Old Leica lenses meet new Japanese bodies
From time to time, I’ve taken pot shots at Leica for the ludicrous amount of money they ask for their M9 body. I’ve never said a bad word about their lenses though, which tend to compare well with other makers’ pro lenses in quality and price. Leica almost by accident became the first company to produce a digital ‘rangefinder’ camera, or a Compact System Camera (CSC) of the type now produced by virtually all the Japanese makers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirrorless_interchangeable-lens_camera
The Leica M mount was introduced with the Leica M3 in 1954 with the Leica M3, and has been the standard mount on Leica rangefinders including the digital M9. This lens mount was also used by other makers such as Minolta, Konica Voigtländer/Cosina and by Zeiss Ikon. Some of these lenses are legendary, all of them are manual focus which is no deterrent for serious photographers.
Ricoh GXR A12
It didn’t take long for one of the new CSC makers to produce an M-mount, which instantly transforms a proprietary body into cheap Leica alternative. Ricoh was the first to seize the day with its GXR A12 M-mount lens unit. The GXR is a radical break from everything else out there, with its unique concept of combining lenses with sensors and optimizing the package. The flaw is that the two are inseparable - sensors improve all the time, but good lenses will always be good lenses. So when Ricoh upgrades its sensors to newer technology and you want to upgrade too, you have to throw out the lens as well.
When Ricoh announced an M-mount adaptor for the GXR, it opened up the concept since the A12 is a sensor/lens mount unit rather than a sensor/lens unit. With the A12 fitted, the GXR becomes a more conventional camera that can take all those beaut old lenses from Leica, Minolta, Voigtlander and Zeiss.
Photo courtesy of Luminous Landscape
Of course, the GXR is not a rangefinder camera, and there’s no built-in optical viewfinder / rangefinder that compares with the set-up on an M series Leica. There is a live view LCD and an optional electronic viewfinder, and generic optical viewfinders can also be mounted on the accessory shoe. And there’s a focus-peaking option, in two forms: one puts a shimmer effect around the edges of the subject with the sharpest focus, the other turns the screen into a B&W etched outline.
Luminous Landscape sums it up this way: ‘The Ricoh GXR-M is a very appealing camera for anyone who owns Leica M mount lenses, or who would like to. At 1/7th the price of an M9, and with its very good build quality and wide ranging features, it's a relative bargain. A Live View LCD and an optional EVF give the GXR-M capabilities that many users, even those that may currently own an M9, will find very attractive.’
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/ricoh_gxr_a12_field_report.shtml
Fujifilm joins Ricoh
Fuji has just announced its M-Mount Adapter with a 27.8mm distance between the lens mount and the sensor, and three levels of distortion correction. New firmware provides access to an advanced M-Mount Adapter Settings menu with pre-registered lens profiles and corrections. The software includes presets for 21mm, 24mm, 28mm and 35mm Leica lenses, and two additional slots for adding your own settings. Fujifilm’s M-Mount Adapter is expected to ship by the end of June and sell for about $200.
The X-Pro1 is a serious camera, and the lenses Fujifilm makes for it are of very high quality, but clearly their maker is gunning for a share of the Leica market here. Here’s a review http://www.dpreview.com/previews/fujifilmxpro1
Here’s an extract from the M-mount press release:
The M-Mount Adapter is comprised of three parts: an aluminum mount for the body, a stainless steel mount for the lens, and an aluminum central tube. This construction enables an accurately-maintained distance of 27.8mm from the lens mount to sensor, which is crucial for delivering high quality and high resolution images.
The camera side of the M-Mount Adapter features an array of electronic connections that automatically pass information to the FUJIFILM X-Pro1 body based on pre-registered lens profiles. With firmware version 1.10 or later, this information is transmitted by pressing the Function button on the side of the adapter, which allows users to access the M-Mount Adapter Settings menu on the rear LCD.
While attached, the M-Mount Adapter still allows users to enjoy the benefits of the FUJIFILM X-Pro1's extraordinary Hybrid Multi Viewfinder. The Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) and LCD monitor both offer a 100% field of view, and the Optical Viewfinder (OVF) displays a bright frame corresponding to the focal length in use.
The FUJIFILM M-Mount Adapter provides ultimate control by allowing users to create and fine tune lens profiles through the X-Pro1's Mount Adapter Settings menu. This menu allows X-Pro1 users to profile up to six lenses. There are four pre-sets for 21mm, 24mm, 28mm and 35mm lenses, plus two optional settings for additional optics.
Leica will have to lift its game perhaps, with two serious camera makers offering quality alternatives. Then again, Leica is less about the game than the fame. Either way, for those of us on more modest budgets than typical Leica shooters, it means we now have access to a comparable but affordable experience. Some of those old Minolta lenses are outstanding, and pretty cheap on eBay.
I should add that M-mount adpators are available for other camera bodies such as Olympus, Panasonic and Sony, but they're made by third parties. That means you don't get firmware support, and the shooting combo will be a completely manual affair. More details here:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/leica_m9_second_body_alterantives.shtml
http://www.cameraquest.com/adaptnew.htm
Kim
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