oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

The lens will be what ever it is marked. Your camera is an APS-C (crop sensor) camera so a 300mm lens will appear to be larger but it is still going to be a 300mm lens.

The OP appears to be fairly new to photography so lets not go driving him/her nuts.

I will caution about one thing though. Is there a chance or are you thinking about getting a full frame (FF) camera in the future? If so then look at EF lenses, not the EF-S lenses. EF-S lenses will not fit on a FF camera, but EF lenses will fit on both types.

Jim D

davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

Canon used to make a 1200mm lens. There may be a few available on the used market. Would 1200mms get you close enough? :lol: :lol: :lol:

Bill Emmett Loc: Bow, New Hampshire

Your camera is a cropped sensor camera. Talking telephoto lenses, and the crop factor of 1.6 is a bit confusing to a new photographer. When you multiply the actual lens millimeter by 1.6 you are NOT gaining any telephoto value. This means if you are using a 100mm lens you will not gain more magnification of the subject. You will however gain a greater angle of view. Think of the size of a dime as your view of a bird on a perch 25 yards away. You will see the bird, large in your viewfinder or screen and foliage surrounding the bird. Now, place a quarter under the dime size image. The size of the image does not change, but the angle of view changes by 1.6, which will allow more of the surrounding foliage to become visible in your photo, or view finder. Now, by adding a lens multiplyer, or converter between the camera body, and lens, this device will multiply the millimeter value of the lens by the value of the converter. The converter, which contains lenses will amplify the the size of your subject by the value of the converter. Just by the fact these converters contain lenses , there will be a loss of image quality, and possible "f" stops, depending on the quality of the converter. The actual speed of the lens, or lowest "f" stop will have no bearing on the crop factor, nor the use of a converter. With exception, if the amount of light requires a faster "f" stop. If this is the case, you will have to adjust your ISO to a higher value. I hope this clears up your conception of the crop factor, and telephoto images on your T4i. This situation does not just effect your camera, but all cropped sensor cameras, and not only Canon products. In some brands the factor is different, it just depends on the sensor in the camera.

oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

Bill,

Now even I am confused! LOL!

Just kidding, but we are getting way off topic now.

Jim D

Hunter Lou 1947 Loc: Minnesota

ole sarg Loc: south florida

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rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Is there a noticeable difference between the quality of a picture when you use a 2X converter between the camera and the lens and when you use a 2X converter which screws onto the end of the lens as a filter would?

Lupita Loc: Mexico

/////thank to you so much I found your info very usefull I truly appreciate it!

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Yes....but not necessarily a deal breaking difference in some applications.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Forget the 2X teleconverter... Your camera will not be able to autofocus with it on any lens with less than f2.8 fixed aperture (i.e., 70-200/2.8 IS Mark II for $2000+). The lenses being discussed on your camera will not be able to AF, your viewfinder will be dimmed down making it difficult to focus manually, and image quality will be compromised noticeably (how much depends upon which 2X and which lens.

A 500mm lens is a massively long focal length on a T4i. 600mm is ridiculously long and 1200mm is just plain silly (and costs over $100,000 used). Even with image stabilization (Canon IS, Tamron VC, Sigma OS) it's difficult to get a steady shot and you may want a tripod or at least a monopod. For a good tripod, figure at least $200, though much better ones for big, long lens shooting can run close to $1000 and a gimbal head for it will set you back another $500.

We still have no idea what you want to shoot, your budget or much of anything else, so it's pretty hard to recommend a lens.

If you just want a budget lens that gives you somewhat more reach, it's hard to beat the Canon EF-S 55-250mm for the money. The currently available "Mark II" and "Mark II STM" versions of it are fine optically and the STM version has upgraded focus performance, too. They cost around $200 and $250, respectively. These would be fine for many purposes.

Canon also offers a very good EF 70-300 IS USM that sells for around $650. (Note: NOT the EF 75-300, that sells for under $200... it just isn't a particularly a good lens, either of the 55-250s is much better optically.) There are also the more compact 70-300 "DO" IS USM for around $1400 and the premium 70-300L IS USM for around $1600. The latter is a fairly large and heavy lens.

300mm is "enough reach" for many sporting events and much wildlife photography. Though I have longer lenses and teleconverters available, 300mm often the longest focal length I use, personally (on cameras with identical "crop" effect as your T4i).

Another pro grade lens is the Canon EF 70-200. There are four versions of these, but I recommend the two with IS to help keep handheld shots steady. Those are the smaller and lighter 70-200mm f4L IS USM for around $1350, or the 70-200/2.8L IS USM "Mark II" currently on sale for $2300. The Canon 70-200s are real "workhorses". You won't find many pro Canon shooters who don't have one or the other in their kit. The 70-200s can be used with teleconverters... though I'd recommend no more than a 1.4X in most cases, for best image quality and autofocus performance. A quality 1.4X teleconverter costs between $250 and $450.

Not a lot larger than a 70-200/2.8, the Canon EF 100-400L IS USM is popular for some types of shooting.... it's a push/pull zoom, which folks really like for birds-in-flight, airshows and similar. It can be used with a 1.4X teleconverter on some Canon cameras (1D series, 5D Mark III, EOS-3 film camera), but not on your T4i.

One of the most affordable lenses longer than 300mm is the Sigma 120-400mm OS HSM. It sells for $900 currently. It's a large lens, but not as large and heavy as some of the others. On your (and my) camera, this is plenty of focal length even to shoot the deep outfield action on a baseball field.

The Tamron 150-600mm VC HSD is another fairly affordable telephoto lens, presently costing $1070. You might want this long a focal length for small, distant birds, for example. I can see where it might be ideal for a safari, too... where you may be limited to shooting from a vehicle.

Do go to a store and handle these lenses, don't buy sight unseen. Some of them are pretty large & heavy, and may be more than you are willing to haul around.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

I have an older Tamron 18-270mm lens which I have used with a Rebel XT (an ancient ancestor of the T4i), and I have a Vivitar "2.2X professional telephoto lens" which screws onto the end of the Tamron lens as a filter would and essentially doubles the effective length of the Tamron lens. I cannot speak to other combinations. What I can say is that when I use this combination under relatively bright conditions, the aperture setting does not noticeably change and the lens does continue to focus as well as it did before (taking into account, for example, that when trying to take a picture of a bird, the camera may want to focus on something else in the frame)

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Sorry, there is no and never was a tilt version of that lens and there will never be one and by the way, the Canon 70-200/2.8 does also focus to 3 feet (at least the latest version).

Citation Loc: Texas

OK, Lupita, glad it helped. I forgot to mention that you should invest in a full frame lens that will also work on an APS-C. Both lenses I recommended will do that. If you don't yet have a full-frame camera, you probably will in the future.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

I would suggest trying the Canon 100-400L lens.

watchcow Loc: Moore, Oklahoma

My apologies for using American slang. "Full tilt" is a common expression referring to moving very quickly, or something with every possible feature, similar to: fully loaded, decked out, tricked out, or balls to the wall. Not in reference to a lens whose optical axis can be moved to achieve a plane of focus that is not parallel to the film plane. aka: scheimpflug principle.

I have a Nikon 70-200 vr and it focuses to about 5 feet unless I add an extension tube to it. Either way, the cheap Tamron 70-300 does it for a couple hundred bucks at just over a pound, when the Canon 70-200/2.8 does it for a mere $2300 and about 3 pounds to lug around.