I just had a crazy idea...did anyone ever try putting a 43mm tele adapter or wide angle adapter over some M Mount lens? I've just bought a nokton 35mm 1.4 and I was thinking how cool it would to be able to shoot with this lens for everything. Want wider? Slap a quality x0.5 wide angle adapter on it. Want tele? Slap a quality x3 tele converter on it.
Did anyone ever try this? Do you think it would degrade the IQ too much?
I think it might. Even the zeiss, contax and hasselblad 1.4x and 2x were tightly matched to a few of their lenses.
That said, modern lens design could change things. However, it seems research is going into zoom lenses that can be 2.5x from high to low, close to what you are asking. P&S zooms are already there and videocams are 5x or more.
The best zoom designs had two stage zooms; you selected the center and then applied a range around it. Purists dont like it, but I would go for a "primelike' set of adapters as well.
Leica should build on the design of the 28 to 90mm they had for the Digilux 2. THAT, even if only 5MP was (and is) a great walk-around camera.
Victor