Canon 100-400mm Vs 70-200mm With A 2X Teleconverter

On this quick video photographer Tony Northrup and his wife Chelsea compare two popular zoom telephoto lenses from Canon – the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM and the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM with the Canon 2X III teleconverter to see which performs better.

If you are looking for a (relatively) inexpensive long telephoto lens – this quick comparison betwen the two Canon lenses (plus the converter) is worth watching, however we do suggest that you keep in mind our notes below.

Now we do have a few caveats about this comparison. Even if the second sharpens test is correct, Tony mentioned nothing about AF performance with the 2X converter which can be a real deal breaker. Another thing which Tony din’t mention is that if you are specifically looking for a 400mm lens – Canon actually has a better, lower cost option – at least if zoom isn’t necessary for you – the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM (which does lack image stabilization but otherwise is a great, sharp inexpensive and light long telephoto lens).

It is interesting to see however that the 2X teleconverter did not degrade the image quality of the 70-200mm too much – however it might be wise to test both lenses in a few other scenarios as well before making the final call.

–

As for pricing:

Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L EF IS II – $2100 on Amazon (plus Canon EF 2.0X III – $430 on Amazon).
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM – $2200 on Amazon.
Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM – $1250 on Amazon.

More guides and comparisons of photographic gear can be found on our photography gear guides – here on LensVid. If you liked Tony and Chelsea Northrup you can check out more of their videos here on LensVid.

Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.