Although the weather is getting cold in December, Hong Kong, blessed with its warm climate, is the ideal place for migrating birds to escape from the frigid areas. The nature scene in the countryside becomes bustling and alive with these winter visitors. To capture the vigorous migrating birds, what you need are a super telephoto lens and an extender – the compact gear that can help you capture in a more flexible way.

Bird photography is among the most appealing and challenging photographic topics. We can capture a bird in the distance using Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM super telephoto lens. However, when we come across smaller birds like Daurian Redstart, it would be quite demanding to capture even when a 500mm focal length. In this situation, a 1.4x or 2x extender which adds nothing to the burden of your gear can instantly extend the focal length to 700mm or 1000mm, helping you get closer to your subject and capture a bigger subject.

When a 2x extender is attached on EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM, despite that the largest aperture goes down 2 stops from f/4 to f/8, the focal length is increased by double, from the original 500mm to 1000mm. The super telephoto lens offering a combination of 1000mm focal length and f/8 aperture is of high usability. On the other hand, other functions like image stabilization will be retained, with minimum focusing distance remains unchanged. This makes it even more flexible to capture subject in close range than using a longer focal length.

In addition, the new generation extenders have incorporated a microprocessor for enhanced data transmission between the lens and camera body. When used with new generation large aperture telephoto L lenses* like EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM, higher AF accuracy can be assured.

*EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM, EF 400mm f/2.8 IS II USM, EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM