Leica R-Adapter L available

[scott kirkpatrick]

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I did a little test...

 

Leica SL lens test

 

 

ISO 50       Subject Focus = 3.2m    Linhof Tripod

 

 

 M adapter T     30 Aug 2016

 

 Lens                                      Focus shown on lens      Best Aperture    

 

 11135 21mm f2.8 ASPH (6bit)                   1.9m                  f4            

 

 M adapter T with R-Adapter-M    30 Aug 2016

 

 21-35mm f3.5-4 ASPH (ROM) 21mm       1.8m            f5.6            

 21-35mm f3.5-4 ASPH (ROM) 24mm       1.9m            f5.6            

 21-35mm f3.5-4 ASPH (ROM) 28mm       1.9m            f5.6            

 21-35mm f3.5-4 ASPH (ROM) 35mm       2.3m            f5.6            

 

 R-Adapter-L (focus distance test only)    1 Sept 2016

 

 21-35mm f3.5-4 ASPH (ROM) 21mm       1.4m            

 21-35mm f3.5-4 ASPH (ROM) 24mm       1.6m            

 21-35mm f3.5-4 ASPH (ROM) 28mm       1.8m            

 21-35mm f3.5-4 ASPH (ROM) 35mm       2.1m            

 

Strange how far off the M 21ASPH is, it shows 3.2 on an M9.

 

Happy focusing !

 

John

 

Interesting, since it suggests that your M-adapter-T  permits exact scale focusing, while the R-to-M and R-to-L adapters are shaved down a bit to ensure that infinity is always achievable.  Do you know what your error bars are?  And have you tested at infinity (more than 500 times the focal length)?  I have several older lenses in which infinity focus occurs at a smaller indicated distance, so your results is not too surprising, but it shows the value of knowing your lenses.

 

scott 

 

PS:  Except for a tantalizing note on the B&H page that "more are expected," there still don't seem to be any of the new R adapters in the US yet.  Are they ubiquitous in the UK?

Edited September 2, 2016 by scott kirkpatrick

[jpattison]

Hi Scott,

 

The only error would be me interpreting the exact scale reading, as on the wider lenses 2m and 3m are quite close, but they were obviously less than 3m in those cases. I used 3.2m as that was the furthest point I could fit the tripod from the subject (books and other items on the shelving at the other end of my darkroom.

I knew that infinity was off, so I chose this (3m) as an average shooting distance. I will try again at infinity soon, although the R-adapter-L was on loan from the store.

I think they are reasonably available here, although demand may not be too high!

 

I, however, treat my SL as an R10, so will be buying the R-L for three reasons... the "35mm" format opening to avoid vignetting, solid connection (The R-M moves slightly and is off-putting) and the ROM connection with the zoom position shown in exif and on the review screen.

Just got to sell the R-M first!

 

john

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[scott kirkpatrick]

I have prepaid for an R-adapter-L in $$, but it's not here yet.  I often forget to set the correct lens ID, and have mostly ROMed R lenses.  But it is convenient to use the R-adapter-M when switching between M and R lenses, so the M-adapter-T came with my SL and has never been off of it.

 

I am curious about just how much undersized the R to M/M to T combination is, and to do that accurately requires a scale with markings detailed enough for good interpolation, a lens with short enough focal length that this matters, and a lens which focuses by a single movement, no internal moving parts, FLE, or whatever.  To catch scale error at infinity, I have to focus bracket with a series of tiny movements, keep notes, and inspect at 100%.  The result is that for landscape photos I can pick the correct part of the horizontal "infinity" symbol to use.  For this experiment, the 100 Macro Elmarit has a very detailed set of scale markings, but even better is the Super-Elmarit-R 15.  I found that it needs to be set at 28 cm to focus on an object at 30 cm.  I'm assuming that the image plane is 15 mm behind the camera's front surface -- Leica doesn't provide a mark for this.  That's not a very large shift -- the lens moves .06 mm when shifting focus from 20 to 28 cm, but at f/2.8 it is a very visible difference.

 

scott

[scott kirkpatrick]

Does anyone understand why the R-adapter-L is available in the UK (but perhaps only at Red Dot, who has a store of them), and there is one listed new from the Far East on E-Bay, but nowhere else in the world?  As far as I can tell from this forum they only got to the public in the UK.  If it were a delicate electronic component, I can imagine some bug that is holding things up, but I suspect that there is just wires from the input connectors to the output connectors, not any active circuitry.

