Tele extenders for APO 90-280

[NickT]

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IMHO Leica have deliberately designed the APO 90-280mm to never be able to work with an extender. The lens will just not accept any intrusion into the barrel. The quality of the lens is just so good that cropping produces a better image than adding an extender or that has been my personal experience unless the extender is on a prime lens. Zooms are in a way a compromise and so is an extender, so an extender on a zoom is a compromise squared. Having said that, Nikon has a 100-400mm Z mount zoom and a 1.4 TC which works quite well in my experience. Interestingly the NIkon 100-400 is nearly twice the price of the Leica but the 1.4 TC is half the price.

[BernardC]

Physical compatibility is just one aspect. A lens with a teleconverter is effectively a new optical design, and not all combinations work right. I started in the Contax world, and the teleconverter (aka "Mutar") chart listed the 2x as "compatible with 50mm lenses, but not recommended." A quick test revealed that to be the case, you got a 100mm focal length lens, but not one that was worthy of the famous brand name or price. The same Mutar works great with their 135mm lens.

The best lens-teleconverter combinations are the ones that are designed together from the start. It's unlikely that they will be optically compatible by chance.

 

That's not to say that there aren't use cases for sub-optimal combinations, of course.

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[caissa]

I would prefer a 1.7x extender for the SL 90-280. Hasselblad showed that it is not difficult to offer (for the 135). As well as some other dslr systems. A 2x extender is probably too dark.

Of course upgrading to the next SL (SL3 with 100 Mpix) is another option but a lot more expensive.

Edited March 13, 2023 by caissa

[SrMi]

Just now, caissa said:

I would prefer a 1.7x extender for the SL 90-280. Hasselblad showed that it is not difficult to offer (for the 135). As well as some other dslr systems. A 2x extender is probably too dark.

Of course upgrading to the next SL (SL3 with 100 Mpix) is another option but a lot more expensive.

Hasselblad’s 1.7x TC was designed specifically for the XCD 135mm and cannot be purchased separately. What you are asking for is a newly designed 90-280 that comes with a TC.

There is no indication that a FF 100MP sensor is available this year.