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Looking for Owner of a Large Set of Coded Lenses...


mby

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Good Evening,

 

I'm looking for an active M9 owner, who also has access to a lot of coded Leica lenses in order to help understand how Leica saves the lens information of coded lenses in the EXIF data (which is different from the M8 behavior); effort is minimal (just provide a well-defined set of sample shots), reward is to help EXIFtool's Phil to decode the lenses correctly...

 

Please let me know if you are interested in volunteering.

 

Thanks and best regards,

Michael

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Good Evening,

 

I'm looking for an active M9 owner, who also has access to a lot of coded Leica lenses in order to help understand how Leica saves the lens information of coded lenses in the EXIF data (which is different from the M8 behavior); effort is minimal (just provide a well-defined set of sample shots), reward is to help EXIFtool's Phil to decode the lenses correctly...

 

Please let me know if you are interested in volunteering.

 

Thanks and best regards,

Michael

 

I'll be glad to volunteer. I've got 12 lenses in total; the only without coding is the 135/3.4 APO. Let me know what to do.

 

Jeff

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I'll be glad to volunteer. I've got 12 lenses in total; the only without coding is the 135/3.4 APO. Let me know what to do.

 

Jeff

 

Thanks Jeff, I'll send you a PM.

 

Best,

Michael

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I'm looking for an active M9 owner, who also has access to a lot of coded Leica lenses in order to help understand how Leica saves the lens information of coded lenses in the EXIF data (which is different from the M8 behavior); effort is minimal (just provide a well-defined set of sample shots), reward is to help EXIFtool's Phil to decode the lenses correctly...

 

Michael,

 

What specifically are you looking for? CornerFix, LR, etc already decode the lens info, so the location of the lens info is well known already.......

 

Regards,

 

Sandy

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Michael,

 

What specifically are you looking for? CornerFix, LR, etc already decode the lens info, so the location of the lens info is well known already.......

 

Regards,

 

Sandy

 

Dear Sandy,

 

The decoding as it works for the M8 does not work 1:1 with the M9; for example a (manually selected) Summilux-M 35 pre-ASPH is decoded incorrectly as a Summicron-M 35 (IV)...

 

Best regards,

Michael

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The decoding as it works for the M8 does not work 1:1 with the M9; for example a (manually selected) Summilux-M 35 pre-ASPH is decoded incorrectly as a Summicron-M 35 (IV)...

 

Michael,

 

I don't think there is a code for a Summilux-M 35 pre-ASPH - The M9 has more menu selections than Leica have defined lens codes, so different menu selections can select the same code where the vignetting characteristics are the same.

 

But maybe the actual menu selection as opposed to the lens code is stored in there somewhere.......good luck.

 

Regards,

 

Sandy

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Guest ccmsosse

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I'll be glad to volunteer. I've got 12 lenses in total; the only without coding is the 135/3.4 APO. Let me know what to do.

 

Jeff

 

Let me know what you are looking for

18mm

24mm elmarit

35mm summicron

50 pre asph summilux

50 1.0 Noctilux

75mm Summarit

90mm elmarit

non-coded 135 tele-elmar

Greetings

Michael

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Michael,

 

I don't think there is a code for a Summilux-M 35 pre-ASPH - The M9 has more menu selections than Leica have defined lens codes, so different menu selections can select the same code where the vignetting characteristics are the same.

 

But maybe the actual menu selection as opposed to the lens code is stored in there somewhere.......good luck.

 

Regards,

 

Sandy

 

^ I doubt it ^

 

It is my understanding that this specific lens does not have any code as Leica can't code it. Something to do with the mount. So Leica chose the closest lens to it's characteristics. This is true with other lenses that Leica can not code and never intended to code or give the user a menu option.

So it will never show as the correct lens in the EXIF.

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^ I doubt it ^

 

It is my understanding that this specific lens does not have any code as Leica can't code it. Something to do with the mount. So Leica chose the closest lens to it's characteristics. This is true with other lenses that Leica can not code and never intended to code or give the user a menu option.

So it will never show as the correct lens in the EXIF.

 

Dear Shootist,

 

Why would Leica make available a separate manual choice for this lens and not just a combined one a'la 35lux pre-ASPH&35cron (IV) like they did for some others?

