If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).
Photography Life has just reviewed the 180-400 f4E TC14
photographylife.com
Well-known member
Supporting Member
Marketplace
Interesting read. Nothing new however I had to laugh the fist picture in the article is out of focus lol.
Admin
Staff member
Supporting Member
Marketplace
Interesting read. Nothing new however I had to laugh the fist picture in the article is out of focus lol.
LOL, I almost didn't believe what you said when I read it, but sure enough, it's a bit soft!
Well-known member
Supporting Member
Marketplace
I know that many here are not too much into lab results.
However, knowing about the benefits of a TC dedicated to the lens like for the 800 f5.6, it seems amazing to me that the 180-400 gets such a kind of drop in resolution when engaging the internal TC14. The 800 looses slightly less than 10% in centre and midrange together wtih the TC attached to the lens (well, it'S a 1.25 instad of 1.4).
The drop 180-400 looks pretty severy compared to this and still more severe than observed for some of older the top primes with a TC14 atttached.
Remembering that
@Steve mentioned some issues with his 180-400 in relation to using the internal TC, I am asking myself whether there might be constructional reasons to this rather than copy variation ...
.
I find it quite interesting that despite newer lenses (E series) in most cases outperform their predecessors (G series) but the negative impact of using a TC seems to get bigger. It is commom understanding that it is difficult to compare Imatest measurements from differetn sources, but if you look at the one source mentioned above and compare the values of the 600E with and without TC against the values for the 600G with and without TC (that were published in the lens comparison section of the 800 f5.6 review), the 600E is set back by the TC14-E III almost exactly to the level of the 600G with TC-14E II. Looks like lens development has hit the innovation wall here - at least for F mount and in relation to using TC's. I wonder what we will see in the first tele prime reviews with and without TC for the Z mount program. I think that this "big mount diameter thing" might have a big impact here, just as it has on the overall resolution level of Z mount lenses and especially performance in the corners. Will working with TC's be easier with Z mount lenses ?
