SL Macro adapters

[Bobitybob]

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FD 50mm … yes it's a good lens … there was no FD 60mm.

 

dunk

Yes, that's right it is of course a f3.5/50. You know what all men are like, always exaggerating the length of things

[hsw]

If you are looking for a cheap alternative then you could look at Canon FD Macro lenses and a Chinese adapter.  Canon made 3 macro FD lenses at 60, 100, and 200 as well as extension rings and mulitliers.  Very good for the price and fairly easily available from the well known internet auction site.  I have the 60mm and have used it with both the M and now the SL.

 

 

 

 

By the way, it's intersting that you mention manual selection of R lens profiles as I also use the Novoflex LET/LER adapter and can't get the selected lens to show in the EXIF, how did you manage to do this?

 

Can't get the R lens in EXIF either; not sure why it won't show up since it's already entered...

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[Ingo]

Just ordered an 82mm to 77mm stepping ring so can use a Canon 500D (2 diopter) 77mm achromatic c/u lens with the SL 24-90mm lens. 

 

dunk

I also use this combination. Works perfect. Even better with the 90-280.

[dkCambridgeshire]

Get the 24-90 zoom and just add a +5d Marumi 77mm macro lens with an 82 to 77 step down ring ...... total cost (in the uk) of about $100. ..... ( ok, and $5000 for the zoom  ) 

 

Performance is on par with a dedicated macro lens like the 100mm and 60mm r macros or the 90mm M series with the adapter...... I've posted plenty of examples.... plus you have image stabilisation, no aperture alterations and autofocus.

 

There is not much advantage of the SL over an M if you are not going to exploit the dedicated SL lenses .....

 

L1305778.jpg

 

 

 

I've just ordered the Polaroid 77mm 250D Achromatic c/u lens.

 

The Polaroid 250D is £50.99 and 500D is £52.99 … approx half the price of the Marumi equivalents. 

 

dunk 

[wlaidlaw]

For a dedicated macro lens, the Contax 60 and 100 mm Makro lenses are very good indeed and now good value. There are different models of each, some with a built in macro extender, some without, so you you need to investigate what would suit your exact requirements. These work very well with a Novoflex LEM/CONT adapter then M to T/L or with just the new LET/CONT. The advantage of the first route is that you can code the LEM/CONT adapter as a Leica R to M, then access the R menu to select the nearest equivalent R lens to the Contax lens you have mounted. 

 

Just make sure you don't buy an N series or 645 series lens. These will only work on the relevant Contax Autofocus cameras, Phase One cameras or indifferently with a focus confirmation adapter on Canon DSLR's. Full details of the lenses here http://www.contaxcameras.co.uk/slr/slrmanlenses.html . If you can find the later rarer Japanese built MMJ series lenses rather than the earlier German AEG, the lenses will not only be newer, are equally well made but also have an improved T* coating. They are usually cheaper than the German built models, if and when you can find them, possibly due to snob value. 

 

Wilson

[dkCambridgeshire]

I have both the Contax 60mm Macro and the Leitz 60mm R and will be comparing / using both with the SL camera - but also wish to exploit the SL 24-90mm lens' usable c/u potential via supplementary achromatic c/u lenses - which coupled with the relatively fast AF of the SL might make easy work of the proposed c/u subject matter. 

 

Best wishes

 

dunk

[wlaidlaw]

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I have both the Contax 60mm Macro and the Leitz 60mm R and will be comparing / using both with the SL camera - but also wish to exploit the SL 24-90mm lens' usable c/u potential via supplementary achromatic c/u lenses - which coupled with the relatively fast AF of the SL might make easy work of the proposed c/u subject matter. 

 

Best wishes

 

dunk

 

Dunk, 

 

I would suggest you could do worse than to contact Jonathon Slack (he lives not far away from you). He has being doing quite a bit of Macro with the SL 24-90 and supplementary close focus lenses. The easiest way to find him is via Facebook. Jono is always ready to help. 

 

Wilson

[helged]

The Carl Zeiss S-Planar T* 100mm f/4.0 is a very fine macro lens. It is small and light-weight, but it requires either a bellow or a focus helicoid. It will focus to infinity with either, but bellows are required for higher magnification (up to 1.4:1 with the bellows).

 

With respect to micro-sharpness, the S-Planar is comparable with Leica APO Macro Elmarit-R 100mm f/2.8. For colour rendering, high-lights in the scene (flaring) or general usability at longer distances, the APO R-100 is a preferable choice.

 

Both are technically best at f5.6-f8, although the APO R-100 is good between f4-f8 and just a little soft at f2.8 and f11.

 

I use stacked adapters: Novoflex CONT->Leica M + Leica M->T for the S-planar, and Leica R->M + M->T for the APO R-100. For the latter I use the ELPRO adapter to get to 1:1 magnification.

 

Due to the narrow opening of the R->M adapter, the corners gets black with both lenses at high magnification and small aperture. Hopefully the new Leica R-T adapter will improve on this (or alternatively, a single Novoflex R-T or CONT-T adapter can be used).

 

For illustrative purposes, two images are shown below, shot with the SL at f4 and 400 ISO without post-processing; one image at 1:3 magnification and the other at about 1:1 mag. In this case with the APO R-100.

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Edited July 17, 2016 by helged

[helged]

Then 100% crop of the 1:1 images, first Leica at f8 (no sharpening).

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Edited July 17, 2016 by helged

[helged]

And then the Contax at f8 (no sharpening).

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Edited July 17, 2016 by helged

[helged]

And finally, an example of the corner vignetting. Leica APO R100 f2.8 at f22 with stacked adapters.

