Addons for Digilux 2 ?

[francescoragazzi]

Hello,

I have been owning a digilux 2 for more than six months, and I must say I am really happy with it. The only frustration, after this time, is with the fixed lens. I was therefore wondering if anybody could recommend me the best yet still affordable telephoto options.

I have been looking aroung the internet for a bit, but don't know where to look really, so I decided to ask here.

Thanks in advance for your replies,
Best,

Francesco.

[wda]

Welcome Francesco!

I cannot help you with conversion lens attachments although I am sure some members will have experience with Panasonic/Lumix converters.

Apart from a Leitz UV filter to protect the front element, my most useful attachment has been the Leica Elpro-D E69 (Part Number 18633) macro attachment. It is quite a substantial piece of precision glass which you will only find secondhand nowadays. Highly recommended if you like to get closer to some of your subjects.

David

[francescoragazzi]

Hi David,
Thanks for your answer. This sounds good...
I was wondering about the opposite though: anything to extend the teleobjective....
Thanks a lot anyway !
Francesco.

[dugby]

Hello Francesco.

Leica and Panasonic only released two lens attachments for the D2 and LC1:
a) the macro attachment described above, which I use, and is fantastic for macro.
b) a wide-angle lens element which is HUGE and HEAVY, and only provides an increase to 24mm.

The issue of more telephoto capability for a D2 has been widely discussed in this forum in 2005, but no solutions were found. It's just a limitation of this truly superb camera.

I've previously described the D2 as a very HIGH quality image capturer over a very narrow sweet-spot of shooting.

Don't get me wrong I still enjoy using my D2, but I prefer to use my D3/L1 more so.

[spylaw4]

Part of the problem is the rather "individual" diameter of the D2's lens (69mm). There are quite a few tele extenders out there, but you'll need a 69 - 72 or 55 or whatever adapter to mount them and then watch out for vingetting etc etc. I've thought about it many times, but in the end decided to live with the 90mm effective focal length.

You can have a look here for some ideas.

I've got a bit fed up with the bulk of the D3/L1 even though it does have great IQ, so it's going to that great auction site in the ether shortly.

[Riley]

Originally Posted by dugby

Hello Francesco.

Leica and Panasonic only released two lens attachments for the D2 and LC1:
a) the macro attachment described above, which I use, and is fantastic for macro.
b) a wide-angle lens element which is HUGE and HEAVY, and only provides an increase to 24mm.

The issue of more telephoto capability for a D2 has been widely discussed in this forum in 2005, but no solutions were found. It's just a limitation of this truly superb camera.
.

and this is the Panasonic WA converter, which is 22mm

[jaapv]

Leica and Panasonic did produce a 69-77 stepup ring, which is abvailable from time to time on E-Bay. I use it to fit the Canon 500D macro diopter, which is just as good as the Leica one, and a lot sing a 77-55 step down you could mount this contraption, the tele part should not vignette too badly, but I think the quality of these kind of things is too low to be of any interest. Cropping will get a far, far superior image. Wide Angle+2X Tele Lens for NIKON D40 D50 D70 D80 D200 - eBay (item 250134976431 end time Apr-16-08 17:20:59 PDT)

[jobjob]

It is not the direction you had asked for but if you want to have a look on results taken with the panasonic wide converter: Panasonic DMW-LW69 Wide Lens on my Leica Digilux 2 Brainwalker’s Weblog

JJ

[francescoragazzi]

Thank you all for your useful comments and pictures...It seems that I am pretty much stuck with doing the best out of the current characteristics of the camera...which, in the end are still very good. Ciao
Francesco.

[jrethorst]

Originally Posted by wda

my most useful attachment has been the Leica Elpro-D E69 (Part Number 18633) macro attachment. It is quite a substantial piece of precision glass which you will only find secondhand nowadays. Highly recommended if you like to get closer to some of your subjects.

The Panasonic version of that is still available, I think for US$89.

[wda]

Originally Posted by jrethorst

The Panasonic version of that is still available, I think for US$89.

If it is Leica quality, that is a bargain!

[elansprint72]

Originally Posted by wda

If it is Leica quality, that is a bargain!

It's not the same thing, the Elpro is two element, the Panasonic one element, only seen a couple of shots from the Pana and they looked OK. The Elpro is outstanding.

[krabat]

Yes, I have also heard many times that the Elpro is fine.
During the time it was available, I was too slow, and so I missed it.
I use a lens produced by B+W (NL5), which has a diameter of 77 mm, and a 77-69 mm step-down ring produced by Heliopan. Although looking a bit bulky, this combination does its job quite well, and there are no problems in the corners due to the larger diameter of the added lens.
Of course, "pixel peepers" will find some faint chromatic abberations in the images, nevertheless, I am pretty satisfied with the general quality.

Best regards, Peter.