D7200, put in DX mode for a gain of 1.3X, pics looked real good (very steady shooting day for me), I had a Tamrom SP 1.4X TC I wanted to try during the shoot, so put that on and continued shooting.

This set gave me an FOV equal to 819mm in a pretty compact package: I normally shoot fully manual and float ISO up to 4000 in tracking wildlife due to quick lighting changes in the woods/under canopy, and the initial results were surprising (where I was steady, and either fast shutter speed, or slow with VR). Shooting at 1/1000 and up, and F7-F8 the camera/lens/TC combo did well. The shots taken with slow shutter and VR in operation also look good, I'll know better when I can compare in PP. Yes I can induce some shake/vibration if not "steadied", but in a pinch, this combo yielded some good pics that filled the frame, great colors, and sharpness that surprised me. YES there were some stinkers, but the combo worked, when I worked harder at it. It was a fun session. I think you be surprised by the yield with the best shots. I was also surprised at how well AF worked with the setup, I was expecting to have to manually focus, but the little plastic AF-P, old TC, and the magic of digital crop and extended FOV surprised me. The results were 15MP or better, according to the metadata.

BY the way, your rig sounds sweet!!!

I did a quick initial viewing in Nikon PP and looks like some great keepers, I'll try to come back on that when I've time to do some PP on the set, but several made me happy SOOC, on a 23" monitor.

I have done same with my Sony A58 and Clear Image Zoom/TC/zoom lens combos: it can be fruitful!

And for those who can't afford a big lens (like several I have in the armoire which did me no good in this episode) you can get some fine results with some combinations of equipment that many might pooh pooh.....you never know till you try it......especially if you don't have anything else with you.