EOS RP pics taken with RF Extender 2.0 come out blurry

[Tims32ford]

In trying to take photos of a bald eagle in the top of a pine tree…about 100 yds away, every single image was out of focus.  Absolutely nothing is in focus…the eagle, NONE of the pine branches/needles.  I’m using a Canon RP with the RF 100-400 coupled to my just acquired refurbished (by Canon…purchased direct from Canon) RF Extender 2.0.  I removed the Extender and shot the same eagle/same location with probably just a 1 minute delay to remove and cap the extender.  Using just the RF 100-400…every image is SHARP…can be blown up to see just the eagle’s head…image is still SHARP. The RF body recognizes the lens and the extender.

Yes, AF switch is on.

Is there a chance the refurbished extender is faulty?

[jrhoffman75 · Accepted solution]

Can you post the two original images to One Drive or Dropbox so we can examine them? 
Based on what you just posted it sounds like you are enlarging the image too much. I don’t know about the RF 2X extender, but the EF 2X extender image quality isn’t great; additional “enlargement “ by cropping really degrades the image. 

[jrhoffman75]

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@Tims32ford wrote:

Sorry everyone…just discovered a camera setting error…This RP is my first Canon…been shooting Nikon since the 70’s…and somehow missed the f-stop setting I had on the RP…should have realized that the 100-400 5.6-8 when zoomed to 400mm coupled with the extender 2.0 makes the f stop f16, NOT the f18 setting I somehow had set for the Fv mode I am using.  Hopefully the eagles will be back feeding on the roadkill deer tomorrow, so I can try a few more images with the extender, using a more appropriate f stop.  We’ll see then… I’m betting I screwed up somewhere, rather than this Canon refurbished extender being the problem.

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I don’t have an R series camera,  but I am assuming that it works like all the Canon cameras I have owned when a telextender is attached - the camera reports the effective f/stop. The indicated f/16 or f/19 is really f/8 or f/9.5. Diffraction would not be a significant issue at those apertures. 
If you can't post the files could you at least post screenshots of both images so we can at least see what you are experiencing?

[Tims32ford]

Would love to…could I just load the images into the gallery here on the community?  It looks to me that members only load their nice images there.  If not, tell me how to get them uploaded somewhere an inept person like me can do.

[jrhoffman75]

You could upload to gallery and we can see if it helps explain your situation. 

[Tims32ford]

Will do…but I sure hate to upload a couple bad images to gallery…among all the beautiful images.  Will do right now.

[jrhoffman75]

Something else to try. With the 2X on the camera set the zoom to 100mm. How does that look compared to 200mm on the lens w/o the extender. 

[Tims32ford]

Will try this when it gets light here in western Montana.  I did take several images of the same subject at 100mm and 400mm with this lens when I got it from Canon (refurbished also) about 3 weeks ago… the images were all sharp…of course before I got the refurbished extender 2.0.  I tested it because the first refurbished lens I got from Canon…a RF 24-240mm would not focus on anything further than about 30ft…lens was determined by Canon service as having a defective USM motor/drive, and replaced by Canon.

[Tims32ford]

Very interesting!  Did as you suggested… in Fv mode, everything on Auto…cannot tell the difference between 200mm without the extender and 100mm on lens with th extender 2.0…also did that at 400mm without the extender and 200mm on lens with the extender…well, barring slight differences in zoom, and slightly different exposure.  Did the same experiment using manual mode using fixed 1/125 sec shutter letting the camera pick ISO and f-stop on some tall grasses outside, about 30ft away…same result.  Stumped, I am.

[jrhoffman75]

I think what you are seeing is just the limitations of the lens and 2X extender at the limits. I am assuming at 400mm by itself the lens is OK but maybe not so sharp if you zoom in. 

[Tims32ford]

Just took image of the tall grasses about 30ft away, with extender and lens at 400mm (800mm equivalent)…grass blades are sharp until cropped down to about  5mp…image taken of top of pine tree about 120yds away with same lens combo…looks good until I crop…gets rather out of focus cropped to 5mp.  Guess I have to get my skills up on getting closer to the eagles.

[Tims32ford]

Ok…just tried another test…everything at equivalent 800mm…photo of dry tree branches about 30 ft away…using in camera magnify set on 4x…branches are in focus…using everything the same…image of pine tree branches about 300 feet away…using in camera magnify at 4x…image is clearly out of focus.  Still stumped.