[Leica] 2.8/100 APO R+APO Ext R 2x

["Roger Beamon" <beamon@primenet.com>]

Looking for input on subject combination. Some background:

Have a local friend who was interested in the combination. Don 
Chatterton literally refused to sell the APO Extender R 2x for that 
purpose (friend already had the lens).  Don's reason for his attitude 
was, simply, that it didn't produce good results. I emailed Leica Tech 
Service in Germany and asked about the combination since the Leica 
Handbook lists it as valid. I did not disclose the source of the 
negative opinion. In a reasonable time, the reply from Tech Service 
came back and was in line with the Handbook recommendation, i.e. it is 
valid; do it!

Based on this input, friend acquired a new APO Extender R 2x from 
another vendor. He was not impressed with the results. Apparently, 
there was a good deal of sharpness fall off both in center and edges. 
The lens, by itself, spoils you and you look for similar performance 
with the extender. Though I didn't see the results, my friend has a 
keen eye and his word was good enough for me.

Anyone else with experience with this combination? The two sides of the 
issue are rather far apart. I suspect that if it were not for the fact 
that we are discussing an acknowledged "champ" in Leica's stable of 
lenses, used with their APO Extender, we might be better able to accept 
the usual degradation in performance using extenders.



- --
Roger Beamon  
       Naturalist & Photographer
       mailto:roger@beamon.org
          
          Thought for the day:
      It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.