I am thinking to buy a 1.4x converter for my 80-200 F4L and 300 F4L. I think the canon 1.4x won't work with the zoom. Which converter will you suggest?

-- Yu Gu (gy60356@sina.com), March 26, 2002

Answers

I have the 1.4xa, the 2xa and the 2xb converters. The -a's are supposedly for 300mm lenses, but I have found that they work with my FD35-105/3.5 and FD200/2.8IF perfectly well. However because of the protruding lense on the 1.4xa it will not work with my FD85-300/4.5. I don't know if this will help - the 85-300 is built with a rectangualr aperature at the rear into which the 1.4xa will not fit. I think theat otherwise the converters are interchangeable. By the way I've had great results with the Vivitar 2x variable Macro Converter.

-- Gary Rossbach (g.rossbach@dellepro.com), April 04, 2002.

About Canon's recommendations:

For the all the FD and New FD 300/4 lenses, Canon supports the 1.4x-A and the 2x-A. (The New FD 300/2.8L takes the 2x-B, however. It's strange that way.)

The 2x-A is designed, they say, for lenses 300mm or longer (except as noted above) and for zoom lenses whose range includes 300mm.

The 2x-B is designed, they say NOW, for lenses shorter than 300mm (except as noted above).

[The funny thing is, before they sold the 2x-B, when there was only the 2x-A, their recommendations were different. They used to recommend the 2x-A for lenses that were (I think -- don't quote me on this) 200mm or longer. I know the 2x-A "specification" certainly changed after the 2x-B arrived.]

The 1.4x-A has never been recommended for lenses less than 300mm. That doesn't mean you can't try or that something horrible will happen if you do. Buy from someone with a good return policy (B&H Used Department, for example). Take pictures. See what happens.

-- Robert Segal (robertsegal@juno.com), April 05, 2002.