LEICA MACRO-ADAPTER M: no alternative on the market?

[wolan]

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Hi,

I have been looking around  for a while, but apparently there are no alternatives to this Leica product: LEICA MACRO-ADAPTER M https://store.leica-camera.com/ch/de/leica-macro-adapter-m

Novoflex and Kipon have a ring set but not an adapter with an helicoid like the Leica one.

Do you now a similar product?

Thanks

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[lct]

For which cameras? M-mount only?

[wolan]

vor 2 Stunden schrieb lct:

For which cameras? M-mount only?

The adapter in question is Leica M cameras

[lct]

1 hour ago, wolan said:

The adapter in question is Leica M cameras

For Leica M cameras, i know only of two macro adapters so far:

• The current Leica Macro-Adapter v2 sans goggles (14652) which can work in LV mode with the Macro-Elmar-M 90/4 or any other M-mount lens, and

• The previous Leica Macro-Adapter v1 with goggles (14409) which can work with the same M-mount lenses in LV mode, but also in RF mode with the sole Macro-Elmar-M 90/4 thanks to its goggles that are made specially for that.

Edit: Beware that when used on the Macro-Adapter v1, M-mount lenses are mounted in reverse position. It is not a problem for the Macro-Elmar-M 90/4 that have markings on both sides of the lens but the markings of other M-mount lenses can only be read when the camera is in upside-down position.

Edited August 26, 2023 by lct

[darylgo]

Novoflex offers an "Extension Tube Set Leica M", it's more comprehensive than simply M, it works with screw mount lenses, visoflex lenses and M lenses.  I have no experience with it.  

https://www.novoflex.de/en/products-637/lens-adapters/extension-tube-set-leica-m.html

 

[Jean-Michel]

You could use bellows, but with some precautions. See http://www.waloszek.de/m240_closeup_3_e.php

[Robert Blanko]

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Some time ago I was also looking for Macro extensions and apart from bellows I only know the Leica helicoid adapter and the NOVOFLEX ring set.

I have both. The Leica adapter is more specific for the 90 macro Elmar and limited regarding the achievable magnification while the novoflex is more flexible and more sturdy.

[Guest]

I had the same problem at some stage and hesitated to buy the Leica macro adapter because of its outrageous price (in my opinion). If the goal is to have a medium tele lens that reaches up to 1:2 magnification, then there may be a couple of alternatives. All of them require either live view or an EVF:

• There is a Chinese copy of the original Leica macro adapter. It shall remain unnamed here because it is clearly based on Leica's IP (and it is still very expensive at about 50% of the Leica price). 
• You could adapt any other helicoid, e.g. those for the Pentax K system or one of the zillions of M42 helicoids on eBay (note: internal reflections may be a problem with these cheap helicoids in my experience). There is also the good old Mini-Makroschnecke from Zoerk. 
• If you are adventurous, you could dig into the Leitz history and adapt something like the Leitz OTZFO for your purposes. I have shown such solutions in this forum.
• You could adapt any 90-105mm manual focus macro lens such as a Micro-Nikkor 105mm (not coupled to the rangefinder, of course). 
• Or you get the Laowa 5.6/85mm macro lens that is available for Leica M and even reaches 2:1 magnification (and is still 1/3 cheaper than the Leica macro adapter M).
• An achromat could be a good alternative to an extension tube. I have an Olympus MCON-P02 achromat with 46mm filter thread that gives me a magnification range from about 1:3 to 1:2 in combination with the Elmarit-M 90mm. This achromat is surprisingly cheap and the quality is certainly sufficient for the occasional macro shot. As far as I know, this is the only achromat ever made with a 46mm filter thread.
• My preferred solution is the Leica bellows II with enlarger lenses. I started with a bellows II and two Schneider-Kreuznach Componon-S lenses (4.0/80mm and 5.6/105mm). The bellows needs L39 adapter 16590 to accept these and many other enlarger lenses. The whole set can be easily bought for about half of the price of the Leica macro adapter M. I use the bellows with live view on M10 and with EVF on CL. Caveat: this solution becomes much more expensive if the very best enlarger lenses are used (something like Apo-Rodagon-N 90mm or Leitz Focotar II 100mm).

