Canon Ef Life Size Converter

[GerryNick2]

Browsing the internet I came across this piece of kit for the first time. It would appear to be a combination of an extension tube and x1.4tc dedicated to the EF 50mm macro lense.

What caught my attention was that despite being dedicated to the 50mm macro it will actually fit any EF lense. It seems to be a very popular accessory in the USA with a lot of forums singing its praises. There were some sample shots of a dragonfly taken with a EF 100-400mm + Life Size Converter which were very impressive.

Would like to hear from anyone who has experience of using this piece of kit on lenses other than the 50mm macro and what advantages there are, if any.
My initial thoughts were combining with my EF100mm macro but I must admit adding it to the 100-400mm pump has got me thinking about the possibilities.

Gerry

[RichBrew]

According to the Canon site, the EF Life Size Converter is designed to be used strictly (their word) with the 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro lens, which, on its own, is only capable of x 0.5 magnification. As to whether it performs well with other lenses would a subjective thing that only practical experience would reveal. I'd research it well (which is what you're doing) before committing to buying one.

RichBrew

[RockHopper]

Hi I'm Pete Rockhoppers other half hope its OK to post
I bought the LSC on Ebay in the states to use with my sigma 105 to give a bit more working distance.
I havent used it prperly yet as the season was over when I got it but it does auto focus OK when used with my 40D just a bit slow.
The image quality is supposed to be better than with a normal 1.4 TCon as its optimised for close up
Pete

[GerryNick2]

Hi Pete

Thanks for the response, the LSC appears to be popular in the States but its use in the UK does not seem to be very widespread. Would be interested to hear more from you when you have had a chance to put the LSC through its paces, a few images would be welcome.

Gerry

[Geoff F]

Never seen this on the Europe Canon website. Is it just US or have I missed it? Secondly, will it work on the lenses that won't take the Canon extenders, like the Canon 70-300 for example?

I have tried combining an extension tube and converter with the 70-300 (with the tube against the lens). It just about worked with manual focus but I wasn't over happy with the resulting image.

[GerryNick2]

Apparantly the front element is slightly recessed,. so unlike Canon's dedicated Teleconverters.. the EF Life Size Converter does not protrude forward and will fit any EF lens. Not sure about EF-S lenses though as they tend to project into the camera body.

Gerry

[Geoff F]

If you are very quick there is one on ebay for £45 with 48 mins to go. It does say strictly for use with the macro so I'm not sure if it will definitely work on other lenses but the new US price seems to be around $250-300.

That's 46 minutes now!

[RockHopper]

Hi Gerry i will post some piccies when I start to use it ,will be a little while, whenever the butterflies are out
Pete

[colincurry]

I too was looking on ebay at this. I dropped out at £45 - someone was on autobid. I have a 100-400 and thought it worth a try. I shall be very interested to see how it turns out.

Colin

[Geoff F]

I have asked a question about this on a US photo help site that I use (Photo Net) and while nobody there has actually tried it on other lenses they think that it is similar to my experiment with an extension tube and converter. The suggestion is that it is designed for close focusing lenses so you won't get infinity focus and while it might just about work succesfully on other macro lenses and smaller zooms it wouldn't give good results on longer lenses.

It is listed on the US Canon website but, once again, they state that it is only suitable for the 50mm macro.

So far the majority of answers on Photo Net suggest that it would be better to simply get a bigger macro lens to start with. But most of them tend to be 'well heeled' pro or semi pro photographers and think that everybody else has the same depth of pocket.

If they come up with anything else tomorrow, I will be return.