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R to L adapter


paul.bridges.3388

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With my new SL2-s, I’ve been picking up some older prime lenses to play with and to build on my 75/2 APO SL prime.

The availability of $35 Urth L-adapters attracted me to the Elmar-R 180/4, which gives me some useful extra reach (for very little money). But, the Urth R to L adapter isn’t working on it. Anyone else found an adapter that works on the R-lenses? Other than the $$$$$ Leica R to L adapter, which is nearly as much as the Elmer Lens itself!

Edited by paul.bridges.3388
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15 hours ago, paul.bridges.3388 said:

With my new SL2-s, I’ve been picking up some older prime lenses to play with and to build on my 75/2 APO SL prime.

The availability of $35 Urth L-adapters attracted me to the Elmar-R 180/4, which gives me some useful extra reach (for very little money). But, the Urth R to L adapter isn’t working on it. Anyone else found an adapter that works on the R-lenses? Other than the $$$$$ Leica R to L adapter, which is nearly as much as the Elmer Lens itself!

Urth adapters are a bit weird. I bought one each for M and R mount for my SL2. At first they "didn't work" as in the EVF and LCD were totally dark as if the camera was off. I then found that if you don't tighten it fully then it works. They also don't click and lock, so you can remove them without pressing the lens release button on the camera which is strange. Perhaps unique to the samples I got. 

While the build quality and finish seems acceptable, hard to recommend this brand.

 

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3 hours ago, ravinj said:

Urth adapters are a bit weird.

EVF and LCD were totally dark as if the camera was off. I then found that if you don't tighten it fully then it works.

While the build quality and finish seems acceptable, hard to recommend this brand.

Yes: total blackout. I assume the digital data connection isn’t being made. They otherwise appear well made. My Urth M to L works nicely - no issues.

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9 hours ago, paul.bridges.3388 said:

Yes: total blackout. I assume the digital data connection isn’t being made. They otherwise appear well made. My Urth M to L works nicely - no issues.

Novoflex will not let you down. Very high quality, and priced way below Leicas own.

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Novoflex has co-operated with Leica for decades. When the Leica SL was launched, Novoflex made an adapter where you could use Canon EOS lenses and to some extent retain autofocus. The adapter was not that successful and autofocus left a lot to be desired. I asked Novoflex why there is no firmware update to correct this, and learnt that they had lost the support of Leica. Why this happened, I have no idea.

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5 minutes ago, Ivar B said:

Novoflex has co-operated with Leica for decades. When the Leica SL was launched, Novoflex made an adapter where you could use Canon EOS lenses and to some extent retain autofocus. The adapter was not that successful and autofocus left a lot to be desired. I asked Novoflex why there is no firmware update to correct this, and learnt that they had lost the support of Leica. Why this happened, I have no idea.

A logical business decision, I guess. With the L mount alliance, there were enough native lenses becoming available not to need adapter support. Why encourage “competitor” glass?

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29 minutes ago, paul.bridges.3388 said:

A logical business decision, I guess. With the L mount alliance, there were enough native lenses becoming available not to need adapter support. Why encourage “competitor” glass?

Maybe, but Sigma offers the same adapter. Unfortunately, it does not work on the SL but is actually quite good on the SL2 and the Panasonic models.

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It should be noted however that the L-mount Alliance does not cover adapters so Sigma’s version technically doesn’t guaranty support in future camera bodies. That being said, I would expect since Sigma is in the L-mount Alliance, they would at least know the specs of the latest L-mount protocol/electrical specs as it evolves over time and they can likely put out firmware updates for their adapter to accommodate changes in the specs.

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On 1/29/2021 at 2:20 PM, beewee said:

Sigma’s version technically doesn’t guaranty support in future camera bodies

It also only supports a small list of Sigma's EOS-mount lenses. It happens to work with more lenses than that, but that's just a happy coincidence.

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19 hours ago, Michael Patrick Ryan said:

bought a $40 one that is extremely smooth

Might be an idea to check the flange-distances though with an accurate caliper.  Most adapters (including the Novoflex) are made a little short to ensure infiinity focus.  Unfortunately this messes up the in-close performance of floating element lenses, of which there are a few in among the R lens range.

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  • 3 years later...

I don’t have experience with Urth.

However, I want to mention that the Leica adapter has an issue with non-Rom lenses. There’s a problem where one of the cam levers can cause a short circuit with the adapter contacts at f5.6, leading to the SL camera forgetting the preset lens type. This usually occurs when adjusting the aperture slowly through f5.6, going from f4 to f8 or the opposite. If you adjust quickly enough, the short circuit won’t have any negative consequences. Leica knows about this issue but instead of updating the firmware, they recommend permanently modifying a non-Rom lens by removing the cam lever.

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Gosh - that's helpful / food for thought!  I'm still debating if it's sensible to go in this direction or get one of the modern L mount lenses that are available.  There are good (enough) ones available used for under £400.  For occasional use it might be the way to go .  Otherwise I might even think about getting an extension tube and trying that with my 75 Apo for my very occasional need for macro.

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10 minutes ago, chris_tribble said:

Gosh - that's helpful / food for thought!  I'm still debating if it's sensible to go in this direction or get one of the modern L mount lenses that are available.  There are good (enough) ones available used for under £400.  For occasional use it might be the way to go .  Otherwise I might even think about getting an extension tube and trying that with my 75 Apo for my very occasional need for macro.

the Apo lenses don't do well with extension tubes, I have them here and don't use them, the way the lens is designed it just not worth it.Look into a different macro, Panasonic 100. 
I have been using lowa 100 x2, what is good for digitizing, but hard to focus for everyday lens

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@Photoworks  that’s helpful. I wonder why… would the extension tube work with the 24~90 at the wide end?  I’ve got one on order from Amazon (Fotodiox 35mm - the only one I can get in the Uk) so can always return if it doesn’t do the job. It’s only for occasional use .

And hey - I’ve just thought I can also use my M lenses with the M-L adapter - and these might be ok. I’ll be interested if the new 50 Summicron close focus does anything with this rig… I lose the benefit of the AF, so could as well have used a dumb adapter, but we’ll see.  I’ll report back to this thread…

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If you already own the M-L adapter, it might be an idea to get an M-R adapter and stack them together for R lenses on an SL. There’s no issue here with cam lenses in this setup.

I own an excellent APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 2.8/100mm lens. Though it’s manual focus, it’s one of the finest macro lenses ever crafted. It also serves well as a medium telephoto lens.  Used prices are ok and you should be able to find plenty of them. 

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