Non Rangefinders lens question.

[Svassh]

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?

[earleygallery]

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.

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[dpitt]

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.

[Svassh]

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.

[Michael Geschlecht]

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

[Svassh]

@Michael, thanks for the thorough explanation.