tcthome Loc: NJ

Beautiful photo!

photoman43

I use a Nikon 1.4x tc with my Nikon 500mm f5.6 pf lens quite often on my D500 and sometimes on my D850.. Best practice is to use a tripod when the tc is added to the lens as shooting technique becomes very important. For AF to work correctly there has to be enough light present as lens become f8 with a 1.4x tc added to it.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

You don't need to change brands and learn a new system or try to use two different systems side by side. There are several options where you can continue using Canon gear.

Maybe it's time to "trade up" to a mirrorless camera...

Canon R6 (20MP) or R5 (45MP) would be the most ideal, with the latest and greatest AF system.

The biggest advantage will be lens selection... RF 100-500mm is actually smaller, lighter than the EF 100-400mm. It's also usable with RF 1.4X teleconverter with little effect on AF performance.

Or, there are the RF 600mm f/11 and RF 800mm f/11 lenses. These are unusual... Very compact, light and hand-holdable. Compare the 800mm lens' 2 lb. weight... 1/4 the weight of your 500mm! The 600mm is even a little lighter. AND they even collapse for storage in a smaller space. And they're VERY affordable (600mm: $700, 800mm: $900). Limitations include that both these lenses' apertures are fixed. Not sure of their use with a teleconverter, either... but may not need one with an 800mm focal length!

The "problem" will be the entry fee... the cost of the camera to get started in the R-series. The R6 costs $2500 body only, $3600 with an RF 24-105L lens. The R5 costs $3900 body only, $5000 with that same 24-105L lens.

Not everyone considers going from DSLR to mirrorless to be "trading up". While there's lots of good stuff, such as...
- AF system that covers the entire image area with face detection, eye detection (people, animals, birds)
- Electronic viewfinder (EVF) with exposure preview and more.
- Better IS because the R6 and R5 both now have in body IS that works in conjunction with lens IS.
There are also some negatives...
- Price, price and price
- Limited lens selection, so far (more are being added, plus EF lenses can be used via an adapter)
- Far fewer shots per battery charge (primarily due to the EVF)

Some more affordable options. Ditch the full frame 5D Mark III (22MP) and buy an APS-C camera...

- 90D (32.5MP): $1100 body only, $1600 with EF-S 18-135mm lens. An APS-C camera is like getting a "free" 1.6X teleconverter with every lens in your bag. Great for telephotos, not so great with wide angles (keep the 5D to use with those). PLUS, with 90D you get much more resolution AND up to 11 frames per second shooting speed. AND, the 45-point AF system is among Canon's most up-to-date among their DSLRs... all 45 of those points are the higher performance "dual axis/cross type", where at most 41 of your 5D's are. The 90D has an articulated "touchscreen" LCD on the back and uses a single SD memory card.

- 7D Mark II (20MP): $1400 body only, $1800 with EF-S 18-135mm lens. Another APS-C camera giving you that free 1.6X TC effect. Slightly lower total resolution than your 5DIII, but thanks to the smaller sensor it "puts far more pixels on target" (if you were to crop your 5DIII's images down to APS-C size, you'd be left with about 9MP... half the resolution of the 7DII). The 7DII is a more robust, "pro-oriented" model than the 90D.... metal instead of plastic, 200K rated shutter vs 120K. While it's an older model, the 7DII's AF system is arguably superior in some ways, too. It's unique among Canon DSLRs... 65-point, all cross type. And, like 1D-series cameras, the 7DII uses dual processors plus a discrete chip dedicated to just the AF system. (Note: Some users feel the earlier 18MP 7D with it's 19-point AF is even faster... But having used both cameras A LOT, I see little to no difference in speed.) The 7DII's rear LCD screen is fixed and isn't a touchscreen (same as 5DIII's). It has two memory card slots: one SD and one CompactFlash. The 7DII doesn't have built-in WiFi (90D does), but Canon offers a W-E1 module that fits into the SD memory card slot. 7DII has a large 1.0X, 100% coverage viewfinder (90D's is very good with 0.95X, 100%).

For use with the above APS-C cameras, get yourself an EF 100-400mm L IS "II" ($2400). It's a superb zoom that's much smaller than and less than half the weight of your 500mm. I've shot with one hand-held nearly non-stop for 6 to 8 hours, at times. And on the APS-C cameras, that 100-400mm II will "act like a 160-640mm" would on your 5DIII (if such a lens actually existed). That's almost as good as adding a 1.4X to your 5DIII and 500mm (effective 700mm).

However, if it's not enough on its own, the 100-400mm also works extremely well with Canon EF 1.4X II (discontinued, used about $200-$250) or EF 1.4X III ($429). On APS-C, this combo would be equivalent to almost 225-900mm on your 5DIII. The 90D can focus the 100-400 II and 1.4X III with 27 AF points. On the older 7DII, it's limited to the center AF point only. (This due to the stop of light lost when the 1.4X is added, making the 100-400mm "f/8", where it's f/5.6 without the TC).

You mention BIF and my favorite lens for that is EF 300mm f/4L IS. It's an older lens, but eminently hand holdable (a little smaller and lighter than even the 100-400 II), fast focusing, with fairly good IS... even though it's an old lens (the earliest IS lens that's still in production, I think it was intro'd around 1996 or so).

