Lenses

Is The Leica Extender L 1.4x Worth the Money?

Chris Gampat
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08/25/2023
3 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Leica 1.4x teleconverter product images 21-50s400

If you asked me if Leica glass was worth the money, I’d say yes — each and every single time. If you asked me if other Leica owners would agree with me, I’d also say yes. If you asked me if it’s worth the money to you, I wouldn’t have an answer. And if you asked me if the Leica Extender L 1.4x is worth the money, I’d truly scratch my head. Teleconverters are a very important part of photography for many of us. But at the moment, the SL system lacks the lenses that would take the most advantage of a 1.4x teleconverter. Compared to the big three, which offer faster aperture lenses, the Leica SL system’s biggest issue is missing out on various telephoto prime lenses for sports and wildlife. And until the system brings those and more serious super telephoto zoom lenses, the Leica Extender L 1.4x might not be worth it.

I feel I further need to clarify those statements. The Leica Extender L 1.4x seems like a rebadge of a Sigma teleconverter. I can’t confirm or deny this fact, though. Leica has gotten into a big thing of rebadging some of Sigma’s lens optics and putting far superior build quality on them — and sometimes better motors. But quite honestly, Leica should stop this nonsense. For several years, the Leica R series of film cameras enjoyed many telephoto lenses that rendered stunning photos. It makes me wonder why Leica wouldn’t try to bring these back for L mount. What am I talking about?

  • 250mm f4
  • 280mm f2.8
  • 350mm f4.8
  • 400mm f6.8
  • 400mm f5.6
  • 400mm f4
  • 400mm f2.8
  • 500mm f8
  • 560mm f6.8
  • 560mm f5.6
  • 800mm f6.3
  • 800mm f5.6

These are just prime lenses. However, the Leica Extender L 1.4x would serve L mount variants of these. lenses incredibly well. Leica doesn’t need Sigma to do them. They could remake them with autofocus with similar optics from back in the day, and photographers would rave over the character and rebirth of a few classic lenses.

But I digress — as my emotions and passion for the Leica system are getting the better of me.

The Leica Extender L 1.4x still isn’t necessarily the best option you can go for. Leica’s SL system cameras have an APS-C crop option. Sure, it means that you’re using fewer megapixels, but you’re getting the same aperture that you would otherwise. The Leica 100-400mm f5-6.3 is otherwise already a pretty slow optic. With an 1.4x teleconverter, you might as well be shooting with Micro Four Thirds instead.

When it comes to build quality, it isn’t clear if the Leica Extender L 1.4x has weather resistance. But I’m pretty sure it’s the reason why my Leica SL2s sensor got dirty.

In terms of autofocus performance, I could notice a slight difference when it came to focusing on birds. However, that’s a problem that is negated when looking at the beautiful images that it’s capable of producing.

So which will it be? Will you sacrifice megapixels for extra light? Or will you sacrifice light for resolution? If you’re a fan of the latter, then you might want to consider the Leica Extender L 1.4x. If you’re not someone who wants to sacrifice the light (the way I am), then you’ll get a higher resolution camera and crop in as necessary.

But either way, the Leica Extender L 1.4x is a teleconverter designed for a system that isn’t ready for it yet. Until then, it’s not worth the near $1,000 it costs.

L mount leica leica extender l 1.4x Leica SL2s lenses optics sigma teleconverter
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.