 

BTW, there are four manual selectable lenses where no lens coding is available: 35lux pre-ASP, 35lux ASPHERICAL, Nocti1.2, APO-Telyt 135 f/3.4, Elmarit 135 f/4 (II)...

 

Best regards,

Michael

 

P.S.: Of course, the manually chosen Summilux-M 35 is being populated correctly into the EXIF, as the MaxAperture setting is 1.4, whereas for manual selection of a Summicron-M 35, MaxAperturen ist set to 2 ; so the table with the lens names (not part of EXIF) needs to be enlarged and the mapping to the respective name strings needs to be made more sophisticated...

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Let me know what you are looking for

18mm

24mm elmarit

35mm summicron

50 pre asph summilux

50 1.0 Noctilux

75mm Summarit

90mm elmarit

non-coded 135 tele-elmar

Greetings

Michael

 

Thanks Michael, you have mail as well.

 

Best,

Michael

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But maybe the actual menu selection as opposed to the lens code is stored in there somewhere.......good luck.

 

 

Carl Bretteville got started down this path a while back, but I guess his day job intervened, as I never heard his final answer. It does appear that manual entry puts a tag in the EXIF field and is also stored away in more detail elsewhere in the private portions of the EXIF (MakerNotes). So if Leica leaves errors in their firmware tables, and the tags in the visible EXIF are incorrect, a good exif-reader has to look further back into the file. My assumption is that Leica's engineers believe in instrumenting each file withall the camera settings but they don't like to share the information, so we have to go looking for it.

 

As you know, EXIF errors have always been the lowest priority for bugfixing in Solms. The incorrect values of the MaximumAperture of each lens, which is f/1.0 if that table value is absent, survived many firmware upgrades in the M8 before getting fixed. This may be changing, as one of the listed fixes in M9 1.16 was to complete these tables for several currently manufactured lenses.

 

scott

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I have been looking at this on and off since September and have so far have found that there is no way of telling if a recorded lens code is set via the selection menu provided the lens is one of those that can be hardware coded. This makes sense as it builds on the implementation Jenoptik did when for the menu for the 16-18-21 Tri-Elmar. This includes the ignoring of frame line selector when setting a lens code manually. If you select a 28mm lens from the menu and have a 35mm lens on the body, the recorded frame lines will still be the 28/90 set as that is what you told the camera was in use.

 

There are non the less, five lenses that can be selected from the menu that Leica does not offer hardware coding for. It is easy to see that these have been selected. The frame selector part (two bits) of the lens id is set to zero and the remaining 6-bit lens code is mapped to a 'best fit' value. By best fit I mean that it looks like Leica has analysand the lenses and found the existing correction they have that works best for that lens.

 

Here is the mapping table for the five uncodeable lenses as an image (there is no way of creating a proper table here).

 

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Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

The M9 records the exact same data as the M8 for all the coded lenses I have tried. I have tried enough of them to conclude that the data is the same as that an M8 records.

 

Guess I should email Phil too.

 

Carl

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The only coded lens that I have that is not mentioned above is the 752.0 Summicron APO. Are you checking coded lenses because you can already generate all the manual entry situations that the table offers?

 

scott

 

That's correct Scott.

 

Let's wait for Phil's next iteration of EXIFtool and then check it against various lenses.

 

Best regards,

Michael

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  • 2 weeks later...

Good point, L, and welcome to the forum. :)

 

Carsten Whimster, who compiled that list, used to be a frequent poster to the forum but seems to have more things taking up his time recently. The link was part of his signature, so it was always ready to hand.

 

I'm glad you posted the link, because as you imply, it's a very helpful table, and it's good to keep it accessible.

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Good point, L, and welcome to the forum. :)

 

Carsten Whimster, who compiled that list, used to be a frequent poster to the forum but seems to have more things taking up his time recently. The link was part of his signature, so it was always ready to hand.

 

I'm glad you posted the link, because as you imply, it's a very helpful table, and it's good to keep it accessible.

 

A new baby and a move up to MF, both film and digital, I hear.

 

But the table is maintained, has moved to a new spot, and is also a solid reference for which 6-bit vignetting settings work best when you are using a non-Leica or older Leica lens. So even if you use manual lens id assignment on the M9 instead of sharpie-coding, this is the place to consult to see what you should call things.

 

scott

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