Can now adapt Leica M lenses to a DSLR

On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:04:50, TJ wrote:
On 5 Dec, 04:05, RichA wrote:
http://www.cameraquest.com/adaptnew.htm

Digital Micro 4/3 Lens Adapters are in preparation. ??LeicaM (yes,
you are reading it right,LeicaM) lens adapter to Micro 4/3 adapter
expected to arrive by late December! ??$175 email to get on wait list!

I have the Leica R 19, 35 and 90 F2.8 Elmarit lenses. Heavy, old
but good with resolution which sometimes defies the eye. 90mm is
hardly even telephoto by today's standards yet it pulled in 1" steel
guy wires at 1.5 miles.

I was thinking about using an adapter to put them on an Oly 4/3
digital back. Which are very good cameras.

But the bottom line is the Canon APS-C sensor has almost 50% more
surface area. (329 sq mm) compared to the 4/3 which has only 225 sq
mm, while the 'full' 35mm film/sensor area is 864 sq mm.

Which is why I'm planning to buy a Canon XSi/ 450D.

I don't expect miracles with the wide angle 19mm Elmarit with the
1.6x crop factor on the PAS-C but the other lenses may show promise.

Has anyone used Leica lenses on Canon EOS backs?

In general, to have a lens adaptable to your camera body, the lens's
"film-to-flange" distance needs to be greater-than or equal to the
film-to-flange distance of your camera body.

Lenses from systems with larger flange distances (e.g. Nikon F-mount
at 46.5mm, Olympus OM at 46mm, etc.) can be used with adapters on many more
camera bodies. Bodies from systems with smaller flange distances
(4/3 at 38.67mm, Canon EF at 44 mm, u4/3 at 20mm, etc.) can take a
greater range of lenses.

According to a cursory Google search, Leica M have a quite small
flange distance of approximately 28mm, due to the fact that it's a
rangefinder rather than an SLR, and doesn't need space for a reflex
mirror. Again, Canon's EF SLR mount has a flange distance of
approxmately 44 mm.

The reason why the u4/3 cameras have such a large range of possiblites
for adaptors is that the removal of the reflex mirror allows them to
have a flange distance of 20mm.

There do exist some adapters that can mount small flange distance
lenses on larger flange distance bodies, but doing so removes
possibility of focusing at infinity. It is also possible to modify
some lenses and cameras to connect to different mounts. E.g. Konica
Hexanon lenses can be relatively easily modified to mount on 4/3
cameras.

Unless Canon comes out with a new, non-SLR mount that's akin to the
u4/3 mount (i.e. one that removes reflex mirror), it is unlikely that
you'll be able to use an unmodified Leica R lens on an unmodified
Canon body and get full use of the lens.

-alan

--
Alan Hoyle - - http://www.alanhoyle.com/