Leica R lenses on 5D

[jbstitt]

I have ordered a 5D and want to use my R lenses on it. I know it will be manual focus and stop down metering. I shoot mostly with A priority so do not think that will be a problem for me.

I have the following R lenses:

28 f/2.8 2 cam updated to 3 cam.
35 f/2 old 3 cam
50 Summicron, older but 3 cam
90 f/2 Summicron Old 2 cam updated to 3 cam. (I love this lens for portraiture!)
180 f/2.8 Old boat anchor very heavy, but updated to 3 cam.
21-35 f/4 R ROM zoom
35-70 f/4 ROM zoom

Will there be a problem with any of these lenses?

What is the best adaptor to fit these lenses (the ones that will not have a mirror problem) onto the 5D body? I have heard that some have false contacts that activate some metering functions on the body.

Your advice and experience will be much appreciated.

John Stitt

[bill vann]

Guy Mancuso is up on this as he's tried virtually all of them.

also if you gio to ther cameraquest web site and look at the adapters page hStephen has links to lists for compatibility.

i have a kodak slr/c with a 24 elmarit (won't work on a 5D), 50 cron and 90 elmarit using a pretty generic adapter. currently looking at the autofocus adapters but don't know which is best.

the fred miranda board may also be asource for this info.

bill

[guy_mancuso]

From your list they all should work but the 21-35 needs the rear plastic shroud to be taken off. Very simple just three screws and you can work it off.

[magyarman]

When make it small aperatur is sometime not accurat exposition. Need to check it histogramme an make it compensation.

[stunsworth]

One other thing to add to what Guy said. There are now adaptors coming onto the market which have electrical contacts for focus confirmation, not metering. The one I bought from eBay wouldn't mount properly on my 5D - 300D and 20D were ok. The contacts were on a small piece of plastic that was glued onto the adaptor ring. This fell off after a few days.

Metering is stop down in either manual or aperture priority mode. Also expect some shift in exposure when you stop down the lens. I shoot in RAW with -2/3 stop compenation to allow for this.

Hmmm, that appears to be two things :-)

[nbgronlie]

Other issues can surface with focus confirmation adapters, too. I have one where the visual/optical focus is exactly correct, but the electrical confirmation in the viewfinder lights up closer to the camera than the correct point of focus. With the Summicron-R 50/2 on my EOS 5D, for example, the difference can be 1 or 2 cm which is enough to yield a fuzzy image if just the electronic confirmation is used.

I'd actually like to know if anyone else has seen this problem and has perhaps found a solution. It's not technique -- the problem occurs no matter which direction I rotate the lens focus ring from to achieve proper focus.

Regards,
Neal

[MarkM6]

Originally Posted by nbgronlie

Other issues can surface with focus confirmation adapters, too. I have one where the visual/optical focus is exactly correct, but the electrical confirmation in the viewfinder lights up closer to the camera than the correct point of focus. With the Summicron-R 50/2 on my EOS 5D, for example, the difference can be 1 or 2 cm which is enough to yield a fuzzy image if just the electronic confirmation is used.

Neal,
That is good to know; thanks. I started the 5D+R-Lenses with 100 Macro using the CameraQuest adapter because I don't want to mod either the mirror or the lens.

But will try the AF-Confirmation adapter in the near future.

And here is a JPEG I save that shows good info on the compatibility between Leica-R and the Canon bodies [I can't connect to the original page and I don't know the owner of this kind person who made the list...];

[carstenw]

The page has moved, and is here:

Leica_01

Maybe you could remove the large image again?

[LORD]

My 100mm F4.0 Macro/Elmar-R No. 3350357 works well with an aduptor ring with Canon EOS 5D body.

[MarkM6]

Originally Posted by carstenw

Maybe you could remove the large image again?

I sent an e-mail to the Moderator ["Contact Us" at the bottom of the page] for removal of the image. If he can't help, I will remove it from the site where I hosted the image.

Thank you for the new link to the chart.

~Mark

[bill vann]

HA HA the joke is on me. I tested it in store before i bought it, the dealer gave me a great deal but with no return. but today when i shot something at infinity the mirror hung. aarrgghh.

bill

[glenerrolrd]

Originally Posted by jbstitt

I have ordered a 5D and want to use my R lenses on it. I know it will be manual focus and stop down metering. I shoot mostly with A priority so do not think that will be a problem for me.

I have the following R lenses:

28 f/2.8 2 cam updated to 3 cam.
35 f/2 old 3 cam
50 Summicron, older but 3 cam
90 f/2 Summicron Old 2 cam updated to 3 cam. (I love this lens for portraiture!)
180 f/2.8 Old boat anchor very heavy, but updated to 3 cam.
21-35 f/4 R ROM zoom
35-70 f/4 ROM zoom

Will there be a problem with any of these lenses?

What is the best adaptor to fit these lenses (the ones that will not have a mirror problem) onto the 5D body? I have heard that some have false contacts that activate some metering functions on the body.

Your advice and experience will be much appreciated.

