H.Lux wrote:
There are lots of storks in Extremadura, Spain. 280/4 APO with 2x APO Extender. Still had to crop. I wonder, how Doug gets his phantastic bird shots in which the birds are filling the frame.
the 280 is not that long a lens, glad to see it works well with the 2x extender for ordinary people as well
have you leitaxed the extender, and only use it on extender, or how do you solve the problem, that you can't use a Leica R extender any more when you leitax the lens?
As far as I know, both 180/2.8 APO have the same optical formula and the only difference is the VII takes both extenders 1.4 and 2.
Having said that, is this happening with a doubler only?
I don't do Macro, but if you tell me what is the set up,I can try to duplicate with the Leica APO Extender x 2 and run a small test. (but it will take some time as my VI and VII are not in the same location.
Some claim that the Leica R APO extender gives similar result as the non Leica R APO or different makes. I don't think so.
My gut feeling is this lens is a bit finicky for both versions and unfortunately there is a sample variance or lens condition if bought used.
Similar story with the 280/4 AT where someone on flicker posted that the lens flares!
I run a test and could not get any flare and I have more than one 280/4 AT.
I can post the test if you wish.
Maybe, just maybe your copy needs a CLA visit to Solms?!? Or more probably it does not like the Canon doubler!?!
Almass wrote:
As far as I know, both 180/2.8 APO have the same optical formula and the only difference is the VII takes both extenders 1.4 and 2.
Having said that, is this happening with a doubler only?
I don't do Macro, but if you tell me what is the set up,I can try to duplicate with the Leica APO Extender x 2 and run a small test. (but it will take some time as my VI and VII are not in the same location.
Some claim that the Leica R APO extender gives similar result as the non Leica R APO or different makes. I don't think so.
My gut feeling is this lens is a bit finicky for both versions and unfortunately there is a sample variance or lens condition if bought used.
Similar story with the 280/4 AT where someone on flicker posted that the lens flares!
I run a test and could not get any flare and I have more than one 280/4 AT.
I can post the test if you wish.
Maybe, just maybe your copy needs a CLA visit to Solms?!? Or more probably it does not like the Canon doubler!?! ...Show more →
Bokeh highlight shape is determined by aperture shape, it has nothing to do with the optical formula or lens variation. For example make heart shaped hole to paper and put that to front of your lens (shoot lens aperture wide open) and you get heart shaped bokeh highlights. You can see aperture shape when you look the lens from either end and then turn aperture ring and it matches the ninjastart shape seen in images. So it definitely has nothing to do with 2x.
CLA - I have hard time imagining what mechanical adjustment could cause aperture blades to change how they form aperture shape. If there would be something wrong then some of the aperture blades would not move or something like that - nothing indicates to mechanical issue.
I don't think there is anything wrong with the lens. My theory is that Leica has decided to use ninjastar aperture shape in order to break bokeh highlights, which have tendency (with or without 2x) to have too much brightness in edges. Ninjastar apertures have been used in many lenses in the past.
Yes, mine is a pretty late copy that appears to have different aperture characteristics, as the aperture is essentially smooth (octagonal, but not stepped) at all apertures once closed down from f/2.8.
The only bokeh issue I'm seeing with mine is that at f/2.8 blur circles show a bit of outlining, and that there is a tiny bit of green-magenta bokeh fringing that isn't present with the 100/2.8 Elmarit Macro-R.
Sharpness across the frame at f/2.8 is amazing - from my perspective, there's no need to use the aperture to control sharpness or contrast - bokeh is a tiny bit better once stopped down to f/4 (no more outlining of blur disks) and there is a bit more DoF at smaller apertures, but this lens has so little depth-of-field on the subject that it really needs careful focusing on the subject at virtually any aperture.
I'd dig up a few images to show this, but my imaging computer took a "soft" hard-drive failure today so my images are offline while I migrate them to a new pair of RAID1 disks.
telyt wrote:
I've found that it's much easier to get close to wild animals when I act more like a prey species than like a predator (don't try this with large meat-eaters). After an hour or so of prey-like behavior they figure out I'm not a threat and treat me like background scenery.
if your want close-ups of adult birds, acting like a predator around fledging time works well. for some birds species you should wear a helmet though.
cyra wrote:
the 280 is not that long a lens, glad to see it works well with the 2x extender for ordinary people as well
have you leitaxed the extender, and only use it on extender, or how do you solve the problem, that you can't use a Leica R extender any more when you leitax the lens?
I love Extremadura, do you have more pictures?
I haven't leitaxed the lens, neither the extender, just use it with an adapter on my 5D2.
I have some images, will post some later. As I am still there, leaving today, I still have to pp them.
sebboh wrote:
... for some birds species you should wear a helmet though.
Definitely! Using the prey-species behavior technique it took several seasons (wearing a hat) before this male Cooper's Hawk figured out I wasn't a threat:
When he first landed on this perch the light was unusable, with big blotches of sun coming through the leaves. The bird waited 1/2 hour until he was evenly lit & I got the photos I wanted. His mate never accepted me, so I kept the hat handy & my head near dense twigs. BTW I stay well away from nests. The scent trail can lead predators to nestlings.
telyt wrote:
Definitely! Using the prey-species behavior technique it took several seasons (wearing a hat) before this male Cooper's Hawk figured out I wasn't a threat:
R8/DMR, 280mm f/4 APO-Telyt-R
When he first landed on this perch the light was unusable, with big blotches of sun coming through the leaves. The bird waited 1/2 hour until he was evenly lit & I got the photos I wanted. His mate never accepted me, so I kept the hat handy & my head near dense twigs. BTW I stay well away from nests. The scent trail can lead predators to nestlings.
lovely as always. i have some friends that do banding of peregrine falcon nestlings. they have a collection of cracked bicycle helmets and always carry a broom to hold over their heads for the parents to attack.
