Leica S extension tube

[Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS]

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Is the such a thing as an extension tube for the Leica S system. I want one to use with my Leica S 120mm macro lens to shoot black and white negatives

[ynp]

You might want to try a Contax 120mm with extension tubes. They work on the S.

 

 

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[John McMaster]

No. Read the various recent threads on copying negatives? Hasselblad or Contax macro lenses with tubes or bellows....

 

john

[Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS]

No. Read the various recent threads on copying negatives? Hasselblad or Contax macro lenses with tubes or bellows....

 

john

John

I really don't want to go out and spend a bunch of cash on another brand of lens when I have Leica lenses. So are you saying it can't be done with a Leica s with Leica s120mm lens??

[John McMaster]

Indeed, the 120mm is the only native way and the 180mm ELPRO makes little difference. So ideal for copying 645 or larger negatives ;-)

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/255515-is-anyone-doing-slide-duplication-using-the-s/

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/256236-leica-s-for-negative-scanning/

 

john

[Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS]

I'm carrying on this conversation over here http://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/258574-leica-film-camera-for-a-beginner/page-21?do=findComment&comment=3022091

[jip]

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You need someone to make you a Leica S bayonet spacer ring, but you will lose autofocus, and aperture control

[Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS]

You need someone to make you a Leica S bayonet spacer ring, but you will lose autofocus, and aperture control

 

Cheers Jip but I live in KL and that just aint going to happen

[david strachan]

I'm still having trouble coming to grips with Neil's avatar.

[Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS]

I've spent 35 years working on oil rigs. Go figure[emoji3][emoji3][emoji482][emoji482]❤️❤️[emoji482][emoji482][emoji3][emoji3]

 

 

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[jip]

There is that Leibko (did I spell it right?!) guy. The guy that makes a Leica R to S adapter for TELE lenses... Maybe if you e-mail him he can make one for you and ship it to you...

 

 

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[Paul J]

Neil, the Contax lens is super cheap, can be had for around £450-550. A contax extension tube is around £100 or less - so at a combined £600, it is likely cheaper than Leica would ever sell an extension for, and from all reports the lens is just as good as the Leica.

[John McMaster]

There is that Leibko (did I spell it right?!) guy. The guy that makes a Leica R to S adapter for TELE lenses... Maybe if you e-mail him he can make one for you and ship it to you...

 

LeiKo, it fits any R lens but the shorter the focal length the less it can focus to infinity.

 

john

[pgk]

Having thought about this for rather odd reasons you may find the following information to be worthy of further investigation.

 

I use/have used 'classically' designed macro lenses for many years. By 'classical' I mean lenses in which the whole optical unit moves during focussing. During focussing the physical length of the lens changes. Performance is excellent and adding extension tubes does not reduce this significantly until significant extension is achieved.

 

I use/have used 'modern' designs of macro lens in which the focus is achieved internally (IF) by one or more parts of the optical system shifting. In such lenses the physical length of the lens remains static. Adding extension tubes sees a rapid drop in performance. Such macro lenses are excellent within their own design limitations but are not good outside them (with  anything other than short extension tubes added).

 

Looking at the 120 Apo-Macro-S, it appears to be a different design in as much as it sounds like a 'classical' design but with floating element. I assume (but am happy to be corrected) that the floating element is used to compensate for and enhance close focus capability. However I'm not sure how this will affect performance if any extension is added as the floating element cannot take this into account. So unlike a truly 'classical' design it is somewhat modified.

 

So I would suggest that a 'true' classically' designed macro lens might be a better solution for use with extension tubes. FWIW I have looked into this significantly with 35mm FF and lenses such as Canon's 60mm EFS IF design macro lens, whilst designed for smaller format coverage, work very well indeed with short extensions (12mm tube) and will cover FF from about 40cm down to greater than 1:1. However when I use 25mm of extension there is a significant performance drop so 12mm is the limit as far as I am concerned (on 20MPixelish). Conventional designs such as Nikon's older 60mm macro work well with substantial extension and lenses such as the 60mm macro-Elmarit do too. Canon's 65mm MPE is a 'classical' design.

 

FWIW changes in optical design which have helped significantly with AF speed (lighter internal optical parts require less power and have less inertia) have also resulted in ons of more specialist application and more limited abilities.

 

I would be interested to hear about the performance of the 120S with extenders as it appears that Leica may have taken a hybrid approach based on their floating element design understanding. It will also be interesting to see if they ever decide to produce any equipment specifically intended for higher magnifications again (as were the Photars).

[menos I M6]

Best option:

 

Leica C645 adapter + 120/4 APO-Makro Planar + auto extension tubes, as needed (not really as the Contax mount 120/4 does 1:1 already out of the box without any gadgets)

benefits:

- lens performance on par with Leica 120mm Macro

- fully supported EXIF data and lens functions

- extension tubes are auto tubes (again: full functions including EXIF data)

- 1:1 macro ability without any gizmos

 

 

Alternative options if the cost for the Contax adapter are out of budget:

Get any other legacy macro lens + tubes as needed and a "dumb" adapter to S mount.

Options are Pentax, Hasselblad, Mamiya, …

 

benefits:

- You save the cost for the expensive Contax 645 adapter (at the cost of not fully supported lens functions, especially with Macro lenses, lacking the auto aperture feature it can be a bit annoying)

- you may find another legacy system you want to share lenses with

 

There are no options for your Leica 120mm Macro lens.

You can only use another lens to get closer.

[darylgo]

Neil, there is a not-so-easy way to test your lens.   Put your camera on a copy stand, place your negative or whatever you want to copy at the approximate position to fill most of the frame, take your lens off the camera and while holding it in your hand move it toward the object and carefully view in the finder, at some point you might see it pop into sharp focus and if you have rock steady hands you could hold it and photograph with a cable release.  

 

If this works then forget about this approach, there is no useful way to implement it unless you have access to a machine shop.   Rather,  buy some close up lenses, attach them to the filter thread and see what results.