Svassh Posted October 15, 2016 Share #1 Posted October 15, 2016 Advertisement (gone after registration) New to rangefinder with a Leica M8. I have some older film lens like my Zeiss Planar 50mm 1.7. Will this work on the M8 with an adapter? Or will I not be able to focus correctly? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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earleygallery Posted October 15, 2016 Share #2 Posted October 15, 2016 You will have to focus by guessing as the lens won't couple to the rangefinder. Or you could buy one of the hot shoe mountable rangefinders. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpitt Posted October 15, 2016 Share #3 Posted October 15, 2016 Only the super wide angles make sense on the M without rangefinder coupling IMO. Sometimes I use my 19mm Elmarit-R on my M9 with good results. Anything longer makes zone focussing on guessed distances too hard... unless you close the lens to F8.0 or smaller. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Svassh Posted October 15, 2016 Author Share #4 Posted October 15, 2016 You will have to focus by guessing as the lens won't couple to the rangefinder. Or you could buy one of the hot shoe mountable rangefinders. Only the super wide angles make sense on the M without rangefinder coupling IMO. Sometimes I use my 19mm Elmarit-R on my M9 with good results. Anything longer makes zone focussing on guessed distances too hard... unless you close the lens to F8.0 or smaller. Thank you for your answers it wasn't clear to me if the rangefinder coupling was tied to the lens mount. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Geschlecht Posted October 20, 2016 Share #5 Posted October 20, 2016 (edited) Hello Svassh, Welcome to the Forum Yes, Leica lenses which are built for use with rangefinder mechanisms have that mechanism built into the lens mount itself. Each time you put a different lens on the camera body you automatically & correctly couple that lens's own rangefinder coupling mechanism to the connecting mechanism inside the camera body. This connecting mechanism then connects the rotary motion of your focusing the lens to the rangefinder that you see in the range/viewfinder window. The connecting body in the camera is a small "roller" at the top of the opening for the lens in the camera body. This "roller" is moved back & forth by coming in contact with the gently curved surface on the lens mount which is called the "rangefinder cam". The "cam" & the "roller" come into contact with each other when the lens is put into the camera body & then the lens is rotated about 1/6th of a turn clockwise. You will hear a "clich" where/when the lens stops turning. The lens can be set at any aperture & the focus mount can be set at any distance when you do this. Everything aligns correctly & works appropriately. To take off the lens you simply depress the button at 09:00/21:00 and rotate the lens about 1/6th of a turn counter clockwise. It does not matter what distance or aperture are set on the lens. Altho some people find it easier for themselves to put on or take off the lens with the focus set at Infinity & the aperture set to maximum. Best Regards, Michael Edited October 20, 2016 by Michael Geschlecht Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Svassh Posted October 21, 2016 Author Share #6 Posted October 21, 2016 @Michael, thanks for the thorough explanation. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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