Choosing a body for reusing Leica lenses

[enzodm]

Having gained some little experience on manual lenses on my Canon, I told about the possibility of reuse of old lenses to a colleague of mine, owner of a Leica reflex with some interesting lens. He was glad to know is possible, so, now I have to suggest him the way to go... which is what I'm asking you, gentle fans of MFlenses .

What body do you suggest to reuse Leica lenses, without going bankrupt (i.e., no FF)?

I'm looking around, and I'm considering these points:
- ease of lens adaptation;
- crop factor (the lesser the better);
- in-body stabilization;
- AF confirmation;
- adequate (or, less inadequate) viewfinder.

Candidates are Pentax, Olympus, Sony, Canon. The latter can be excluded due to lack of stabilization.
Olympus is worst on crop factor.
My initial candidate was Pentax - by the way, also an historical brand that would make my colleague glad -. However, I see around that adapters involve some modification of the lens... I'm not sure this is a good idea.

Anyway, there are some things I do not know.
I do not have ideas about viewfinder sizes and luminosity.
I do not know whether in-body stabilization needs to know about which lens is attached to calibrate effect, so I do not know if it is available with such lenses.
I do not know whether all cameras provide for AF confirmation like in my Canon.

Any suggestion? Thank you very much.

[ludoo]

If your friend is prepared to invest in a few Leitax adaptrs (and all his lenses are supported), Pentax might be a good choice:

* the K-7 (and many older models) have a large, bright pentaprism viewfinder, not one of the pentamirror ones, and the addition of a viewfinder magnifier makes it even larger

* focus confirmation works with manual lenses

* image stabilization is in camera and works with all lenses, you just have to set the focal lens on the camera when you switch the lens

* Pentax bodies are usually smaller and lighter than other brands, and have excellent ergonomics

* crop factor is 1.5x

[Rolf]

The problem is that you can´t get anything using the Leica R lenses.

Leica R will work very well with

a.) Canon and adapter (crop or FF, with our without chip) but no anti shake
b.) Nikon, have to modifiy the bayonet at the lens, AF confirm with the cam, no anti shake
c.) Pentax, have to modify the bayonet at the lens, AF confirm with the cam, anti shake

or

perhaps with Sigma 14 or 15 with modifying the bayonat at the cam or

with m4/3 (Panasoic or Olympus) cams and adapter.

So you or your friend have to decide what is more or less important.

[Scheimpflug]

[enzodm]

Thank you all. I imagined is difficult to have your cake and eat it.
I'll simply propose him a matrix of possibilities. I suppose bayonet modification will be decisive.

Scheimpflug: I see Leica DMR can be found around 3000 euros... not really affordable, though a good idea. By the way, not sure which Leica he owns (I suppose I'll see it tomorrow).

[Rolf]

[Orio]

I would only consider a Canon camera for use with Leica R lenses, sorry.
The other brands require hardware modification of the lens, and although it's 100 reversible (at least it is declared so, I never tried), this is discomfortable in my opinion because:

1- you need to mess with the lens and anytime you mess with a lens, you put at risk your investment, and Leica R are not Russian lenses that cost 30 Euros and can be sacrificed easily

2- resale value and desireability of your lens is put at risk as well

3- you can not use the lens with a Leica R camera anymore unless you perform the reverse hardware mod... how many times do you want to do that?

Canon cameras require only the use of an adapter, like Olympus 4/3, but Olympus does not offer full frame, which Canon does.

To me it's a no brainer, but to everyone his own...

As for image stabilization... use a tripod, or if it's so important for you, use Pentax lenses which are extremely good and native to the Pentax system.

[rpo83]

I love the results i get with my Sigma, but my body has a modified mount from www.sigmacumlaude.com

Sd14's can be bought very cheaply and the cost of the adapter is reasonable. I plan to augment my Sigma with a Canon body later on this way my unmolested lenses will work on both bodies. The Sigma is wonderful but sometimes i would like better high ISO and a brighter viewfinder, this is where the 1 series from Canon excels.

I agree with Orio, canon would be the way to go, maybe consider one of their APS-H bodies. With the FF bodies you are still limited with some of the wider leica lenses.

Good luck

[berraneck]

I think second-hand Canon 5D might be the best option - it´s possible to get it for 700-1000USD in good condition. When he has got money for Leica lenses, this amount shouldn´t make him bankrupt, right? With it´s pretty good high-iso performance, there´s not big problem with lack of stabilization. But if 5D is too expensive, i´d pick EOS 40D.

[enzodm]

Thank you also to the last posters. I agree that bayonet modification is mostly a bad thing; and stabilization could be just an extra, mitigated by 2x crop factor and, from what I read, high ISO behaviour. So, Canon and Olympus could be the best candidates (in order).
Regarding money, you know, you spend according to how strong is your interest. What he spent 20 or 30 years ago might be different from what he intends to spend now .

In the meantime I found this article with viewfinder sizes, that also puts some point on Canon: http://www.neocamera.com/article.php?id=viewfinder_sizes&sort=size

[ylyad]

Canon is the way to go: you will be able to test them on yours

[Anu]

What about Sony full frame?

[enzodm]

[rpo83]

Viewfinder brightness is what you need, i find the size of my viewfinder fine on the Sigma bodies, they are just horribly dim and difficult to change focusing screens.

Something like a Canon 1D MKII N could be an interesting option, prices have fallen radically over this last year, big bright viewfinder with the option to change focusing screens.

The 1.3 crop factor helps with a wider range of lenses fitting as the mirror is smaller than the FF 5D, 1Ds bodies.

Checkout this site for a comprehensive list of what Leica lenses work with various Canon bodies..

http://www.pebbleplace.com/Personal/Leica_db.html

Good luck.

[enzodm]

Steve, thank you for the link, it will be useful to check lens compatibility.

[dab63]

As far as you have a wide, bright viewfinder, AF confirmation is not necessary and it can be misleading if not accurate.
I use all my MF lenses without AF confirmation chip adapters, both on 5D and on 1DmkIII.
I suggest you an "old" 5D with its battery grip, very useful when you use for long time an heavy lens like a Leica R can be; expecially for portrait shots, the ergonomics of battery grip makes big difference.
Another suggestion is to buy an adapter for each lens, and leaving it mounted on the lens so that it fits perfectly.
For heavy usage you can think to buy Leitax bayonet for Canon: they mount on top of Leica R bayonet, changing only 5 of 6 screws (longer ones)

[Hari]

- Totally agree with Orio.

I remounted the lenses (with cheap chinese mounts which works just as perfectly as the much more expensive ones from Leitax etc.) to be able to use them on my Nikon D90 and I did manage to shoot some decent pictures but the hassle is just too much

With a Canon you simply buy an adapter for cheap - click the lens into place on the front, then attach this contraption to your camera and you're good to go!

You have this ease of use of adapters not only with R-lenses but also many other lenses from brilliant manufacturers like the Zeiss Contax/Yashica range

Don't get me wrong, I did love my Nikon D90 as long as i had it but if i had to decide now, having had the experience with a Nikon DSLR and a Canon DSLR, i'd go with Canon

Some test shots with R-lenses on my D90 ->


Summicron-R 50/2:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dementedjesus/sets/72157624820158974/

Elmarit-R 90/2.8:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dementedjesus/sets/72157624019787474/

Elmarit-R 135/2.8:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dementedjesus/sets/72157624061303572/