Adapters: LTM to M

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Voigtlander Leica Screw Mount to Leica M Bayonet Adapters

RF newbies often get confused about using Screw mount lenses with M adapters, thinking that M mount lenses are better. Well, I don't think so. Screw mount lenses offer a LOT of advantages!

Type I $55 each with Rear M Lens Cap

TYPE II $55 Introduced Sept 2007. Wide Rim like the original Leitz Adapters. Not usable for Leitz 35mm or 50mm lenses WITH infinity locks. Type II adapters can be M8 bar coded (not sold with bar coding), Type I adapters can not be.

Leica Screw Mount to Leica M Mount adapters : One of the great things about the Leica Rangefinder system is using 39mm Screw Mount Lenses (of whatever brand) on your Leica M Mount body (of whatever brand) with FULL Rangefinder coupling and COMPLETE compatibility: Rear M lens cap included. Type I or Type II $55 ORDER
Leica Screw Mount Lenses	Leica Mount Body
Leica Screw Mount 39mm Lenses by all manufacturers, including Leica, Voigtlander, Canon	Leica M Mount Body -- Leica M Series including M8, Leica CL, Hexar RF, Minolta CLE, Voigtlander Bessa T, R2, R2A/M R3A/M, R4A/M, Epson RD1, Leica M8, Rollei RF
Voigtlander Type II Screw Mount Adapters	Type II adapters can be M8 bar coded (but they are not sold with bar coding) and fit screw mount lenses EXCEPT most lenses with infinity locks, which prevent the Type II adapters from mounting. $55
Voigtlander Type I Screw Mount Adapters	Now discontinued and almost sold out, can not be M8 bar coded. $55
CameraQuest Type I 50/75 Screw Mount Adapters	Used for 50 mm lenses with infinity locks, can not be M8 bar coded. $55
28/90, 35/135, 50/75 combinations, all work mechanically the same, the different frameline combinations just bring up different framelines on Leica M, Konica Hexar RF, Minolta CLE, Leica CL. For wider than 28 screw mount lenses, just use the adapter of your choice.

Mounting / Un-mounting Screw Mount Adapters: Real world, the screw mount lens / M adapter combination works great.   The screw mount adapters tighten with use while still remaining easily removable.   Just spin the adapter hand tight on the lens, then mount the lens on an M camera. This will automatically tighten up the adapter so that it stays put. To remove, unlock the lens from the camera body, and then use the camera body as an adapter wrench by turning the adapter off the lens.    Please note the above directions are MUCH better and easier and follow than the Voigtlander mounting directions which come inside every Voigtlander screw mount adapter box! Before you ask, M mount lenses can NOT be adapted to Leica screw mount cameras! Any Leica M mount to Leica screw mount body adapter would place the M lens too far from the focus film plane. You would end up with a non rangefinder coupled camera only for extreme close-ups!

Standard 39mm Leica Screw Mount Lenses are by FAR the MOST adaptable and versatile rangefinder lens mount!   They fit not only on the hundreds of Leica screw mount cameras including Leica Screw Mounts (aka Barnack Cameras in Japan), Canon rangefinder cameras, "Leica Screw Mount Copies" (hundreds of cameras made from the 1930's to1950's), and the Cosina Voigtlander Bessa L and R.   Add the screw mount adapter and in 99.9% of the time they will fit Leica M mount cameras including the M8, the Epson RD1, Konica RF, Minolta CLE and CLE, the Leica CL, and the Cosina Voigtlander family of the R2, R2M, R2A, R3M, R3A, R4M and R4A. In the rangefinder world, no other lens mount comes remotely close in versatility!   Of course your adapted lens gets the same rangefinder focusing accuracy as well as the same TTL Metering!

Leica M8? As pointed out by Sean Reid at www.ReidReviews.com, it is a lot easier to apply a do it yourself lens bar code to screw mount adapters than to a fixed M mount lens! Screw mount adapters also allow you to switch bar coding between lenses!

ALL Voigtlander made Leica screw mount rangefinder lenses are compatible with ALL Leica M rangefinders by adding a Leica designed Leica 39mm screw mount to Leica M mount adapter. The focusing will be accurate, and the correct frameline will automatically come up in your Leica M viewfinder. Note the framelines are manually set on Voigtlander Bessas from the top of the camera.

New Cosina Voigtlander Type I or Type II adapters are $55 each including the rear lens M cap. Specify the 28/90, 35/135/24, or 50/75 frameline combinations.     Type II adapters can be M8 bar coded (not sold with bar coding), Type I adapters can not be. As far as focusing, they all work the same. The difference is what frameline each adapter brings up in what M mount body. For wider than 28 lenses, choose whatever adapter you like, since Leica film cameras don't automatic appearing framelines wide than 28mm.

Need rear M Caps ? Generic quality M rear caps: $15 each or 3 for $40

Leica introduced their standardized interchangeable lens Leica 39mm screw mount in 1932 on the Leica Model C. The Leica M3 introduced the Leica M bayonet mount 1953.   Both lens mounts are still in production in 2006. The M mount cameras feature 100% backward compatibility with screw mount lenses simply by mounting the Leica designed screw mount to Bayonet Mount adapter.   The adapter effectively turns a Leica screw mount lens into a Leica M bayonet lens with 100% rangefinder focusing accuracy.

