A 35mm adapter that takes rangefinder lenses?

Mr. Hector

Mr. Hector

Active member
Why do all the 35mm adapters I read about take SLR lenses, surely rangefinder lenses like the Konica KM are much lighter, would be mounted closer to the screen and are dare I say it are of higher quality.

Even the faster (and heavier) Leica m mount lenses like the 75mm f1.4 would surely produce great results not just in terms of depth of field, but the quality of the out of focus rendition?
 
I have wondered the same. Voigtlander for example makes many different old Leica c-mount lenses for their Bessa series rangefinders, which are both cheap and truly amazing in image quality. Inverse telephoto construction which is coumpulsory in mid-focal length SLR lenses and anything shorter never improves the image quality, just makes space for the (in this case nonexistant) mirror, the lens heavier and more expencive.
 
bump

There are more than a hand full of 35mm Adapter makers on this forum so come on guys put us out of our misery and let us know why you all choose to use bulky slr lenses.
 
SLR lenses cover a 24/36mm screen which is twice the size covered by Zeiss and other cine lenses.
When you have to zoom-in your camcorder to fill the LCD screen with the GG image, you will enlarge the grain too (not only the sharper and smaller image produced by Zeiss) and so... the sharper image (from Zeiss) is lost on a smaller frame with larger grain (imo)
No matter how you look at it, the grain enlargement is twice (or allmost twice) but the sharpness decrease from SLR to Zeiss is not. Think Contax/Leica vs Zeiss.
http://www.photodo.com/art/Lens6.shtml
SLR's bulky? Here is a Nikon 1.4/35 and a Canon 1.4/35 rehoused with BNCR mount:
The simple fact that some companiesconvert and re house SLR primes into cine lenses is enough argument they are optically compatible (and they only need better mechanics, focus gear and compatible mounts to be used on film cameras):beer:
 
dan said:
SLR lenses cover a 24/36mm screen which is twice the size covered by Zeiss and other cine lenses.
Click to expand...


I think you misunderstand what we are saying here, the lenses in question are not cine lenses they are from 35mm rangefinder cameras Leica M, Konica Hexar RF, and since you mention it Zeiss Icon.

They project the same image size as a SLR lens, they simply require a shorter distance between lens and screen as they do not have to focus at the longer distance required to provide for the mirror in the SLR.

So as I see it, No difference in grain, sharper image with a shorter and lighter adapter assembly.:)
 
Here are my wild speculations:

Price. Rangefinder lenses are generally expensive and rare where 35mm primes are cheap. Additionally there might be a very marginal benefit to using these lenses on relatively low resolution system (DV or HD). The resolution of even the most inexpensive lens is going to exceed the camera by a wide margin.

Utility. If you wanted an adapter that worked with rangefinder lenses and 35mm and cine lenses you would need a widely variable mount to handle this. I think only the Cinemek G35 (unobtainable!) has mounts like this. I'm not sure if they have designed in a short enough flange distance for these lenses.
 
I agree that it would mean that only rangefinder lenses could be used, and maybe that is enough in itself to put people off.

There is a perception that these lenses are expensive, but Voigtlander Ultron 1.8/50mm lenses go on ebay for around £40-50 and Leica screw thread for not much more.

I just thought that the size weight and length benefits might make it worthwhile even if in resolution terms it is an overkill
 
this gives pretty good idea about rangefinder:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangefinder_camera

it's not totally true that rangefinders are out - speaking of DOF adapters.
You can use M39 screwmount with indie35 and with somebody else as well(can't recall right now - M39 was given in mount list).
Photolens registration distance is customizable by indie35 so it's fully possible.
Other mounts you can use via c-mount.
 
hpd said:
this gives pretty good idea about rangefinder:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangefinder_camera

it's not totally true that rangefinders are out - speaking of DOF adapters.
You can use M39 screwmount with indie35 and with somebody else as well(can't recall right now - M39 was given in mount list).
Photolens registration distance is customizable by indie35 so it's fully possible.
Other mounts you can use via c-mount.
Click to expand...

I am not sure how it would be possible to build an adapter that would suit both slr and leica screw as the back focus distance is enormously different, I would have thought the screen would have to move about an inch and a half closer to a rangefinder lens.
 
Mr. Hector said:
I am not sure how it would be possible to build an adapter that would suit both slr and leica screw as the back focus distance is enormously different, I would have thought the screen would have to move about an inch and a half closer to a rangefinder lens.
Click to expand...

assembly600.jpg


i found in their site pretty explaining image. There you see from left to right:

1. photolens
2. lensmount
3. stopper ring for lensmount
4. 35mm adapter itself
5. stopper ring for camera mount
6. camera mount
7. camera

adapter(4) is throughout winded. Both mounts(2,6) will go on this thread. They will be fixed by stopper(3,5)rings. So you can easly dial from some mm-s to length of mount.
Also they accept custom dimensions for mounts. So you can order for macro something very long...
 
I am not entirely sure about the indie 35, their website seems to sugest support for M42 Canon EFS Nikon F (available in near future) and Minolta MD (available in near future)

but maybe I am missing something
 
Mr. Hector said:
I am not entirely sure about the indie 35, their website seems to sugest support for M42 Canon EFS Nikon F (available in near future) and Minolta MD (available in near future)
Click to expand...

Yeah, i was confused too, because my friend(who owns indie adapter) had long mount for macro but i couldn't find such thing from page.
Actually the magic word is Lensmount OD. It means they do custom(based on your directions) mounts for lens and for cameras as well.

It means every screw mount ....because as far as i know they dropped bayonet completely except Canon EFS. So bayonet lens is mounted via C-mount.
 
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