Male Hummer

[Jim Almquist]

This male hummer was so busy guarding the feeder that it would rest in my apple tree and let me get pretty close with my 100-400 with my 1.4extender. It seemed like he liked me sitting by the feeder so no others would come by and then he could take a break. [image][/image] [image][/image] [image][/image] [image][/image]

[Steve Foss]

Sweet work, Jim. I love that surreal background bokeh in all of them, and the tongue sticking out is great.

You either:

1. Had a "1" series body so you could autofocus the combo.

2. Taped the contacts on the 1.4 TC so you could autofocus the combo (can burn out the lens' autofocus motor after not too long).

3. Manual focused.

In any case, nice images.

[Dbl]

Very nice shots. Also remember, if you use a TC that doesn't report to the camera that it's there, (Kenko, Tamron, Sigma) you don't have to tape pins.

[Steve Foss]

Dan, my Kenko DG300 Pro 1.4 TC won't autofocus with my 100-400 on the XT, XTi, 20D or 30D unless I tape the pins. It will autofocus on the 1DMk2 and Mk2n, which are the only "1" series bodies I've tried it on.

[Dbl]

Only the cheap TC's work, not the Pro models. Don't know why that is for sure but I was able to get a $70 Tamron 1.4TC to work on the 20D with the 100-400. Didn't care for the speed at all, I thought it was easier to manually focus than listen to it hunt and not lock. I know others that have had success with both the cheap Kenko and Sigma's as well.

[Jim Almquist]

I taped the pins on a Canon 1.4II extender.I try aim at my target so that I get it in focus as quick as possible and then hold it on my subject.

[Steve Foss]

Jim, that's a good TC. Excellent IQ, and when the light is at its best for the 100-400, the TC doesn't degrade image quality much, as we see here in your excellent shots.

In really good light, when I taped the contacts on my Kenko and used the 100-400 and 30D, it didn't hunt at all, though it was a little slower to focus. I just used it (no taped contacts) with the 1DMk2n and 600 f4L IS, and I was surprised at how hard the combo had to hunt to find focus on slow-swimming beavers in good light, using the Al servo mode and center focus point. After a few minutes of that, I just took it off and tossed it back into the bag.

In my reading I've come across several cases where the lens' autofoucs motors apparently have burned out after not many uses of taped TCs. I don't know that for sure, because these things tend to be a bit overblown, but it does introduce a note of caution.

[Dbl]

Quote:

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In my reading I've come across several cases where the lens' autofoucs motors apparently have burned out after not many uses of taped TCs. I don't know that for sure, because these things tend to be a bit overblown, but it does introduce a note of caution.

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+1 on that, one reason I didn't play with it much, hype or not.

[Jim Almquist]

The reason I had to try the taped contacts was that I could never seem to take a shot that I thought looked good with the extender in manual mode. I really think that the problem is that I was trying to take shots without contacts or glasses and was always off that little bit so the taped the contacts was to prove that it was possible to take a decent shot at least once