I have and use EF 500mm f/4L IS too.... and that's a truly superb lens, aside from it's size, weight and price. I can tell you that the 100-400mm II comes surprisingly close to the prime's image quality. Even with a 1.4X! Probably the most notable difference with the 100-400 II alone is that it doesn't have as strong and smooth background blur effect at some distances. That's just because it's an f/5.6 lens and a shorter focal length. However, it's sharp where you want it to be, has great color rendition, reasonably fast AF, quite effective IS and especially with a 1.4X can deliver pretty strong background blurs.

Okay, you may want to keep the 5DIII and just get an APS-C camera to use alongside it. I can tell you from experience that the 7D-series cameras pair up nicely with 5D-series, because they have similar size and ergonomics, as well as control layout, menu, etc. They also share batteries, chargers, memory cards, flashes and other accessories.

Below are a couple bird photos done with 100-400mm II (both on 7DII). The first is the lens alone, right near 400mm. The second image is not the greatest, but shows what the lens plus 1.4X II can do.

Whoops! I mixed those up. Both the first and second images are done with the 1.4X, but zoomed to different focal lengths. I'm adding a third image that's not the greatest shot, but was done around the same time with the lens alone and can serve for comparison.

EF 100-400mm II with 1.4X II, 560mm

(Download)

EF 100-400mm II with 1.4X II, 450mm

(Download)

EF 100-400mm II, no TC, 400mm

(Download)

alphadog

E

Thank you for your input and information. I do a fair amount of BIF and when I used a Nikon 500 f4 IS had the same issue with slower capture speed w/1.4 TC ... I think that the D850 likely helps a great deal on the crop. I think all TCs slow capture some, less on perfect blue sky days than the more common mixed cloud/busy background captures... at this point, I am wondering what advantages the Z7II has over the D850?

alphadog

Thank you for response and information. I did see several arguments comparing the D500 v D800 bodies... both work well, one is a little better at lower ISOs... my issue with the D500 is the smaller sensor, mbs and ultimate image quality... I prefer larger sensors, more mbs, richer images...

thanks again, am weighing all the possibilities... the cheapest fix is to get the 500f5.6 + TC1.4x and keep the 800e I already own,,,

alphadog

AM...

Wow that was very kind of you to summarize all the options nicely with prices and comments.

I love the heavy 500mm f4L ... and you have reinforced much about the alternative lenses and bodies.

The cost factor, for me, is always a presence, not being a pro... while I can see now, the future is likely mirrorless systems, the cost of change NOW is the big question. I am praying daily for direction and inputting the information more experienced and skilled photographers are sharing...

Thanks again for sharing.. kind regards, Richard

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Have you ever seen a positive comparison of the D500 to an EOS 5DIII?

alphadog

Too small of the sensor, too few MPs ...so the crop of the image will be limited and the richness of the image diminished...but thanks for your suggestion... I do know some prefer the D500, I own a 800e already and IF I am upgrading likely to move to D850 or Z7II

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

If you stay with full frame you will have to stay with BIG lenses ......or CROP - a lot .......
.

jefrid

I also use a D500 with 500mm f/5.6PF, and 1.4TC mostly for birding. I do not like the loss of a stop with the TC, but the images are pretty good. I prefer the lens w/o the TC. The images are better and the exposure is easier to handle in low light situations. I had a Nikon 200 - 500 before I purchased the 500 5.6 PF. I am very happy with the lighter lens, but do occasionally miss the Zoom feature especially for larger BIF.

alphadog

Thanks for your sharing and comments.
I owned the 200 500 lens, which I returned for the 300 f4, which was MUCH sharper...

The issue at hand on your system is MPs and sensor captures... you can not crop as much, and the onboard processor is not great... I have found the better qualities bodies will have larger MPs, which allow for much greater cropping, plus the processors will handle lower light, higher isos, particularly IF used with Topaz DeNoise software.

I am concerned about the speed of the 500 f5.6 w/1/4x aboard... I usually don't shoot in very low light much.. mostly shoot f7.1 range, auto iso on my Canon 5DmkIII, but I have a Nikon 800e which I used before with a Nikon 500f4 Is until the lens broke down... so I switched to the canon system ... as I stated, my issue here is the weight of the rig, particularly when handheld... I think the 500 f5.6 would work better with the D850 or better body...

Thank you again for response and comments, regards, Richard

mundy-F2 Loc: Chicago suburban area

Alan,
Great pictures and thank you for the information.
Mundy

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

See the review by Steve Perry of Back Country Gallery. He's a member here and a great professional wildlife photographer, photography teacher, photography author.

alphadog

I am using a Canon 5DmkIII
with 500mm f4 L lens + 1.4x

The question is how will the results compare IF
I go R5 + 100 500mm + whatever TC it will take at 500mm range?
most of my bird images are shot at 7.1 to get full body details

My concerns are SHARPNESS compared to the L lens, I know the R5 has more mbs and may be lighter as well?

thanks

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

an old Nikon thread is probably not the place to add an unrelated question about Canon EOS technology ...