 

 

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[steppenw0lf]

You say that at f 11 it begins to soften (actually diffraction begins to raise its ugly head) - so why should I care about the vignetting at f 22 when the result will be much softer anyway. I never use the lens stopped down that far - so never noticed the problem and never cared about it. (A problem was detected, that never was a problem.)

      

The Zeiss Contax 2.8/100 is the better lens (than the bellows version) regarding usability, but even it is slightly weaker than the Apo Macro 100. But the difference is often too small to really matter.

The most flexible is the new Zeiss 2/100 Macro (e.g. with Nikon bayonet), a real recommendation if you are looking for the latest in performance and want an untouched lens. (Even marginally better than the Apo Macro 100, but again not that it really matters)

I still usually prefer the Apo Macro 100 because I know exactly how it "behaves" (at least down to f 11). 

 

The f 2 is better used for portraits than for macro (insufficient DoF), but it improves the flexibility of the lens.

Edited July 18, 2016 by steppenw0lf

[steppenw0lf]

But I agree that the old Zeiss bellows macro is definitely preferable to a 24-90 plus achromat combination.

And also much cheaper.

I wonder how the 90-280 would be with an achromat, probably slightly better (just a guess).

Has anybody tried it ?

 

(Just to avoid unnecessary flames: Achromats are ok and produce good results for example for jewelry or stamps or coins etc.)

Edited July 18, 2016 by steppenw0lf

[helged]

Well - I showed the corner effect at f22 because it is so clearly evident and well-defined stopped down. But it shows up at all f-stops, albeit with least corner-shading at f2.8 (see below, from 100APO+ELPRO). So the corner effect is real - irrespective of the aperture used.

 

I have tested Zeiss 2/100 Macro as well - but I prefer the APO Macro 100 for macro.

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Edited July 18, 2016 by helged

[dkCambridgeshire]

First experiment using stacked 77mm Polaroid 250D (4 diopter) and Canon 500D (2 diopter) achromatic c/u lenses with SL 24-90mm at 90mm setting - resultant 6 diopter combination.

 

 

But first without the c/u lenses at 90mm:

 

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House Leek flower head at approx. closest focus distance of 24-90mm lens at 90mm without c/u lenses; f7.1,  0.4sec, ISO 100 

 

 

 

And next, with the stacked adapters:

 

 

 

House Leek flowers at closest focus distance with stacked 6 diopter c/u lens combination; f8  0.6sec  ISO 100.  Dull-ish kitchen window daylight illumination utilising polystyrene reflectors.

 

 

The individual flowers are 35mm diameter thus magnification is approx 1:2  i.e. 0.5. Actual possible magnifications with separate and stacked c/u lenses will be determined in another experiment i.e. using a ruler as subject on the baseboard of a copy stand. 

 

The 77mm Polaroid 250D and 500D achromats cost £55; the Marumi 77mm equivalents are £105.  The Canon 77mm 500D c/u lens was purchased s/h for £49.

 

More experiments are planned using better lighting. 

 

 

Best wishes

 

dunk 

Edited July 18, 2016 by dkCambridgeshire

[dkCambridgeshire]

And this image was taken using the single Polaroid 250D achromatic c/u lens with the 24-90mm SL lens 

 

 

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Approx ⅓ life size … actual magnification difficult to determine accurately. 

 

 

dunk

 

 

 

[wlaidlaw]

I have not got it with me in France but when I was experimenting with Macro and the SL in the UK, I got my best results not with the Cokin CU lenses in their 75mm square holder and the 24-90 but with a Novoflex bellows. The second best lens was the 50mm Zeiss ZM Planar, with the best being a Rodestock Apo Rodagon N 80mm enlarging lens. I have since sold the Rodenstock to a friend who wants to do prints off slides on his Durst enlarger. 

 

Wilson

[dkCambridgeshire]

I have better marque macro lenses including bellows lenses ranging from 20mm to 200mm, enlarging lenses, adapted microfiche lenses and microscope lenses - but the objective of using the 'budget price' achromatic c/u lenses is to utilise the SL 24-90mm as an AF close-up lens.  However, macro lenses offer much less weight and better ergonomics.

 

The 24-90mm fitted with relatively heavy 77mm achromats - and with the camera on a focusing rack - is one 'front heavy' awkward lump to use and compose close-up images with. But have to finish what's been started. 

 

dunk 

Edited July 18, 2016 by dkCambridgeshire

[wlaidlaw]

My old Novoflex LTM-LTM bellows has very crude "macro" focusing with a lock screw on the outer slide, where you just slide the front end of the bellows backwards and forwards for approximate focus. However the "micro" focus is excellent with micrometer screw adjustment of the outer slide, which provides very fine adjustment indeed. The problem is I lent the bellows to someone else a few years ago and it came back without its two additional guide bars, which keep the front of the bellows dead parallel to the back. I am having a local engineering firm, Neve Engineering, who I used for years for making bits for various racing and vintage cars to make new guide bars. They agreed to do it in spite of it being rather beneath them. At the time I asked, they were building a new gearbox for a 1938 Auto Union Grand Prix car from scratch. 

 

I keep meaning to buy either a Contax or Yashica bellows, with the tilt/shift front, which are beautiful works of engineering but then I will need to get a whole lot of adapters, like I have collected for the Novoflex over the years. 

 

Wilson

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica L-Mount

[wlaidlaw]

Just bought a Yashica auto tilt shift bellows for €59. This bellows is identical apart from the logo to the Contax one. This one even comes with two additional extension rings. 

 

Wilson