LTM to M adapters - recommendations?

[guidomo]

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I am planning to buy a CV 15/4.5 after Sean's great review. I'll need an LSM-M adapter to mount it on my M8.

 

From another thread on this lens it seems that most people here use John Milich's adapter which allows 6-bit self-coding. However, this comes at a hefty (compared to the lens) price of $150 whereas e.g. cameraquest sell an adapter for $55.

 

Can someone help me deciding which one is better or better-value-for-money, e.g are there mechanical differences in how well they are made? Thanks a lot.

[sean_reid]

Thanks for the review comment. If you can swing the $150 its worth having it. You won't be able to hand-code the CV adapter easily because of the cutout. Finding one of the older Leitz adapters and having it milled will, all in all, probably cost you more than $150. They're both well-made, its just that John's is ideal for hand-coding.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

[James Mitchell]

I have a Leica brand 28/90 adapter that has plenty of room to code a 15mm, or any other lens. If I wasn't using it for a Nikkor 85/2, I might try it on my 15mm CV. No need for a special flange that I know of. Am I missing something? My CV adapters don't have enough flange to self-code. It might depend on brand and age.

[stephengilbert]

James,

 

Leica made two different adapter designs, one with a full flange, the other cut back in the area you'd want to code. If you have the full flange version, you can code it.

 

Steve

[James Mitchell]

Steve, my 28/90 is full flange. I know that not all adapters are. The prices of those old Leitz adapters might be on the rise...

[jlm]

I have been machining recesses for coding into user provided Leica flanges with mixed success. Most of the flanges I have seen, (about 40 by now) have a step in the flange thickness which can let light leak into the coded area. My 15mm C/V with coded Leica flange kept repeatedly bringing up the WATE menu when shooting in sunligtht.

in comparing price, used Leica adapters were going for $80 last I heard on e-bay, and I am charging $25 to add coding recesses, so that will save you some $.

[sean_reid]

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I have been machining recesses for coding into user provided Leica flanges with mixed success. Most of the flanges I have seen, (about 40 by now) have a step in the flange thickness which can let light leak into the coded area. My 15mm C/V with coded Leica flange kept repeatedly bringing up the WATE menu when shooting in sunligtht.

in comparing price, used Leica adapters were going for $80 last I heard on e-bay, and I am charging $25 to add coding recesses, so that will save you some $.

 

Hi John,

 

That step really only seems to be an issue for lenses coded as a WATE. Otherwise, the 7-8 other Leitz adapters that you milled for me have worked perfectly for months now. So, as one who own a lot of your milled adapters, I'd say success is much better than "mixed" so long as one isn't coding for the WATE.

 

So, if people already have these adapters or can find then inexpensively (I've seen them go for $140 recently) it makes sense to get them milled. I always look for them if I wander into an older camera store that has Leica stuff. John's adapters, however, are easier to mount and dismount (on/off the camera).

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

[doubice]

I have just received 6 of my own Leitz adapters from John, milled for the coding (John, thanks for the speedy turn around and professional work!).

 

The issue with the step on the flange mounting surface popped up after I mailed the adapters to John; now, that I have them back, I can see that there is a minor difference in the height of the step among the various adapters. I measured the difference with a micrometer and it is around 0.05mm. This may be contributing to the light leakage problem too.

 

Couple of my adapters (Leitz originals) do not have the step at all and also do not have the three small cut-outs around their circumference (those date back to the times when Leica rear lens caps had matching notches to remove the adapters from the body). These adapters originate from lenses that were shipped from the factory as 'converted' LTM lenses and had the adapters actually glued onto their mounts.

 

I have seen the original full flange Leitz adapters reach over US$150.00 on eBay - this makes John's an obvious choice for those wanting to use LTM lenses on their M8's. As I understand, John's adapters also mount more smoothly onto the M8.

 

Best,

 

Jan

[chris_tribble]

I have the jm adaptor for my 15 C/V - it works, it's not expensive, it was a no brainer for me. If you haven't got an olde adaptor that could be milled it looks like the best solution.... Highly recommend.