best 2x extender

[zapp]

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I am thinking of a 2x extender for the 90AA on an R body. Thinking about it, there are two options, buying a Leica extender or buying a 4/3 camera body. The extender will degrade the image somehow with optical elements and add vignetting while the 4/3 camera would crop the image and I would have to rely on the powers of the 90AA to resolve enough detail in the cropped area. At the same time the 4/3 camera, say an Olympus 510, would offer vibration reduction, full aperture of f/2 for exposure time, while being less expensive than the extender.

Looks like the 180 (2.8, II) will be replaced by a 4/3 camera. Too bad Leica can not offer a decent digital R or 4/3 body right now - hoping the Olympus viewfinder is not as lousy as the D3 finder, and that some R10 will offer in camera vibration reduction.

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[jaapv]

I have used both the 1.4 and 2,0 apo-extenders extensively in the past on the 280/4.0 apo mostly wide open. I have never seen any image degradation at all, even the stacking of both extenders (not recommended by Leica) gave results that were excellent. The older 2.0x extender is not as good as the apo version.

Leica claims that the apo extenders retain full apo quality on all apo lenses and I have no reason to doubt that claim.

[stuny]

Zapp -

 

My experience with the 2X APO matches Jaap's. In my case I use it mostly with an 80-200 zoom. I never saw vignetting even with the film back on my R8. People seeing the results do not believe it was with a zoom, and are even more surprised when I reveal that I used the 2X extender.

[SoFi-Chaser]

on my slides, I hardly see, when I've used the 2xApo-Extender. Simply excellent!

But looking through the R-viewfinder, I must correct the focus slightly but significantly: infinity at my 3,4/180 "becomes" about 60m.

So it's more a question of handling, than of optical quality.

However I'd prefer the extender now, and buy a cheap 4/3-body later ;-)

Regards

Torsten

[masjah]

My experience also is that the 2X Apo Extender is superb. My understanding (though not based on direct experience) is that the earlier non-Apo extender is simply not at all in the same league.

 

Operationally, Leica themselves say that one should no longer rely on the distance scale on the lens to focus. Also the "gearing" of the focus range tends to be a bit higher for shorter focal lengths, so, for example, actually doing the focussing is a bit more critical with a 90AA +2X Apo Extender that it is with my 180/2.8 Apo. But don't let that put you off at all!

[zapp]

I know that the apo extender is pretty good, but at the same time a 4/3 camera would keep a max f-stop of 2, plus add 3 f stops of vibration reduction. Assuming that the 90AA can resolve to the pixel pitch, this is still a tempting option - not to mention that it saves money and adds a backup body.

[jaapv]

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Any antishake gain will be offset by sensor loss imo. I've been looking at the same thing. Despite weight and price I decided to go for the DMR. And I doubt that the viewfinder is very comfortable for long focal ;lengths..

[telyt]

there are two options, buying a Leica extender or buying a 4/3 camera body.

 

A third option is to crop the image from a larger camera to match the 4/3 sensor size.

[Stuart Richardson]

I agree with the chorus. The 2x apo converter is excellent. I also have difficulty telling when I have used it. I mostly use it with the 180/2.8 APO. Here's an example from the DMR: