Yup. That’s how long my resolution lasted.
Poking around online last night, I started out looking for a 180mm f/2.8 Elmarit-R, version 2, the one before the APO version. I’d tried both 1 and 2 before, and the second one was not only lighter, it also worked well with the APO-Extender-2X stopped down a stop.
The idea was to get a fairly lightweight lens with enough reach for park and garden birds when paired with an extender, and which would fill my wish for a fast, moderate telephoto longer than 90mm. It was easy enough to find the extender, which I picked up this morning.
But while reading some of the late Mr. Puts’ observations and recalling how utterly awful the 180mm f/3.4 APO-Telyt-R was with an extender, once again I got hung on the APO-Elmarit. That and the extender were my mainstay for most of my early years of bird photography, and many of the shots the combo captured are still among my best.
Here in the ant farm, one can quickly and easily find almost anything with Leica branding. Before I could even stop to think about my resolution, and with some unused wide glass to ditch, the deal was done. And if anything shot with this combo ends up out of focus, I won’t be blaming the gear.
