Jump to content

Leica R lens can be used for digital camera?


BenYCH

Recommended Posts

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Hello all,

 

I am new to this site. I did join a Leica User Group email circular back then. Not sure if this site is related to that one. :-)

 

I have stopped taking photos with my R gears since my kid is born. Now he is reaching 4 and I suppose manual focus is getting more feasible (Yes, I am slow.). I do have quite a few R lens. Is there anyway I can use them with digital cameras? I have a canon EOS adapter ring and tried it briefly on budget canon eos. The viewfinder is very small and not possible focus manually.

 

Hope to get some update here. (I stopped paying attention to Leica related info for sometime. The last news I got was about some digital module back for R9 which was expensive and kept delaying.)

 

Much appreciate you help.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Happy shooting.

 

 

Ben

Link to post
Share on other sites

Welcome to the forum.

 

This forum has nothing to do with the Leica User Group, and you will probably find getting information though this type of forum much simpler than the email boards.

 

The DMR back for the R8 and R9 shipped about 2 years ago, and has since been deleted. IMHO, it has yet to be surpassed by any Leica digital offering, including the M8.

 

Most R glass can be used on Canon bodes with a suitable adaptor and it can also be used on 4/3 cameras, such as the Digilux 3, or the Panasonic or Olympus equivalents.

 

Hope this helps.

Link to post
Share on other sites

The two most significant problems with adapting R lenses to other makes of camera bodies are mirror clearance with some lenses on a few of the full-frame Canon bodies like the 5D, and the poor excuses for viewfinders that some camera makers consider acceptable. R lenses work perfectly on the R8 or R9 with DMR, and if you are patient and willing to search a used DMR can be found on line.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Ben--My welcome as well!

 

Andy and Doug have pretty well enumerated your current alternatives, but 2008 is a photokina year and we are all expecting a new digital R.

 

It's only an imagined product, it may never exist, and if it does it will probably be expensive. And we all assume that there will be some kind of backward compatibility to current and older R lenses.

 

As Buddhism and Capitalism both teach, everything changes. ;)

 

--HC

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for the valuable advices.

 

I have browsed thru the 4/3 system preliminary on net and noted they are not full frame. Indeed Canon 5D is one of the candidate I have in mind with a EOS adapter. May I know what is the matter with mirror clearance for EOS 5D?

 

I currently have 19, 24, 28, 50, 80, 100, 135, 70-180. Will any of these lens have problem with 5D or other Canon? If I hope to get full frame, is Canon my only alternative? (I tried my R lens on Canon Rebel/350D. The tiny viewfinder makes me hard to focus, Digilux has this problem too.)

 

(Getting a DMR is too difficult in this part of the world unless I pay $$$ price.... :-( )

 

Guidance is much welcomed as always.

 

Thanks again.

 

Cheers.

Ben

Link to post
Share on other sites

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I currently have 19, 24, 28, 50, 80, 100, 135, 70-180. Will any of these lens have problem with 5D or other Canon?

 

If the 19mm is the version with built-in filters it will have problems with the 5D. The 24mm lens will have mirror clearance problems with the 5D.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for the valuable advices.

 

I have browsed thru the 4/3 system preliminary on net and noted they are not full frame.

 

Um, point of order, if I may. the 4/3 system is most definitely "full-frame". It was designed from the ground up, and is not a bastardised 35mm size. Lenses such as Leica R, which are not native 4/3, will have their fl multiplied by 2.

 

Regards,

 

Bill

Link to post
Share on other sites

Um, point of order, if I may. the 4/3 system is most definitely "full-frame". It was designed from the ground up, and is not a bastardised 35mm size. Lenses such as Leica R, which are not native 4/3, will have their fl multiplied by 2.

 

The focal length remains the same. The angle of view is divided by 2 because the smaller sensor crops the lens' image circle.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks again for all the additional guidance and the wonderful link.

 

Seems that there is no good solution for now. Every way has its own problem.... :-(

 

Any friends here compare the viewfinder of canon to olympus/panasonic? I guess for now, the best bet for me is to look for the biggest easiest to focus viewfinder. (Without proper focus, I will be ashame to ask for anything extra......)

 

Cheers.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...