Erik Gunst Lund Posted April 5, 2013 Share #1 Posted April 5, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) I found a perfect match for the 50mm Ai 1.2 the Leica M8 with it's 1.33 crop really copes well together, and since the range finder is set for neutral for their 50mm lenses (51.4mm actually) it means that you can couple a Nikon 50mm directly with the range finder. I got a donor Leica lens 13.5cm Hektor where I could use the 39mm LTM mount to fit over the rear of the lens cell and the range finder arm connected to it through the Nikon F mount further through a Novoflex adapter. Calibration was tedious as always, but the Tuborg test image turned out sharp in the end. The lens has an pleasing soft look wide open that masks the slim dof very well, very nice for night/evening/morning captures and indoor low light shooting. Already at f/2 its very sharp across the whole frame of the M8, I have coded it as an Noctilux f/1.0 and the camera picks that up very nicely reporting f/1.2 when shot wide open. In all documents I have seen it is stated that the optics are identical to the 50mm 1.2 Ais except for the number of aperture blades, this is not the case, the rear element of the Ai is larger than the Ais, but the vignetting is worse for the Ai than the Ais version, some optical tuning has clearly been done, this has no consequence for use on the 1.33 crop M8, so the Ai version with it's much longer focus throw, about 180 deg is very good for this conversion, very easy to focus. 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted April 5, 2013 Posted April 5, 2013 Hi Erik Gunst Lund, Take a look here Nikon 50mm 1.2 Ai Range finder coupled Nikkor F. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Fgcm Posted April 5, 2013 Share #2 Posted April 5, 2013 You did a good job! Kudos to you! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmradman Posted April 5, 2013 Share #3 Posted April 5, 2013 (edited) Remarkable, goes to show that only limit is imagination. There was similar modification with Pentax 50mm SMC K or M lens (don't remember) on Rangefinder forum, I think FL of 51.6mm was mentioned that matched 50mm M lenses perfectly and it aided getting rangefinder coupling to work. As a matter of interest would such conversion work on 50mm f1.2 AiS it has much shorter focus throw than older Ai version - about 90 degrees. Link to Pentax 50mm conversion http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113676 Edited April 5, 2013 by mmradman added link 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stealth3kpl Posted April 5, 2013 Share #4 Posted April 5, 2013 I've been using mine on the Ricoh GXR with its liveview focusing. At f2 it's almost as sharp as my 50 Summicron. Pete 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Gunst Lund Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share #5 Posted April 5, 2013 Thanks! Yes the Ais will also work, and better as it has a smaller rear element, it doesn't matter on M8 but would be better for an M, MM or M9 Ais has less vignetting... Yes the 50mm 1.2 is almost/nearly as sharp at f/2 as the latest 50mm 2 Summicron at f/2... This lens is for the dreamy look at f/1.2 No swirl like the Noctilux, but more like low smooth contrast... I'll try to make some images that show this on the M8... 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmradman Posted April 5, 2013 Share #6 Posted April 5, 2013 Thanks! Yes the Ais will also work, and better as it has a smaller rear element, it doesn't matter on M8 but would be better for an M, MM or M9 Ais has less vignetting... Yes the 50mm 1.2 is almost/nearly as sharp at f/2 as the latest 50mm 2 Summicron at f/2... This lens is for the dreamy look at f/1.2 No swirl like the Noctilux, but more like low smooth contrast... I'll try to make some images that show this on the M8... I love results from my 50mm f1.2 AiS, excellent fully open and on film, 105mm f2.5 is also good lens with potential to shine on M platform. I think it is going to be full frame mirrorless rather than lens conversion, either Leica M or some future surprise. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalArts 99 Posted April 6, 2013 Share #7 Posted April 6, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) Yes the 50mm 1.2 is almost/nearly as sharp at f/2 as the latest 50mm 2 Summicron at f/2... This lens is for the dreamy look at f/1.2 I agree, this lens is extraordinary at 1.2 for its unique look. And yes, at f/2 and up to 5.6 it's exceptionally sharp. I use it a lot on both a digital D3s and a film F3HP. It's well built and a real delight to use. And it's even still available new: Nikon NIKKOR 50mm f/1.2 AIS Manual Focus Lens 1435 B&H Photo 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
farnz Posted April 6, 2013 Share #8 Posted April 6, 2013 Erik, I (happily) note that ingestion of Tuborg was clearly a crucial tool for the success of your impressive lens surgery. Quite right too. Pete. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Gunst Lund Posted April 6, 2013 Author Share #9 Posted April 6, 2013 I was able to restore the blur circles completely. I relocated the two screws and shortened the range finder arm in the lens, it's now about 2 mm from the rear element and with a concave chamfering the blur circles clears Very happy about this! since this is the main purpose of this lens, large blur circles wide open. The small cut out for the Nikon camera aperture arm can be seen at 2 o'clock until 7 o'clock... nothing to do about that... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Gunst Lund Posted April 9, 2013 Author Share #10 Posted April 9, 2013 Erik, I (happily) note that ingestion of Tuborg was clearly a crucial tool for the success of your impressive lens surgery. Quite right too. Pete. Cheers 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Gunst Lund Posted April 9, 2013 Author Share #11 Posted April 9, 2013 Here is the image I was shooting with the pinhole Tuborg, Portrait of my god friend Jan Anne. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Delandsheere Posted April 26, 2020 Share #12 Posted April 26, 2020 Hi! Thanks for sharing this. I’m looking into converting my 50ai for my M10 but when I’m reading your post, I’m not sure. You say it works great with the M8 because of the crop factor. Would it have too much vignetting on the M10? Cheers! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
a.noctilux Posted April 26, 2020 Share #13 Posted April 26, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, Karl Delandsheere said: Hi! Thanks for sharing this. I’m looking into converting my 50ai for my M10 but when I’m reading your post, I’m not sure. You say it works great with the M8 because of the crop factor. Would it have too much vignetting on the M10? Cheers! Hello Karl, had you tried out with the Visoflex 020 on M10 ? Welcome here. This type of conversion may be the only route to use SLR lenses on Leica M8/M9, but now we have choice of EVF/LV on Leica M, I've explored the nice lense's experiences with some other wonderful Leica R/Nikkor/Zuiko/Zeiss etc. from 17mm to 560mm 😉. This new way opens to unlimited choices of lenses. But if you like tinkering, you are free of course. Edited April 26, 2020 by a.noctilux Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
farnz Posted April 26, 2020 Share #14 Posted April 26, 2020 2 hours ago, Karl Delandsheere said: Hi! Thanks for sharing this. I’m looking into converting my 50ai for my M10 but when I’m reading your post, I’m not sure. You say it works great with the M8 because of the crop factor. Would it have too much vignetting on the M10? Cheers! Hi Karl, Welcome to the forum! In case you weren't aware of it, you've picked up a thread that's been dead for 7 years and the original poster hasn't been on the forum for several months so you might not get a prompt response from the OP, if at all. Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
james.liam Posted April 26, 2020 Share #15 Posted April 26, 2020 (edited) 7 hours ago, Karl Delandsheere said: Hi! Thanks for sharing this. I’m looking into converting my 50ai for my M10 but when I’m reading your post, I’m not sure. You say it works great with the M8 because of the crop factor. Would it have too much vignetting on the M10? Cheers! Using a an F > M adapter from Novoflex or Rayqual and the Visoflex 020 precludes the permanent "Danish sex change surgery" detailed above. Edited April 26, 2020 by james.liam 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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