Should I get a 300 f4L or 100-400 for sports?
I’m looking at upgrading my setup for sports. Currently I have a 1Dx and R50 for my bodies, and the 70-200 f2.8L IS, 24-105 f4L, and 16-35 f2.8L for lenses. I want more reach for soccer and baseball in particular and am looking for options. I’ve tried a 2X Teleconverter on my 70-200 but don’t like the drop in fps, af speed, and loss of quality, so I’ve been looking at other options.
Option one is the Canon 300mm f4L IS. According to most it’s tack sharp and great entry into primes for sports, but is limited by it being a prime. That’s fine for baseball, but I like some versatility when I shoot sports like soccer. I can also throw on a 1.4x TC and get a 420mm f5.6 (this combo makes the older 400mm f5.6L useless since it is optically older and has no IS).
Option two is the Canon 100-400 f4.5-5.6L IS version I (the older push/pull version). From what I’ve seen it is the more versatile and run-and-gun option(I would get a lot more use out of this in situations other than sports), but it’s just ok optically. Most agree it’s pretty smooth in the corners and I wouldn’t dare but a TC on it if that was the case. Its IS system is very old as well and only offers 2 stops of IS. I have also seen the version 2 but it is out of my price range.
I think I would love the 300 and 1.4 combo, but I’m not sure of what else I would ever use it for besides sports, where as with the 100-400 I think I would get a lot more use out of it because it’s far more versatile. I know the main purpose is for sports, but it would be nice for it to be able to work in other situations too. So which setup should I go for?