Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/03/06
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]New Lugger here (though I've been lurking for a few weeks), with a few questions about the two APO 180s. I do a lot of performance photography (photographing other people performing, not performing with the camera, thank you), and I'd like to pick up a fast 180 capable of taking both tele-extenders. Questions like this: Leica publishes conflicting information regarding the compatibility of the 180f2 with the 1.4xApo: in the R8 publication, it says the 1.4x was designed for lenses faster than f2, therefore 'users should stop the Summicron down by 1 or 2 stops' when using this extender. In the current 'Leica Program,' no such restriction is mentioned. If I remember, Mr. Grant said that he regularly uses the 180 APO-Tele Summicron with BOTH extenders, stacked (did I get that right?). Does anyone else have experience with this piece of glass? Could Mr. Grant describe again the results? And the results with just the 1.4x? My recollection from having shot with extenders is that, at high shutter speeds with the lens wide open, the peculiar phenomenon of uneven exposure across the image (not just vignetting, which also occurs with inferior combinations) can really muck up an otherwise acceptable image. I already checked with Leica, and they confessed that the 180f2.8APO Tele-Elmarit is not capable of accepting the 1.4x because of the extension of the extender into elements within the lens (although the previous, non-APO 180f2.8 could handle the 1.4x, right? OK, how does this lens compare with the APOs?). And my final question, which is not intended to question the divinity of Mr. Puts, whose incredible efforts I greatly appreciate: is the 180f2 really and truly incapable of being hand-held? If the 280f2.8 was capable of it (it came with a palm-rest, no?), wouldn't the 180f2 also be managable? With a palm rest? A shoulder-stock? Not even with a monopod? Does anyone have experience with it hand-held? I'm not a body-builder (this lens could change that), but I have enough experience as a target-shooter (3 position .22 rifle) to know how to manage my breathing/heartbeat/trigger-release.... And my final, final question: where could I handle one of these? I'm down in the Southwest US, and the chances of finding a dealer with one of these on the shelf is minimal.... Suggestions? Thanks for your help.