Re: [Leica] APO-Extender-R advice

["Robert G. Stevens" <robsteve@istar.ca>]

Greg:

The APO Telyt-R f4 280mm is considered by Leica to be its finest R lens
period.  Use of either extender would not degrade it enough for you to
notice.  One word of advice though, I have been trying to do shore birds
myself, and even with a 2X on my 400, it is not close enough.  You may wish
to save your money and spend it on a portable blind so that you can get
close enough to make frame filling shots.  

I have shot from my truck as a blind using a tripod on the passenger side,
but close birds are few and far between. The top two images herer were done
with the 400 2.8 APO and the old non-APO 2x plus the APO 1.4x for 1120mm F8
using the truck blind method.
http://home.istar.ca/~robsteve/photography/birds.htm 
I have come to the conclusion that I need to use a blind and set up and
wait using the 400 2.8 alone or with the 1.4x.  I have seen results of up
close pictures taken with a blind and they are amazing.  You may want to
try a blind first before spending on the converter.    The 1.4x may be a
better choice to start with.

Regards,

Robert

 At 07:50 AM 10/19/98 -0600, you wrote:
>Good morning LUG--
>
>I would like to ask advice of R users who have experience with the Leica
>APO-extenders.  I have used tele-extenders before with other brands of
>cameras, with unsatisfactory results; degraded sharpness, very soft edges, a
>general haze.
>
>Primary use would be in photographing shore birds and waterfowl, and the
>primary lens "extended" would be the APO Telyt-R f4 280mm.  A wonderful
>lens, but often not enough for skittish wild birds.  However, the 280 is a
>wonderful lens, and I would rather wrestle around and find the lira for
>something longer if the extenders are not going to deliver the quality I
>have come to expect of this lens.
>
>So quality is first; I would buy the APO version of the extender.
>
>If the quality is there, the next issue is which one to buy, the 1.4X or the
>2X?  Is there a difference in image quality between the APO versions of
>these two?  Perhaps some of the LUGgers who have used both can help me with
>the telephoto length increase versus loss of speed issue.  With this
>particular lens, the 1.4X would take me to an f5.6 400mm and the 2X an f8
>560mm...obviously, greater "pull" is appealing, but with f8 as the fastest
>selection, I would be at the edge of difficult shutter speeds for such great
>length, even with a sturdy tripod and MLU.  This would be mounted on an R8,
>so I've got the brightest SLR viewfinder going.
>
>There are old Telyt R's in very good condition around for about the price of
>a new APO extender.  Both the 400 and 560 are f6.3.  This poses a quality
>question--which version, extended or prime, will render the best image on
>film?
>
>Any experiences LUGgers have had in sorting out the best decision in this
>context will be appreciated.  Thanks in advance.
>
>Enjoy the light!
>
>Greg Bicket
>__________________________
>
>By the way, in response to those who've asked about potential LUG
>server/software problems, I am getting  messages repeated from one digest to
>another, and I am seeing answers to questions and responses to comments to
>which I have not seen the original post.
>
>GB
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