7artisans close focus adapter - M lenses on L-mount?

[profus]

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Hi,

Anyone used this adapter from 7artisans? Is it something worth considering? How's the quality of the images taken with it? Could it be used with all M-lenses? Could I keep my 50-Lux and stop
thinking about the new "close-focusing" model?
Anyone used it with Noctilux or Voigtländer 50 f/1.0 VM (with their MFD being 1.0m / 0.9 m respectively)

Thank you/ Alex

ps. Sorry if this was already discussed.

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Edited April 25, 2023 by profus

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[Boojay]

I have a copy of the Voigtlander Close Focus Adaptor, have used it occasionally in the last few years on various L mount bodies, mostly on the CL, and yes it has worked with all M mount lenses I have tried it with.  It's not the best fitting adaptor, there is some play at the mount, but it can be fun and give some interesting results.  I find lenses at infinity with the adaptor on normal not close focus setting lose some sharpness, most notably with the Noctilux f/1 which I have always considered a super sharp lens at f/5.6 and f/8, definite loss of detail and IQ at infinity.  It is quite difficult to get anything in focus with the Noctilux wide open in Close Focus setting, just a quick example from outside this morning on the CL to show how close you can get with a 1m MFD lens.

This with adaptor at normal range... as close as it gets with the 50mm f/1 on the CL

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and this is what you get in Close Focus

This Noctilux on S5II - Normal range

Close Focus setting S5II Voigt f/1

 

Maybe others will have examples... know I have seen other posts on the forum with the adaptor at one time or another, only thing I would add is that I wouldn't want it as my only M-L mount adaptor.

Edited April 25, 2023 by Boojay

[Al Brown]

2 hours ago, profus said:

How's the quality of the images taken with it?

The images are absolutely the same, apart from close focus where all these lenses are not optimized to perform. There the IQ is worse, but you do have close focus.
My Noctilux 0.95 was particularly bad in the close area.

Edited April 25, 2023 by Al Brown

[hdmesa]

All close focus adapters expose grease to the sensor when the helicoid is extended and make it easy to accidentally transfer to you hands, which means the grease can end up anywhere. On top of that, every close focus adapter I have tried has literally leaked grease onto the mount surface. All these manufacturers use a grease formula that is much too light, and they will leak unexpectedly in warmer weather (sometimes just at indoor temperatures in the summer).

I highly recommend avoiding a helicoid macro M adapter unless you are willing to send it to a service center/person like DAG to replace the grease with something heavier. Even then, the helicoid should be retracted before dismounting the adapter to avoid exposing the grease to accidental contact with your hands.

[lct]

About the 7artisans close focus adapter on digital CL, see:

 

[Al Brown]

33 minutes ago, hdmesa said:

I highly recommend avoiding a helicoid macro M adapter unless you are willing to send it to a service center/person like DAG to replace the grease with something heavier. Even then, the helicoid should be retracted before dismounting the adapter to avoid exposing the grease to accidental contact with your hands.

It is really not such a bad experience, I have used the silver macro M adapter extensively and in warm tropical climate. Everybody's mileage may, of course, vary.

[hdmesa]

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19 minutes ago, Al Brown said:

It is really not such a bad experience, I have used the silver macro M adapter extensively and in warm tropical climate. Everybody's mileage may, of course, vary.

I've had trouble with macro adapters from: Kipon (exposes grease when helicoid is extended, must take care not to touch the helicoid by accident – rear mount has to be occasionally wiped off due to excess grease), TTA (leaked grease), and Hawk's Factory (leaked grease).

My environment is different, though – hi heat, low humidity, high altitude. Perhaps the higher humidity helps.

[Boojay]

An even older thread for anyone interested

 

[Al Brown]

40 minutes ago, hdmesa said:

I've had trouble with macro adapters from: Kipon (exposes grease when helicoid is extended, must take care not to touch the helicoid by accident – rear mount has to be occasionally wiped off due to excess grease), TTA (leaked grease), and Hawk's Factory (leaked grease).

