Telephoto lens?

[CleaDuVall_fan]

Ok another question for the lens tech's here.
I was at a football match the other day, being shown up by people with great big lenses, I only had a 70-300 which did ok for some shots but I felt it just no where near cut it in terms of reaching the other side of the pitch giving a good clean result. Having had a shock when I saw the price of some telephoto lenses I was looking at teleconverter's. Now say if I got a 1.4x converter and put it on a 70-300 or thereabouts would it do the job ok providing the light was good or would I need to up the ISO alot?
I can't afford the price of a big lens so would this option actually be worth it for the sort of photo's I would get?
Thanks
Jodie

[lticket]

I think they only work @ f4 or wider? The TC adds a stop, so even at 70, the 70-300 will be f5 so no autofocus?

Or did i just make that up???

[RobDickinson]

canon cheapies wont autofocus past f5.6, so it depends on which lens you use the convertor on, but a cheapie 70-300 is prolly f5.6 at the long end already and teleconvertors multiply the f stop too.

[Tastydirt]

You can try a Sigma 400mm f/5.6 which will set you back around £150, but don't expect it to take any TCs and autofocus.

Your next option would be a Sigma 500mm f/4 but that still costs around £1000 second hand, it would take a 1.4x TC though.

I wouldn't personally use a TC with the 70-300 zoom.

[Dave B]

I shot soccer for a long time on a 80-200. All you need to do is know the limits of the lens and shoot within them limits. I use to sit half way between the goal post and the corner flag and just wait for the action to come to me.

Yes you may miss goals at the other end of the pitch but so what.

Dave