I omit extension rings of fixed length (such as Leitz OUFRO or the Novoflex extension ring set) because I find these rather inflexible. It depends on your targeted application if any of the above solutions qualify as an alternative for the Leica macro adapter. 

Edited August 27, 2023 by Studienkamera

[wolan]

vor 20 Minuten schrieb Studienkamera:

I had the same problem at some stage and hesitated to buy the Leica macro adapter because of its outrageous price (in my opinion). If the goal is to have a medium tele lens that reaches up to 1:2 magnification, then there may be a couple of alternatives. All of them require either live view or an EVF:

• There is a Chinese copy of the original Leica macro adapter. It shall remain unnamed because is still very expensive (about 50% of the Leica price). 
• You could adapt any other helicoid, e.g. those for the Pentax K system or one of the zillions of M42 helicoids on eBay (note: internal reflections may be a problem with these cheap helicoids in my experience). There is also the good old Mini-Makroschnecke from Zoerk. 
• If you are very adventurous, you could adapt something like the Leitz OTZFO for your purposes. I have shown such solutions in this forum.
• You could adapt any 90-105mm manual focus macro lens such as a Micro-Nikkor 105mm (not coupled to the rangefinder, of course). 
• Or you get the Laowa 5.6/85mm macro lens that is available for Leica M and even reaches 2:1 magnification (and is still 1/3 cheaper than the Leica macro adapter M).
• An achromat could be a good alternative to an extension tube. I have an Olympus MCON-P02 achromat with 46mm filter thread that gives me a magnification range from about 1:3 to 1:2 in combination with the Elmarit-M 90mm. This achromat is surprisingly cheap and the quality is certainly sufficient for the occasional macro shot. As far as I know, this is the only achromat ever made with a 46mm filter thread.
• My personal solution is the Leica bellows II with enlarger lenses. I started with a bellows II and two Schneider-Kreuznach Componon-S lenses (4.0/80mm and 5.6/105mm). The bellows needs L39 adapter 16590 to accept these and many other enlarger lenses. The whole set can be easily bought for about half of the price of the Leica macro adapter M. I use the bellows with live view on M10 and with EVF on CL. Caveat: this solution becomes much more expensive if the very best enlarger lenses are used (something like Apo-Rodagon-N 90mm or Leitz Focotar II 100mm).

I omit extension rings of fixed length (such as Leitz OUFRO or the Novoflex extension ring set) because I find these rather inflexible. It depends on your targeted application if any of the above solutions qualify as an alternative for the Leica macro adapter. 

Thanks for all the infos.

Does the name of the unnamed Chinese product start with AR...?  I have sent an email to them, let us see if the answer.

Cheers

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, wolan said:

Does the name of the unnamed Chinese product start with AR...?  I have sent an email to them, let us see if the answer.

yes

[lucid]

On 8/26/2023 at 7:52 PM, lct said:

For Leica M cameras, i know only of two macro adapters so far:

• The current Leica Macro-Adapter v2 sans goggles (14652) which can work in LV mode with the Macro-Elmar-M 90/4 or any other M-mount lens, and

• The previous Leica Macro-Adapter v1 with goggles (14409) which can work with the same M-mount lenses in LV mode, but also in RF mode with the sole Macro-Elmar-M 90/4 thanks to its goggles that are made specially for that.

Edit: Beware that when used on the Macro-Adapter v1, M-mount lenses are mounted in reverse position. It is not a problem for the Macro-Elmar-M 90/4 that have markings on both sides of the lens but the markings of other M-mount lenses can only be read when the camera is in upside-down position.

So am I right that I can use the elmarit-m 90 2.8 with the goggled 11409 and it is  calibrated for a film M, but the only issue is the scales are inverted?

[lct]

2 hours ago, lucid said:

So am I right that I can use the elmarit-m 90 2.8 with the goggled 11409 and it is  calibrated for a film M, but the only issue is the scales are inverted?

I have no Elmarit 90 on hand but i suspect it cannot be focused accurately in RF mode on the macro adapter v1 (with goggles) which is made for the Macro-Elmar 90/4 only. Your Elmarit should work fine in LV mode with the macro adapter v2 though but in such a case the lens won't focus in RF mode at all. The focus patch would remain stucked in the centre of the optical viewfinder.

Edited September 9, 2023 by lct