Review on Enhance and Extend Image Quality with Canon EXT. RF1.4X(N) (4113C002) by Ricardo Anderson

Call me greedy but my RF 100-500 is a bit short sometimes. Dropped frames because I'm a bit short even with cropping. While I love my R5, the standard lens options are still in their infancy. So what should I do? The only option is to either suffer, buy a non-native lens and adapter, or live with 1.4x or 2.0x RF extenders. I decided to take the last option. Before proceeding, you should know that RF extenders only work with a few RF lenses: RF 600, 800, and 100-500. They do not currently (July 2021) work with any other lens. So if that's not you, you can stop reading here. Before I bought the RF 1.4x I rented the 2.0x because for $100 more I could get 1000mm range instead of 700mm. 2.0x is really good, but it didn't suit my "run and gun" style of photography. I see a photo, I take it, I don't sit in the dark for hours waiting for something. Since HF extenders on 100-500 are an extra canard and need to be attached to a 300mm lens (which would become 2.0x) I'm not doing well with my 600mm environment. I have to zoom out a bit and then zoom back in. So that was out of the question. The 1.4x magnification is more comfortable for me on the go. It turns my 100-500 lens into a 420-700mm lens which is great for photographing birds in flight or even a perched bird, bison or bear where again 500mm is needed due to the distance between you and the animal are a bit short. But I've also used it in zoos and it makes great animal portraits. There's really no noticeable loss of sharpness that I can't detect when using some crappy filters or even old-school extensions. But there is a fine to pay (except $). You lose a lens hood, which is a lot for an already slow lens. Focuses **almost** 100% of lens power. It's just a little slower - something you've noticed but doesn't really affect the outcome. So, I don't like the RF 1.4x extension I knew: 1) On the RF100-500, you're getting "more" angles stolen. as it is tied to a length of 300mm. This loses some of the versatility of the lens. And because of the way the extension is mounted in the lens, removing it requires some work and you don't want to do it on site unless you have a clean, stable platform to do it on. So for me it's on for this shoot once it's on. This means that before you go shooting, you really need to know what you are going to shoot. 2) At $400, that's a lot of money for a 200mm increase. It made me think a lot when I could sacrifice some MP and crop for the sim. But ultimately I wanted the full 45 megapixel detail of this really tight shot of a proud eagle feeding in its talons. It's $400 divided by all the cool photos I hope to get with it.