John Stitt

First this is worth doing. The combination of the Leica lenses even the older ones and the 5D sensor can produce some great images. You can see much of the famous Leica depth and color. I use a dozen R lenses with my 5D. However its not without challenges.ADAPTERS..There are several good sources of adapters..I use camerquest but there are several others. Be aware that the ultrawides are very sensitive to the adapter thickness and sometimes require a custom thin adpater. This is normally associated with the 15 or 19 ..not sure if you will encounter it with the 21-35. You need to check you ability to achieve infinity focus. MIRROR...looks like most of your lenses will clear the mirror....always check by focusing to infinity..if they don t you may have to shave the mirror FOCUS CONFIRMATION..Obviously the R lens will be focused manually ..unless you use your 5D on manual focus you may have never checked you camera for focus accuracy...this may require some adjustment to your focusing screen . There are two schools of thought on this. Some users have aquired a Brightscreen and a viewfinder magnifier to improve their manual focusing accuracy. Others have bought focus confirmation chips and glued them to their adapter. Or recently they have aquired adapters with chips already attached . I find the focus confirmation helps me get close quickly but is not as accurate as having a well calibrated camera. EXPOSURE COMPENSATION....the Canon exposure system does not work consistently across all aperatures...you have to do a few quick tests with each lens you plan to use to determine how much exposure compensation you need top dial in. For example with the 35 / 2 at f4 you need to dial in -1 stop when using AV. This all takes some getting used to but the results are worth it especially when you already have some R lenses. There is a lot of detail out at the fredmiranda site .

[rods]

I've had an adaptor with focus confirmation for 2-3 weeks. Fits well, appears to work fine with 28/2.8 and 21/4 but haven't checked focus confirmation - been using the scale (very old-fashioned!) or the screen.

Rod Smallwood

[woodyspedden]

Originally Posted by guy_mancuso

From your list they all should work but the 21-35 needs the rear plastic shroud to be taken off. Very simple just three screws and you can work it off.

Absolutely correct Guy, but the 28-90 is a different animal altogether. There is no way to simply remove the shroud because there is a spring which links to the aperture stop down lever which makes the lens unusable with the 5D (or for that matter the 1DsMkII). I think that anyone seriously considering the 5D or 1DsMkII for use with R lenses should "bite the bullet" and shave down the mirror. Given a good job of this, all of the great R glass, including the 19 elmarit will work perfectly. Please don't modify the lenses. You may get them to work but you have probably lost 30-40% of the lens value as a result. Better to do the mirror mod because you can get a new mirror housing from Canon, and completely retest the camera for less than $350. By far a better and more economical approach. I use the R9/DMR for my R lenses but using the 1DsMkII as a backup, and a body that can also use the Carl Zeiss/Contax lenses and the great Olympus lenses this is a very desirable option.

Woody Spedden

[guy_mancuso]

Yes the 28-90 is the mirror shave. I agree Woody much rather people leave the damn lens alone and attack that stinking mirror. i bought the 5D brand new and I had it 10 minutes and tried a few lenses than reboxed it and shipped it to Kurt the Dremel and let him get to work. Sounds so barbaric. LOL seriously it really is the only way to go , bodies can be replaced but a leica 19mm can go to your grave, there is much more value in the glass. But don't worry your warranty is still valid except the mirror and also you can have the 5D mirror replaced by canon for 300 or so dollars. Not to bad to use some REAL lenses.

[woodyspedden]

I just completed some preliminary tests with using the Leica 15 3.5 on the M8 with a Novolux R to M adapter. No problems whatsoever. Just stuck the focus ring on infinity and shot away. Wonderful images (technically speaking because there was no attempt whatsoever at artistic endeavors!). The real point is that with a 21 finder, using the 15 3.5 on the M8 is a snap. Got great images and no real sweat.

If desired , I can post a few of these really pedestrian images to show what the lens/body combination is capable of displaying.

Cheers

Woody

[Jamie Roberts]

I've used the CameraQuest adaptors on 5D and 1ds2 with all kinds of R lenses. They were ok on the 1ds2 with everything that should work; they didn't work at all for the 'luxes on the 5d (no 50 or 85--sigh).

But with the eBay focus confirmation adapters (not the really cheap ones--the ones around $90 each) focusing on the 5d with the 50 R Lux and 85 R Lux is right on the money--even wide open. I'm impressed, since the viewfinder is off on these lenses with the CQ adapter!

I like the combination of 5d and Leica glass quite a bit (but I do like the files from the DMR quite a bit better under good conditions). BTW--if you want to see how sharp the 5d can really be attach the 100 APO Macro R to it and start shooting

[MarkM6]

Originally Posted by Jamie Roberts

I've used the CameraQuest adaptors on 5D and 1ds2 with all kinds of R lenses. ---[cut]---BTW--if you want to see how sharp the 5d can really be attach the 100 APO Macro R to it and start shooting

Jamie,
I use CameraQuest adapter on the 100 APO Macro Elmarit and it doesn't focus at infinity. Same adapter with the 60 Macro doesn't either. Is that "normal" for the setup?

Thanks for your time,
Mark

[sdai]

I think the cameraquest adapters are in fact Kindai adapters (or clones) sourced from Japan ... I have several originals and had absolutely no problem using them with the 100 APO Macro on at least 5 different EOS models.

The AF confirmation adapter does make night and day difference from the viewfinder ... even when I used a split screen.

[Jamie Roberts]

@ Mark--I had no problem whatsoever with infinity focus and the CQ adapters. Now, I'm not a landscape guy, but I tested them pretty thoroughly for infinity focus on each lens on 3 EOS bodies.

What I couldn't do (and this may be operator error) was get the luxes to focus at all in *close* focus using the CQ adapter with the 5d; but I could do with the 1ds2. And that's despite the 5d vf advantage (it's a little bigger, and maybe a bit brighter with the stock screen, than the 1ds2 vf).

The Summicrons and Elmarits were all fine with the CQ adapters.

@ Simon--yes, those AF confirm adapters are little wonders, though as others have reported, a bit fragile looking. Leica should seriously consider something like that for the R10 if it doesn't affect light fall-off too much (ok, I know a better MF system would be better too!).