EF 500mm F/4 IS II compatibility with Extender EF 2x III

[donrita72]

I am Looking for a Canon 500mm F4 is ii lens 

Wondering how well it will work with a 2X teleconverter III , I have 2 bodies 7D MKII & a 5D MK VI

[wq9nsc]

My personal opinion, it will look OK to you until you compare it to what your 500 f4 does without the converter in terms of image quality and then you won't like it as much.  I have two of the sharpest lenses Canon has produced, the 300 and 400 f2.8 primes, and I have tried both the version II and III 2x converter with them and the results aren't terrible but it extracts too big of a cost.

The 1.4X (either II or III) is excellent with good glass but I have yet to use an image captured with the 2X and any of my lenses.

Rodger

[johnrmoyer]

Others do not like it, but I use the 2x III often with EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM which is F/11 wide open for me. At F/8, you will likely only have center auto focus available except in live view. At long distances, there is often distortion from the light traveling through varying atmosphere densities. Auto focus will be slower. There will be a little less contrast for fine details. The Canon DPP software "digital lens optimizer" knows about the extender and improves the images.

Examples:

https://www.rsok.com/~jrm/2024Feb09_SaltPlainsNWR/2024feb09_marsh_IMG_8912c.html

https://www.rsok.com/~jrm/2023Nov02_SaltPlainsNWR/2023nov02_crane_IMG_7693c.html

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) near cattails (Typha angustifolia) at Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge in Alfalfa County, Oklahoma, United States on February 9, 2024

Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis) at Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma, United States on November 2, 2023

From the manual:

[johnrmoyer]

https://personal.canon.jp/product/camera/ef/extender-ef2-iii/spec has MTF charts for the extender with various lenses. This may be compared to the MTF chart for the bare lens: https://faq.canon.jp/app/answers/detail/a_id/61262?_ga=2.268058766.1807822317.1708122213-719665752.1....  The comparison will illustrate the loss of contrast that I mentioned.

[Onimotoko]

Funny, this MTF chart doesn't match any of the other MTF charts elsewhere for this lens. I can assure you it is MUCH sharper even than that, and it takes both teleconverters very well. I can barely distinguish any sharpness or CA difference between a bare lens and one with teles on.

[ebiggs1]

"Wondering how well it will work with a 2X teleconverter III ..."

I haven't done it but I wouldn't. I have tried it on a Canon 600mm lens and don't like it. But it is all about whatever you are good with. If you think the samples shown above are good and OK then you will probably be OK with the 2x on a Canon 500mm lens.

IMHO, I would never use a 2x tel-con on any lens.