Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

2x converter vs a bigger lens

May 13, 2012 4:58PM PDT

Kia Ora. I have a Canon 600D DSLR with a canon 18-200 lens on it. Can anyone tell me what the pros and cons are for either getting a 400ml lens (or bigger) as opposed to getting a 2 x converter which is considerably cheaper.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
Canon 2X converter
May 14, 2012 12:43AM PDT
- Collapse -
Answer
Tele-Converter
May 14, 2012 1:24AM PDT

Assuming you could buy a 2x converter that would work with your lens, you would lose 2x the light as well. So the max aperture moves from f/3.5-5.6 to f/7.1-11.0. That would make the lens too slow in some situations. The 18-200 is also rather mediocre optically; a cheap tele-converter would only make it worse.

If you could find one, the discontinued Sigma 135-400mm would be one of the least expensive zoom lenses of reasonable quality. The current Sigma 150-500 is very popular.