 

Incidentally, the changes in currency values after Brexit would make purchasing things like Leica gear in the UK attractive, were it not for policies like only accepting bank transfers from us "foreigners," which ups the cost by about $60-80, and imposing shipping charges like 60 GBP to send a passive adapter with no glass to the US.  All temptation has been overcome for me.

 

scott

[ynp]

It's available in Russia and I bought it for my Leica bellows +100mm f4.

 

 

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[steppenw0lf]

I am interested to hear if anybody has used this adapter with the R 21-35.

We know that the focus length used is transmitted to the camera with the R-L adapter, up to a single mm  (e.g. 21mm, but also 23mm or 26mm, the values between the typical prime focal lengths)

 

My question is related to the correction profiles. When the focal length is transmitted, is then also a "correction profile" activated for it ? This means is the lens automatically corrected ? The 21-35 has quite strong distortion at 21mm and so an automatic correction would be a big improvement for this zoom.

 

Can anybody verify this ? Is there also automatic correction for the values in between (e.g 23mm, 31mm etc.) Maybe this is asked too much and it would be too good to be true (only in a perfect world).  

Edited September 21, 2016 by steppenw0lf

[scott kirkpatrick]

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I am interested to hear if anybody has used this adapter with the R 21-35.

We know that the focus length used is transmitted to the camera with the R-L adapter, up to a single mm  (e.g. 21mm, but also 23mm or 26mm, the values between the typical prime focal lengths)

 

My question is related to the correction profiles. When the focal length is transmitted, is then also a "correction profile" activated for it ? This means is the lens automatically corrected ? The 21-35 has quite strong distortion at 21mm and so an automatic correction would be a big improvement for this zoom.

 

Can anybody verify this ? Is there also automatic correction for the values in between (e.g 23mm, 31mm etc.) Maybe this is asked too much and it would be too good to be true (only in a perfect world).  

That's an important question.  I don't think any correction is presently applied when the lens is identified as the 21-35, since up to now the SL didn't know the actual focal length in use.  Without that information, the correction could be counter productive (this lens has pincushion distortion at 35, barrel at 21).  Same issue for the mid focal length Vario-R lenses.  If someone has a DNG file produced with firmware 2.1, the new adapter and either the 21-35 at its 21 end or the 35-70 at its 35 end, I can check the corrections contained.

 

scott

[scott kirkpatrick]

Just completing some thoughts from the previous two posts.  Leica does put corrections for distortion and lateral chromatic abberration (which is just distortion that is slightly different for each color) into the DNG 1.4 files that the SL creates for several R wideangle primes.  And it even adds the entries as stubs (zero correction values) for the longer focal lengths which need no corrections.  The corrections for the 24-90 SL zoom are computed for the actual focal length in use.  This sounds like a lot of work, but it is an essential component of the very high performance that the 24-90 and the 90-280 achieve.  I hope (but wonder if) Leica will make this effort to keep me happy with the performance of my R-lenses, that they no longer manufacture. 

 

scott

Edited September 22, 2016 by scott kirkpatrick

[rriley]

Btw, the adapter seems to be available at Red Dot Camera.

 

 

Nice to know it is available at Red Dot.  I sent them an email asking if the adapter was in stock, I received two replies, one said they had five in stock, the other said they had one.  The responses were sent within one minute of each other by two different employees.  I attempted to place an order but the web site stalled out after all the data was entered.  I sent them an email and they said they were "having web site problems".  I then received another email that said they only accept wire transfers as payment.  I told them I had ordered a number of items on several recent occasions from Ffordes in the UK and paid both by Paypal and Visa. They said they could only accept bank transfers from non UK customers.  I said forget it.  

 

Conflicting emails regarding stock status, broken web site, inconvenient payment method with no other options.  Why bother when I can buy the same thing on eBay with one click.

[JeffWright]

I am interested to hear if anybody has used this adapter with the R 21-35.

We know that the focus length used is transmitted to the camera with the R-L adapter, up to a single mm  (e.g. 21mm, but also 23mm or 26mm, the values between the typical prime focal lengths)

 

My question is related to the correction profiles. When the focal length is transmitted, is then also a "correction profile" activated for it ? This means is the lens automatically corrected ? The 21-35 has quite strong distortion at 21mm and so an automatic correction would be a big improvement for this zoom.

 

Can anybody verify this ? Is there also automatic correction for the values in between (e.g 23mm, 31mm etc.) Maybe this is asked too much and it would be too good to be true (only in a perfect world).  

