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R lenses & the M10


dkCambridgeshire

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R lenses experienced a resurgence of interest when the M240 was announced in September 2012 and a further resurgence with the introduction of the SL 601 in October 2015.  Because the M10 with the Type 020 Visoflex (as used with the Leica T and X Type 113) offers a much improved live view experience compared to the M240, there could be another resurgence of interest in the longer focal Leica R lenses - especially the APO primes and later Solms designed R zooms. If demand increases then certain R lenses, some of which are already quite scarce on the 'used' market, could command higher prices.

 

" … I never said sell your R lenses … keep them ... " - Stefan Daniel talking to Thorsten Overgaard, Photokina, Sept 19 2012.

 

If you are considering acquiring an R lens, buying 'now' rather than 'later' could save a few £$€. 

 

dunk  

Edited by dkCambridgeshire
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Stefan Daniel was telling R users to keep their lenses long before that interview. 

 

He was asked about the future for R users - Leica just having dropped the R system - during a forum meeting in Hessenpark back in 2008 (IIRC - it can't have been 2009)

 

He said then that he owned lots of R lenses himself and he wasn't selling any of them.

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I ownwed a Leica R8 for a while and have to say I loved this camera.

I hoped for a long time Leica would bring out this camera as digital fullframe DSLR

so I could use all this amazing glas - but nope !

 

Don´t like the Leica SL and wouldn´t use the R lens on a M.

 

 

I agree with you SS, if Leica even bought out an updated DMR I believe they would be onto a winner.

The R8 while HUGE certainly is very nice, I am enjoying mine.

Gary

 

 

 

A FF (135 format) Leica DSLR or an updated FF DMR would not be a viable or possible project for several reasons:

 

An updated FF DMR is impossible as it would require a much larger SLR body than that provided by the R8 /R9; it would be HUGE and does not exist; it's impossible to shoehorn a FF DMR Mk II onto an R8 or R9 size body ... which is why the existing DMR was designed as a 1.37 crop format digital back. Manual focus R lenses could not be put back into production and there are insufficient numbers of them on the 'used' market to warrant production of a new FF DSLR or an SLR with a Mk II DMR . Demand for manual focus FF SLR / DSLR lenses is low and could not justify introduction of a new 135 format Leica SLR or DSLR; an AF 135 format DSLR would require a whole new Leica AF DSLR lens range which would be a major design / production exercise with poor sales potential.   This has all been discussed in previous threads. Leica is a relatively small company and has its hands full with commitments to the SL / TL mirrorless system and its M rangefinder models and the S series. 

 

dunk 

Edited by dkCambridgeshire
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An updated FF DMR is impossible as it would require a much larger SLR body than that provided by the R8 /R9; it would be HUGE and does not exist; it's impossible to shoehorn a FF DMR Mk II onto an R8 or R9 size body ... which is why the existing DMR was designed as a 1.37 crop format digital back.

dunk is spot on. Kodak too, built what might be described as 'near equivalents' of the DMR inasmuch as they produced backs which would fit onto existing cameras but the crop factor problem was there (I have a 1.5 MPixel DCS420 2.7x crop factor version) and was not resolved until custom modified full-frame cameras were built (non-removable backs). The last (DS Pro/N) was a 14 MPixel, full-frame modified Nikon - much like the Fuji S2Pro and the modifications were permanent in a different bodyshell to the original camera's. So history should show us that a full-frame removable back has never been a viable possibility and this remains the case.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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I ownwed a Leica R8 for a while and have to say I loved this camera.

I hoped for a long time Leica would bring out this camera as digital fullframe DSLR

so I could use all this amazing glas - but nope !

 

Don´t like the Leica SL and wouldn´t use the R lens on a M.

 

 

I certainly do use and like R-glass on the SL (the 100 APO f2.8 macro and 280 APO f4 are simply put  b e a u t i f u l  ). R-glass on the M240-system, now, that's a totally different story... The EVF/live view of the M10 is likely much improved relative to the M240 - but I can hardly imagine that it matches the technical level that the SL provides. Horses of courses...

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  • 4 weeks later...

Sadly lacking in one very significant way though of course, Leicaiste. 

 

re: R on M

Does anyone know if there is any practical difference between the Novoflex (LEM/LER) R to M Mount adapter and the Leica one?

Is there any benefit in paying double for the Leica one? Thanks.

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Stefan Daniel was telling R users to keep their lenses long before that interview. 

 

He was asked about the future for R users - Leica just having dropped the R system - during a forum meeting in Hessenpark back in 2008 (IIRC - it can't have been 2009)

 

He said then that he owned lots of R lenses himself and he wasn't selling any of them.

But he also said that there would be a body to mount R lenses on, and that it would not be built by Leica. The last part of that prediction, in retrospect, turned out to be overly pessimistic.

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Thanks jaapv, tripod mount I can live without. Novoflex it is.

 

The SL would be great too but I'd never get around to actually using it, the M10 covers all I'd ever need with digital.

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Don't be put off by the negativism sometimes displayed here against R lenses on M cameras. in reality they work flawlessly, even on the M240. The M10, with its more comfortable EVF, should do even better.

 

I'm puzzled by the technical level remark. Technically there is no difference between SL and M in this respect, as a manual lens needs  no specific technology to connect to a body other than a passive adapter. The only real advantage of the SL is the quality of the EVF and thus ease of focusing and esthetics of the viewfinder image.

Now if the SL would be able to operate the automatic aperture, that would be a different story.

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Don't be put off by the negativism sometimes displayed here against R lenses on M cameras. in reality they work flawlessly, even on the M240. The M10, with its more comfortable EVF, should do even better.

 

I'm puzzled by the technical level remark. Technically there is no difference between SL and M in this respect, as a manual lens needs  no specific technology to connect to a body other than a passive adapter. The only real advantage of the SL is the quality of the EVF and thus ease of focusing and esthetics of the viewfinder image.

Now if the SL would be able to operate the automatic aperture, that would be a different story.

 

But isn't the R to SL adapter slightly smart with respect to ROM R lenses, in that it sends lens information to the camera automatically, without having to select the lens from a menu (as in the case of the M)? I realise this is just a small point.

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Film.

As far as I remember, the R10 was supposed to be digital only.

 

The R9 had, and still has, everything you wanted to have in a film manual focusing camera body. Plus the possibility to switch to digital if needed.

Edited by Leicaiste
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I didn't know it (the R10) was supposed to be digital only. I'm better informed now.

The R9 DMR is a very poor value proposition today or I might have been tempted to investigate further.

It'd make more financial sense to buy a digital V system back for me personally (not that I will.)

 

Just noting the demise of the R film body really. My R6 does for me.

 

I've gone for the M10 as a compromise between M and R biased towards the M mount but I agree the SL looks superb for an R-centric digital solution.

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  • 4 months later...

I have the M10 and my longest lens is the Elmarit-M 90mm f.2.4

 

Wanting a longer bit of reach, I have just orderd the APO Telyt-R 180mm f.3.4 & the Leica R to M lens adapter.  I found these items at the Leica Store in Washington DC and at Setadel Studios store in Toronto.

 

I am looking forward to having more telephoto use with this lens.

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  • 2 months later...

Hi All!

I have just tried my SL 601 and M10 & EVF visoflex 002 with R 180 f2.8 v2. I found on this R len, Focus peaking and magnification of SL 601 has worked well, but on EVF 002 of M10 did not work (peaking & magnificatio). Pls advice or share your experience!

Have a nice weekend!

Thanks!

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