Have you thought about buying
Canon's, RF extenders for
your mirrorless system, but
you are not sure whether it
would be a good investment?
I've recently purchased both
the RF 1.4 and 2x extenders
and extensively used them in
the field in combination with
both of my RF 100 to 500 and
RF 400 millimeter lenses.
In this video, I will list some
positive and negative aspects of my
experience using them, and I will
also tell you what to be aware of
before buying either one of them.
At the end of the video, I will
give you my opinion if RF extenders
are good investment, and I will
also give you my three top tips
of getting the best result using
extenders in general, whether these
be for DSLR or mirrorless systems.
My name is Charles Stols and I'm a
professional wildlife photographer
for Pangolin Photo Safaris.
My job is to help my clients
getting the best shots
while on Safari, including
advice on camera gear.
If you like to join our
growing community of wildlife
photography enthusiast.
Make sure to subscribe
to the channel so you
don't miss any new videos.
For those of you that are new
to the world of photography,
an extender, also known as
a teleconverter is a compact
device that fits between
your camera, body and lens,
giving you a greater telephoto
effect than it lens alone.
And if you haven't got a super
high megapixel camera where you
can easily crop an image in post.
Extenders are essential bits of
kit to have in your camera bag.
Typically, you get two types,
a 1.4 and a 2x extender that
magnify the image created
by the respected values.
For example, with my current
and setupof a Canon R 3
and RF 400mm 2.8 lens.
Using a 1.4 Teleconverter
would magnify the lenses 400
millimeters with 1.4, which
means that the focal length
becomes 560 millimeters.
When using my two time extender
on the same setup, I will get the
focal lens of 800 millimeters.
Pretty amazing for such a
small and compact device.
So the most obvious advantage
of using the teleconverters
is getting that extra reach,
but for me, the most positive
aspect of using the RF extenders
is the fact that autofocus and
tracking works exceptionally well.
This wasn't always the case when
using extenders in the past on my
DSLR system, especially when using
the 2x extender, auto focus was
slow, and depending on the lens
camera combination, restricted
to the center focus point only.
It was also not uncommon to
experience focus hunting and
therefore missing shots in wildlife
photography where you must be fast.
This is obviously a major drawback,
but this is all history now.
Because the subject snaps
instantly into focus and is
tracked across the entire
frame, a massive advantage
of the mirrorless system in
combination with the RF extenders.
Another positive is the
improved image quality.
Both RF extenders produce images
with good sharpness and detail.
For me, this is most noticeable
when looking at the images
taken with the RF 2x extender
versus images taken with my
DSLR and my old 2x EF extender.
Although not major, the improved
sharpness is noticeable and I
find myself now using the 2x
extender way more than before.
I just love having 800 millimeter
at a 5.6 at my disposal, which
helps me get those great bird
portraits with beautiful buttery
smooth backgrounds, and again,
in my opinion, the sharpness
is great for the money spent.
It is by no means the same as
having 800 millimeter prime
length, but if you consider
the price difference, ease
of use and transport a 2x RF
extender is a great option.
And to show you that both
teleconverters also deliver
a decent image quality in
combination with the popular RF
100 to 500 millimeter length.
Here are some examples.
Okay. Now to the negatives,
same as before.
Not every frame turns out to
be sharp and in crucial action
scenarios it could be that
the most important frame in
the sequence isnt the sharpest
something one must know.
But then again, this is also
true when using tracking without
a teleconverter, I generally
have enough frames in the
burst that are satisfactory.
And I believe that I have
a far higher keeper rate
using the RF extenders on my
mirrorless system than the EF
extenders on my DSLR system.
You should also be aware
that the teleconverter will
change the maximum aperture
of the lens it is mounted on.
That is nothing new, but
still important to consider.
In particular, when using the RF
100 to 500, a 4.5 to 7.1 lens.
Okay with the RF 1.4 extender,
the maximum aperture will be F
10 and pairing it with the RF
two time extender the maximum
aperture will be reduced to F 14
if the lens is used in full zoom.
This can make it quite challenging
in low light situation as
the camera ISO will need to
be quite high to compensate.
And although I was raving earlier
about the auto focus performance in
low light or backlight situation,
focus hunting sometimes secures far
less though then on my DSLR system.
And overall, I am very happy
with the auto focus performance.
The biggest disadvantage of using
the RF extenders on the mirrorless
systems is the fact that they
are not usable with all lenses.
The small and compact design of
mirrorless lenses comes with the
price that there is simply no
space to make teleconverters fit.
This applies, for example, to
the RF 70 - 200 mm, which is a
shame as it used to be a popular
combination on the EF system.
Even with the RF 100 - 500, you
need to zoom the lens to a minimum
of 300 millimeter in order to
move the rear optical elements
enough to fit the extenders.
It is physically not possible to
use them at the low end of the
lens zoom range, which means you
can't use the lens for wider shots
between a 100 to 300 millimeters.
Although this limits the use
of the RF extenders to mainly
RF prime lenses, and just a
few zoom lenses at this time,
I am hopeful that we will see
more wildlife orientated lenses
released soon that will be capable
of pairing with the extenders.
Personally, I'm pleased that I
invested in both RF extenders as I
only have 24 million pixel camera
and heavy cropping is not ideal.
I know that they are not cheap,
but certainly more affordable than
a 600 mm or 800 mm prime lens and
easy to fit into my camera back,
both the auto focus performance and
image quality in combination with
my full frame mirrorless camera.
My RF 400 millimeter F 2.8
prime lens, as well as my
RF 100 to 500 F 4.5 to 7.1
lens are suiting my needs.
As a wildlife photographer, I can
highly recommend anyone that has a
compatible mirrorless lens to get
either one or both RF extenders.
I bought a 1.4 extender first
to see whether I like it before
purchasing the 2x extender
as well with the beautiful
bird life here in Chobe.
I do, however, find myself
using the latter more.
Now, let me give you three
tips that I think you will
find useful, whether you are
using EF or RF extenders.
Number one.
Don't shoot wide open aperture
as with any lens stopping
the aperture down a bit,
helps with image sharpness.
And the same applies to using
your lens with the extenders.
So for example, when I use my
400 millimeter F 2.8 lens in
combination with my 1.4 standard,
the maximum aperture becomes a 4.
However, I most often shoot
on F 6.3, which increase the
depth of field slightly and
hits the sweet spot of the lens
for optimal image sharpness.
When I use the RF 2x extender,
I even stop down to F 8.
Number two, use this shutter
speed of double your focal length.
I found that even when the animal
you photograph is stationary,
It helps to use a fast shutter
speed, avoiding any camera
shake during the exposure.
So in this same example of
using my 400 millimeter lens
with the 1.4 extender on my
focal length becomes 560,
which means the minimum shutter
speed I use will be 1/1,250 s
And finally, tip number three.
Shoot on high speed continues.
As mentioned earlier, I do
have a couple of soft frames
within a burst, so having
my camera set to high speed
shooting will help increase
my success rate considerably.
As always, if you found this
video helpful, don't forget
to hit the like button.
And if you own any of the RF
extenders yourself, let me know
in the comments how you liked it.
Until next time and happy shooting.