Adapting Zeiss ZF.2 Lens to Leica SL

[hhn360]

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Does anyone have experience with adapting Zeiss ZF.2 (Nikon F mount) lenses to the SL?  I want to use my 50 & 100 ZF.2 Makro Planar lenses.  I have both 2 versions of the Novoflex F to SL adapter (the autofocus E type lens, and the non-autofocus version).  I was shooting in manual and changed the aperture on the aperture ring, but everything seem to be shot wide open.  Am I doing something wrong?  Is there a different adapter I should be using?

 

 

[helged]

Does anyone have experience with adapting Zeiss ZF.2 (Nikon F mount) lenses to the SL?  I want to use my 50 & 100 ZF.2 Makro Planar lenses.  I have both 2 versions of the Novoflex F to SL adapter (the autofocus E type lens, and the non-autofocus version).  I was shooting in manual and changed the aperture on the aperture ring, but everything seem to be shot wide open.  Am I doing something wrong?  Is there a different adapter I should be using?

 

 

See post #5 here; for manual Nikon lenses you need the Novoflex LETNIK adapter - the aperture is then adjusted by the blue ring on the adapter. 

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[hhn360]

See post #5 here; for manual Nikon lenses you need the Novoflex LETNIK adapter - the aperture is then adjusted by the blue ring on the adapter. 

 

Thank you so much!!

[profus]

See post #5 here; for manual Nikon lenses you need the Novoflex LETNIK adapter - the aperture is then adjusted by the blue ring on the adapter. 

 

Only partly true. Setting blue ring on a small circle makes you able to adjust aperture directly on your ZF.2 lens. That is how I do it. 

PS. ZF.2 lenses works as charm on SL ( at least that is the case with 85 mm Milvus and 135/2)

Edited May 2, 2018 by profus

[mmradman]

For classic aperture ring control I stack dumb Fotodiox Nikon F to L/M adaptor with Leica M Adaptor L.  No vignette issue with longer lenses.  Widest i tried is 50mm.  Added bonus of using smart Leica adaptor I can select nearest FL/F-stop M lens in the camera menu.

Edited May 2, 2018 by mmradman

[jaapv]

And you can use focus magnification.

[helged]

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...and you get 11 fps with (any) manual adapters at "Continuous High Speed". With electronic adapters with non-Leica lenses (like Nikon E-lenses), you only get 3-3.5 fps at CHS. The 11 vs 3.5 fps difference is often important for me, so I tend to use manual adapter(s) on the SL.

[Photon42]

And you can use focus magnification.

 

 

I would second this. Use the Nikon F to Leica M and the Leica M to Leica T adapter stacked. The camera then essentially sees the F-mount lens as an "uncoded M lens". More flexibility due to M lens mount accessibility, magnification works (also on the CL). The Leica M/T adapters pop up relatively often as used.

 

There are three F-mount lens type families, you need to be aware of:

1. Pre AI/AI/AIs: (like the Zeiss ones): For these lenses the Novoflex blue ring can be set to minimum as described here -
2. Nikon G lenses: for any AF-S lenses the blue ring is your only bet to open up the aperture. The adapter needs to have this ring (may be coloured differently with other vendors as Novoflex)
3. The new E lenses (not the old E ones ...) have electronic aperture control - thus the aperture cannot be controlled mechanically. Luckily, the default aperture is in this cases always the largest one (smallest f-stop number). There is a trick to change this, but that goes to far here

Enjoy.

 

Ivo