Leica R on Nikon D300 (Leitax again) - with pictures!

[integrale]

Ok, I know this has been the topic on several threads previously, including andybartons's excellent post found here: http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-...ax-mounts.html, but having just finished converting 3 Elmarits to Nikon F mount with the Leitax solution I thought I would share my experience with you.

If you're fed up with hearing about this "Digital solution for the R lenses" then just move on...

When I stumpled upon some cheepish Elmarit lenses, I decided to try and have a go at the Leitax solution.

These are the convert candidates:



Leitz Elmarit R 35mm, 90mm and 135mm all in very good condition. I paid app. USD 500 for the 35mm and the 135mm together with a Nikon 100E 2.8. The 90mm was slightly more expensive.

I especially like this view of the barrel-like 135mm:



I ordered 3 conversion kits from David Lladó and I recieved the following a few days later:



With trempling hands I started dismantling the lenses, starting with the 35mm; here, I'm halfway through the conversion of the 35mm:



Notice the tiny parts!

[integrale]

The most dificult conversion was the 90mm where I had some trouble fitting the F-bayonet. This was entirely due to my mistake and not strictly following David's very instructive fitting instructions available on leitax.com!

Well, all is well that ends well and the conversion of all three lenses took about 40 minutes, so it really IS quite easy.

Here, the 90mm is fitted to my D300:



It looks and - more importantly - feels very balanced.

Here is the 35 mm (is it just me, or does the D300 look tiny in this shot?):



The lenses work very well on the D300 in M (full manual with exposure iondication) or A (aperture priority) modes. Focus is indicated in the viewfinder and I can choose to link focus indicatio to any one of the 51 focuspoints.

Here are the first shots; my daughters and my dog filling in as models. Sorry about the noise, but I had to shoot on ISO3200.

135mm at 1/60 and f:1/2.8:



90mm at 1/40 and f:1/2.8:

[integrale]

And finally a shot from the beach the day after the conversion with the 35mm, here on f:1/5.6 and 1/1.600:



I think the 35mm surprised me the most; the sharpness of this final pictures is - to me at least - quite good, considering, i.a., that these are my first shots with manual focus; I have made a crop of the beach shot where the details on the fur are impressive (to me at least):



All in all I can highly recommend this solution; the R lenses are quite inexpensive and most af them can deliver very high IQ.

Next for me is a eye piece magnifier, and then a D700 - thanks for reading!

[rvalarcher]

very interesting!
thank you very much

[rickp13]

thank you for the conversion story and photos. if i ever want to return to SLR and still benefit from the leica lens qualities, this is probably the way i'll go.

greetings from hamburg

rick

[andybarton]

Very good.

I will be ordering some more mounts for my other Leica R glass next month.

[integrale]

I just tested the Elmarit R 90mm Leitax on a Nikon D40 - No problems! It works fine, although in full manual mode only.

Focus confirmation and metering work fine as well.

[andybarton]

R lenses work just fine in aperture priority mode on Nikons

[integrale]

No A-mode on D40 - at least not on the unit I tested on this evening :-)

BTW, the 35mm keeps impressing me:

[integrale]

I traded the D300 up to a D700 and MY Gosh it's a great combo with the Leitz lenses.

My Elmarit 35mm is still doing absolutely great, but also the 90mm is superb on the D700. This is just a testshot during evening cooking and only mildly tweeked in PP (cropped and resized for web; D700, 1000 iso, f/2.8, s=1/80s):

[jlindstrom]

Originally Posted by andybarton

R lenses work just fine in aperture priority mode on Nikons

Yes they do, but only on the more pro models. From the current lineup that's from D300 upwards. Even with the D90 you only have full manual. It's really a shame nikon has cripled the consumer models like this. For the models below D90 it actually gets worse, there you also lose the ability to use AF-D lenses. So they can only be shot in manual mode with old manual focus lenses and won't autofocus lenses without the AF-S system.

Enough dslr info for now


Just to make up for my "evil dslr info" I also handled M8.2 yesterday at a local digiexpo consumer trade show... Still amazing camera! They didn't have the M9 with them because it seems there's only 2 M9's shipped to Finland so far!!! They also said there are piles and piles of M9 orders in. It was their conclusion that S2 is getting delayed because Leica wants to put out as many M9's as possible.

[wilfredo]

Thanks for posting these. I'm a recent convert to "R" lenses on a DSLR and looking forward to my next lens purchase, a 35mm Cron. My first and only R lens is a 90mm Elmarit and I love what I've captured thus far. Here are some repeat images. I've done post-processing on these but it helps when you have something worthwhile to begin with. I'm sold on R lenses. I don't miss the AF.

These were done with a Canon 5D II. Cayucos, California.

[wilfredo]

Here's a shot taken with my Canon Digital Rebel T1i and the Elmarit. On the Rebel, bulk and size are reduced, which makes it a less intrusive DSLR.

[Angelos Viskadourakis]

Great images Wilfredo,really stunning.

[wilfredo]

Angelos,

Thank you. I'm really looking forward to the purchase of a 35mm Summicron R.