Screw Mount to Bayonet M Adapters:

Allow full and accurate rangefinder focusing (with RF coupled lenses)

Allow quick mounting and removal of the lenses, bayonet style. While you can turn the M bayonet camera into a screw mount camera simply by leaving the adapter no the body, most people dedicate one adapter for each lens for maximum convenience.

The proper lens frameline is automatically brought up in the finder on Leica M bodies, Hexar RF bodies, Leica CL or Minolta CL, or Minolta CLE bodies, automatically bring up lens framelines in the viewfinder.   Of course you have to use the right adapter for the right lens and right body to get the right frameline.

The Leica M8 has 24, 28, 35, 50, 75, and 90 framelines. By eliminating the 135 frameline on the M8, Leica effectively substituted the 24 frameline for the 135 as far as screw mount adapters are concerned.

IF you are new to rangefinders, framelines show approximately what each lens will show in a slide mount when at the minimum focus. Due to reasons too involved to discuss here, as the lens is focused to infinity it effectively has a slightly wider field of view than it does close-up.   Between this optical phenomena and the smaller size of slides vs. the full negative, photogs have a fudge factor so they also get slightly more on the negative than what the framelines show.

The bottom line is screw mount lenses are more versatile than M mount lenses because screw mount lenses are useable on more camera bodies -- both Leica screw mount bodies and Leica M mount bodies. M mount lenses will only mount on M mount cameras.

Voigtlander Leica Screw Mount Lenses: 12/5.6, 15/4.5, 21/4, 25/4, 28/1.9, 28/3.5, 35/1.7, 35/2.5 C, 35/2.5 P I (discontinued), 50/1.5, 50/2.5, 50/3.5 (discontinued), 75/2.5, 90/3.5

Voigtlander Leica M mount Lenses: 21/4P, 25/4P, 35/1.2, 35/2.5 PII, 40/1.4, 50/2. These lenses are available only in M mount.

Which Frameline / Which Camera / Which Adapter?

All Leica M film cameras (except the M1, MD and MDa) use a three frameline set which automatically shows the correct lens frameline once the lens in mounted. The M3 shows the 50, 90, and 135 framelines.   The M2 shows the 35, 50, and 90 framelines. The M4, M5, and M4-2 show the 35, 50, 90, and 135 framelines (the 35 and 135 double up).   framelines. The later M4-P, M6, M6TTL, M7, and MP with the standard .72 magnification finder all show six framelines by doubling them up (28/90, 35/135, 50/75). The exception are the later cameras with .85 finders which eliminated the 28 frame, and the .58 finders which eliminated the 135 frame.  The Leica M8 has 24, 28, 35, 50, 75, and 90 framelines. By eliminating the 135 frameline on the M8, Leica effectively substituted the 24 frameline for the 135 as far as screw mount adapters are concerned.   The Leica/Minolta CL show 40, 50, and 90 framelines. The Minolta CLE shows 28, 40, 90 framelines. The Konica Hexar RF and Zeiss Ikon show the 28/90, 35/135, 50/75 combination like the .72 Leica M finder. The Cosina Voigtlander R, R2, R2A and R2M have manually selected 35, 50, 75, and 90 framelines.   The Voigtlander R3A and R3M have manually selected 40, 50, 75, and 90 framelines.  The Voigtlander R4A and R4M have manually selected 21, 25, 28, 35, and 50 framelines. Most photogs still match up the lenses for their Bessas to the Leica framelines, since this makes it easier if you ever mount that lens on a Leica M.

IF your camera automatically brings up the lens' frame lines, you want to use the correct adapter for your camera / lens combination to show the proper frameline for that lens in the viewfinder.     You can use the "wrong" adapter and still have full rangefinder coupling and accurate focusing.   You will just have the wrong frameline showing-- but you can get around if your camera has a preview frameline lever. In practice it's a bit of a pain, but quite workable if you have only one adapter and a lot of screw mount lenses.

The widest automatically selected frameline is 28mm in film cameras, or the 24mm with the Leica M8. That means as far as the frameline for wider than 28 framelines with film cameras, since you will be using the top mounted accessory finder anyway. While the Voigtlander R4M/R4A offers the world record widest framelines for 35mm cameras (21/25/28/35/50), they are manually selected from the top plate frame selector. The R4 does not care which adapter you use.

Used Leitz adapters sell for an average of $75 each. They are a number of variations. Most, but not all, of the Leitz adapters are engraved "Leitz."   They are also labeled for their particular frameline.   Earlier adapters made for the M3 might be labeled only 50 or 90 or 135. Rest assured they will also bring up the later 50/75, 90/28, 135/35 combinations on your M6.

Shipping and Total Cost:

8.25% California Sales Tax applies to shipments within California ONLY.

USA: Shipping for up to 10 adapters is $8 priority mail within the US, or $30 2nd day Fed Ex or $40 next day Fed Ex for US shipments only. Orders must be accepted by 1 PM Pacific Time for next day delivery. Call 818-879-1968 to make sure same day shipping is possible.

International: shipping $30 by Express Mail with tracking.    Shipments to South America, Middle East and China are ONLY shipped Fed Ex at $100 due to postal delivery problems. Include your phone number with order for the package!

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Revised: February 05, 2008 . Copyright � 1999-2008 Stephen Gandy. All rights reserved. This means you may NOT copy and re-use the text or the pictures in ANY other internet or printed publication of ANY kind. Information in this document is subject to change without notice. Other products and companies referred to herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or mark holders.