getting more reach...

[montroy]

other than the obvious method of upgrading lens, how can i get better reach with my kit 18-200 lens?

[yrh0413]

you need longer focal length without getting another lens?

Where is your beer?

[montroy]

soory but i'm a bit noob with the local lingos.. beer can?

[yrh0413]

18-200mm is more or less the most commonly used focal length for most photographers. You definitely need to get another lens if you want to go further.

maybe you can go for Sigma APO 70-300mm, or the Tamron version. If you have more to spend, get the Canon EF version with IS. The Sigma and Tamron versions should be around S$400.

Else, you might even go a step more... EF 100-400mm IS L... this lens gonna cost you S$2000 for a used unit.

[varf]

Originally Posted by montroy other than the obvious method of upgrading lens, how can i get better reach with my kit 18-200 lens?

move closer to your subject.

[CS TAN]

Are you thinking of using an extender?

[montroy]

ok quick google on beer cans and i found, tube extenders? what are these? how to use them and how effective are they?

[yrh0413]

extenders come in 2 types: 1.4x and 2x

Let's say you have a 200mm f/2.8 lens. With 1.4x extender mounted, you will get 280mm f/4 lens. With 2x extender you get 400mm f/5.6 lens.

However since you only have one 18-200mm lens, you will lose AF ability regardless of which extender you go for. Your camera cannot autofocus on lenses that have aperture smaller than f/5.6

[CS TAN]

Originally Posted by yrh0413 extenders come in 2 types: 1.4x and 2x Let's say you have a 200mm f/2.8 lens. With 1.4x extender mounted, you will get 280mm f/4 lens. With 2x extender you get 400mm f/5.6 lens. However since you only have one 18-200mm lens, you will lose AF ability regardless of which extender you go for. Your camera cannot autofocus on lenses that have aperture smaller than f/5.6

I would suggest checking if there is any extender that will fit the 18-200mm lens since this is a EF-S lens.

[iMac08]

i don't think e efs mount can fit a extender.well i think you are looking at buying another lens.what kind of range are you looking at beyond 200mm?get a 70-300 lo.on your crop sensor you get almost 500mm zoom already.

[Cartman2000]

Problem is, the 2x tele converter turns the 18-200mm into a..

36-400mm f7-f11.2

[calebk]

Originally Posted by Cartman2000 Problem is, the 2x tele converter turns the 18-200mm into a.. 36-400mm f7-f11.2

Don't even need to discuss. You can't mount an EF-S lens onto any extender, even a third party one. In any case, it's f/7.1-f/11.

[Cartman2000]

Yeah my bad. Meant to emphasize the possible unusability of such a lens, though

[Fragment]

Use an extender, get closer to your subject, or crop your photo.

[montroy]

why wouldnt a efs lens fit extenders? whats the difference between ef and efs? i always tot efs lens were better?

[frankchn]

Originally Posted by montroy why wouldnt a efs lens fit extenders? whats the difference between ef and efs? i always tot efs lens were better?

EF-S lenses are designed to fit APS-C DSLRs, that is all xxD, xxxD and 1000D cameras as they do not produce a large enough image circle for 1 Series and 5D/5D2 cameras. They are not in any sense "better" or "worse" than EF lenses - though you can see that every single one of Canon's highest end L lenses (the ones with the red ring at the end of the barrel) are EF lenses.

Canon's official extenders will only fit on certain L lenses - L primes from 135mm onwards, plus the 70-200L and 100-400L zooms. You can try third party extenders that fit on a wider variety of lenses but image quality will degrade more.

[montroy]

thankx all for the reply... guess changing a new lens will make better sense....

[gazkw]

back to a more fundamental question - what are you trying to shoot that makes 200x1.6 insufficient?

that is pretty much quite a long range already.

[Garion]

Originally Posted by Fragment Use an extender, get closer to your subject, or crop your photo.

Agree, cropping is the most cost-effective way. Esp wif nowadays cam sensors of 12 megapixels and up.

[montroy]

i'm shooting wildlife.. visited sabah recently but i found many pictures to be too small or too pixelated when i crop....