January 14, 2011
Sandhill Crane Silhouette at Bosque and the Series III Extenders

We camped near the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge for three nights in early January. "Bosque" is famous for sandhill crane and snow goose photography, and there were lots of other photographers there, including some friends of ours from the Denver area and a client of mine from a past tour. We spent most of our time on the first afternoon/evening at a crane pond along NM-1. There was a small band of colorful clouds to the west, and it was almost too narrow to use as a background for the sandhill cranes flying in. The band of clouds was just about perfect for creating a colorful reflection in the pond to silhouette a sandhill crane after it had landed (above).

Series III Extenders

I evaluated my new Canon series III extenders, the Extender EF 1.4x III and Extender EF 2x III, yesterday under much better conditions than I had before. I took pictures of a target in bright sunlight with my Canon EOS 1Ds Mk III and used Live View to focus. I took three exposures of each lens/extender combination, and defocused and refocussed for each exposure, then used the sharpest image of the three for the comparisons.

I started with the Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS II USM at 200mm, then added my old 1.4x II, then used my new 1.4x III, then used my new 2x III. Then I borrowed Jan's Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM and took images at 400mm. Then I took images with my Canon EF 500mm f4 L IS USM, then added my old 1.4x II, then used my new 1.4x III, then used my new 2x III.

The 70-200 with the new 1.4x III extender is slightly sharper than with the older 1.4x II and there's less chromatic aberration in the corners. The images with the 70-200 and 2x III are ever so slightly sharper than the 100-400 at 400 in the center, but they're significantly sharper in the corners. I feel much better now about replacing my 100-400 with the 70-200 2.8 IS II and 2x III. The 500 f4 with the 1.4x III extender is ever so slightly sharper in the center than with the older 1.4x II, but it's noticeably sharper in the corners. The 500 f4 with the 2x III is still too soft for my taste.

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