My environment is different, though – hi heat, low humidity, high altitude. Perhaps the higher humidity helps.

High heat, high humidity helping? (makes Kevin from 1990 Home Alone face) I don't think so...
Mine was a 30$ all-silver one and it did a decent job. The weight of the 50/0.95 noctilux made it bend ever so slightly downwards but nothing radical.

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[hdmesa]

49 minutes ago, Al Brown said:

High heat, high humidity helping? (makes Kevin from 1990 Home Alone face) I don't think so...
Mine was a 30$ all-silver one and it did a decent job. The weight of the 50/0.95 noctilux made it bend ever so slightly downwards but nothing radical.

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I didn't say high heat should be helping. I was trying to say that high heat in a high altitude desert environment like mine could cause the grease to react differently versus high heat in a tropical or coastal environment. We have opposite experiences with these adapters, so either the environment or the brand is the difference.

I've never tried a cheap $30 adapter so maybe that's the key. Perhaps they don't lubricate those at all or apply less to save on cost. But I still wouldn't go cheap with a helicoid adapter since "slight" bending of the adapter as you describe sounds like something I would want to avoid.

Edited April 25, 2023 by hdmesa

[Photoworks]

I think it works fine for what it is, to me it does not replace the Leica version.

Something that nobody mentioned is that only the Leica adapter will give you in-camera corrections when using a 6-bit lens. With the Noctilux and wide-angle lenses, it makes a big difference. Vignetting and color uniformity across the frame.
SL cameras only apply it when they can verify with hardware reading that it is the correct lens.

that said the Noctilux lenses are not optimized for close focus and are of for soft portraits.

You have to watch out for the grease, when I first used it I saw it dripping, I did wipe it down with alcohol and removed most of it.

1 benefit is that you could set the focus to infinity and then turn the adapter until you see the focus in infinity, now you have a hard stop to it.

When you go close you have to step down a few stops to get image quality back. that is the same with the new 50 LUX v2

[hdmesa]

4 hours ago, Photoworks said:

I think it works fine for what it is, to me it does not replace the Leica version.

Something that nobody mentioned is that only the Leica adapter will give you in-camera corrections when using a 6-bit lens. With the Noctilux and wide-angle lenses, it makes a big difference. Vignetting and color uniformity across the frame.
SL cameras only apply it when they can verify with hardware reading that it is the correct lens.

that said the Noctilux lenses are not optimized for close focus and are of for soft portraits.

You have to watch out for the grease, when I first used it I saw it dripping, I did wipe it down with alcohol and removed most of it.

1 benefit is that you could set the focus to infinity and then turn the adapter until you see the focus in infinity, now you have a hard stop to it.

When you go close you have to step down a few stops to get image quality back. that is the same with the new 50 LUX v2

Good points.

I most often use the Leica M-Adapter-L simply because I trust it: perfect fit to the mount, communication of 6-bit coding, and having perfect planarity to the sensor.

[Al Brown]

8 hours ago, hdmesa said:

"slight" bending of the adapter as you describe sounds like something I would want to avoid.

True, it was the main reason I stopped using it, but on the Noctilux wide open it was not an obvious flaw - field curvature was already doing its thing around the edges (I was shooting vertically).
The bending was due to the hefty weight of the Nox, would not happen to, say, a pre-asph 35 lux.
To summarize, I am done with close focusing helicoid adapters.

Edited April 26, 2023 by Al Brown

[profus]

Thank you all for your contributions - much appreciated!

Have a nice day!

/Alex

[cboy]

On 4/26/2023 at 5:19 AM, hdmesa said:

I've had trouble with macro adapters from: Kipon (exposes grease when helicoid is extended, must take care not to touch the helicoid by accident – rear mount has to be occasionally wiped off due to excess grease), TTA (leaked grease), and Hawk's Factory (leaked grease).

I agree with the problems using the Kipon M-L adapter. The helicoid was so stiff and greasy in my experience. I do not recommend.

[marduk]

Any experience with the Haoge or Light Lens Lab one? The LLL especially is so easy to get. I am not sure how much closer you can focus with that.