EF 70-200mm f/2.8L and Extender 2XIII

I've had several long lens options over the years for wildlife, etc including the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM and EF 300mm f/4L IS USM lenses, both of which I've used with 1.4X extenders. Lately I've been using a somewhat consumer level EF 70-300mm f/4-5/6 IS USM lens which, while decent, is a bit lacking in a couple of respects. It's noisy, the barrel extends with both zooming and focusing and rotates with focusing, and there is no full time manual focusing.

I recently completed a transaction with a photographer from the Boston area in which I exchanged my 1.4XII extender for a 2XIII extender. I hadn't had the opportunity to try this extender out much until this morning when I paired it with my Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L USM lens, giving me a 140-400mm f/5.6 lens.

During a walk on Peebles Island I tested the combination out on both scenic shots and the ever present White-tailed Deer. I'm pretty happy with the image quality of this combination and while not as sharp as the 400mm prime lens, the ability to zoom out and focus closer than the 400mm lens somewhat balances out the equation.

Here some shots from this morning, all made with this lens combination attached to an EOS 7D body.

215mm, f/5.6, 1/6000 sec., ISO 800

390mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec., ISO 800

White-tailed Deer do not look their best this time of year, what with molting and all. These are all different individuals.

390mm, f/5.6, 1/2000 sec., ISO 800

390mm, f/5.6, 1/3000 sec., ISO 800

400mm, f/8, 1/2000 sec., ISO 800

I went for a little extra depth of field on the last shot with f/8 and managed to get the zoom ring all the way up to 400mm. I'm not used to using zoom lenses for these kind of shots and need to get in the habit of insuring that I've got the zoom ring where I want it before I hit the shutter.