 

 

On the Leica R9/DMR, the 21-35 (as well as the 28-90 and 105-280) did not transmit focal length used, only the lens and set aperture. I'd be surprised if they provide more functionality on the SL.

[steppenw0lf]

Yes, I was also surprised, but someone has "proven" it (I think it was Ferdinand). He showed pictures of the EVF where the focus length could clearly be seen for a R zoom. It was with a ROM zoom, and the new Leica R-L adapter, so no doubt about it.

So the ROM version can also provide the actual focal length in use.

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/262575-leica-r-adapter-l/page-3?do=findComment&comment=3097061

 

The open question is if the correction is automatically activated - which would make this adapter really useful for R zooms. And if Leica has prepared customized correction profiles for the values "in between", which would be quite an amount of work. For example for 41mm seen in the above EVF picture.

Edited September 22, 2016 by steppenw0lf

[scott kirkpatrick]

 They said they could only accept bank transfers from non UK customers.  I said forget it.  

 

Conflicting emails regarding stock status, broken web site, inconvenient payment method with no other options.  Why bother when I can buy the same thing on eBay with one click.

 

I had the same experience, although dealing with only one employee I was simply told the adapters were in stock.  I was able to put in an order on the website.  But the costs of bank transfer, shipping, etc, and the hassles to go with it made me drop the idea.  I have also dealt quite successfully with FFordes in the past without this hassle.  The adapters are not so easy to find on eBay.  At the moment, there is one shop in the Far East offering them (or it).

 

scott 

[scott kirkpatrick]

Ferdinand's picture shows review of a shot that was taken.  Thus the actual focal length is in the EXIF.  Whether it is available to the camera before you shoot is a different question, although I would hope that the answer is the same.

 

scott

[Leicaiste]

On the Leica R9/DMR, the 21-35 (as well as the 28-90 and 105-280) did not transmit focal length used, only the lens and set aperture. I'd be surprised if they provide more functionality on the SL.

The R 21-35, 35-70/2,8 and 28-90, together with the R8/R9 did transmit the focal length in use to the zooming flash head.

 

The information is there.

 

The R 70-180/2,8 only transmitted a focal of 70mm whatever the real focal length in use, which is why it was the only Vario that could be upgraded to,ROM.

Edited September 22, 2016 by Leicaiste

[Leicaiste]

On the Leica R9/DMR, the 21-35 (as well as the 28-90 and 105-280) did not transmit focal length used, only the lens and set aperture. I'd be surprised if they provide more functionality on the SL.

 

The R 21-35, 35-70/2,8 and 28-90, together with the R8/R9 did transmit the focal length in use to the zooming flash head.

 

The information is there.

 

The R 70-180/2,8 only transmitted a focal of 70mm whatever the real focal length in use, which is why it was the only Vario that could be upgraded to,ROM.

[Leicaiste]

Whoops!

Edited September 22, 2016 by Leicaiste

[steppenw0lf]

What about the other ROM zooms ?    4/35-70 Macro, 4/80-200, 105-280, 28-70, etc. ?

Does your list mean that only these (The R 21-35, 35-70/2,8 and 28-90) are capable of transmitting the current focal length ? Or that you have not more information ?

Edited September 22, 2016 by steppenw0lf

[Leicaiste]

What about the other ROM zooms ? 4/35-70 Macro, 4/80-200, 105-280, 28-70, etc. ?

Does your list mean that only these (The R 21-35, 35-70/2,8 and 28-90) are capable of transmitting the current focal length ? Or that you have not more information ?

Those are the ones I used myself with the R9.

 

If I remember well, all the ROMed standard Varios shows the focal in use.

 

I tried the R-L adapter today at the Photokina with the Vario 35-70 I had with me and it showed the correct focal in use.

 

Like 35mm or 67mm (!?!).

Edited September 22, 2016 by Leicaiste

[scott kirkpatrick]

Those are the ones I used myself with the R9.

 

If I remember well, all the ROMed standard Varios shows the focal in use.

 

I tried the R-L adapter today at the Photokina with the Vario 35-70 I had with me and it showed the correct focal in use.

 

Like 35mm or 67mm (!?!).

Did the focal length show in the display while taking the shot or only on review?

 

Any explanation why the deliveries of that adapter have been slow (outside the UK)?

 

scott

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[chris_tribble]

The R-adapter L is now available at Ffordes.  Mine's coming tomorrow.  Thought anyone chasing this might appreciate the heads-up. Check the price too...