M42 to M adapter Sigma 135

[PaulL]

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I have an old Sigma 135 lens I used with my Zenith camera. It has the old aperture ring for closing the aperture diaphram down to the preset value.

 

Does anyone know if this will work on my M6 and where I may find such an adapter, in the Uk preferably.

 

Ive had little luck locating one although I found a US site that lists such a beast.

Adapter M42 to Leica M Mount

 

Thanks

 

Paul

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[giordano]

I have an old Sigma 135 lens I used with my Zenith camera. It has the old aperture ring for closing the aperture diaphram down to the preset value.

 

Does anyone know if this will work on my M6

 

Yes ... with an adapter ... in a manner of speaking. These adapters are generally more practical with wide angle lenses. Problems:

1. Focusing. You'll have to measure or estimate the distance and set the lens accordingly. The markings on the distance scale on the lens are too few and too imprecise to make this satisfactory so you'll have to use small apertures. Should work well with the lens on infinity, a distant subject and a moderate aperture.
   
2. Frameline selection. Any adapter you find will probably bring up the 50/75mm frame lines in the viewfinder. However a little careful work with a file on the bayonet lug on the adapter that contacts the frameline device can fix that and bring up the 35/135 frames instead.
   
3. Framing. The 135mm frameline will probably be off centre because the lens adapter won't be transmitting a distance to the M6 range/viewfinder mechanism. May be better to use an external 135mm finder.

I can't help with finding an adapter. There have been some SLR-to-M adapters made with a rangefinder cam. I've got a Nikon one. It overcomes problem 3 and means you can use the rangefinder to estimate the distance - but you still have to set the distance on the focus scale of the lens, so it doesn't over come problem 1.

 

I don't know whether there's a M42 equivalent. CameraQuest Home normally has a good range of adapters but currently only shows Nikon and Topcon/Exakta to M.

[luigi bertolotti]

Paul, thanks for the "Russian link"... fascinating... I'm tempted to buy a Peleng fisheye and the adapter for using it on M8... or even a 500 or 1000 mirror lens...

[PaulL]

Giordano :

Thankyou for the information.

I was going to ask those questions next about framelines etc. I`d heard that you could probably take a file to an adapter to bring up the right frame lines

 

Im not so happy about the "guessing focus" so I might give it a miss.

 

Luigi:

Please post a pic if you get one of those on your M8...