[Leica] APO-Extender-R advice

["Greg Bicket" <GBicket@email.msn.com>]

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