M8 Compatibility with 50 M-Hexanon??

M8 and Hexanon 50/2

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There should no difference in lens compatabilty between a film and digital bodies. That said, I've owned two 50mm Hexanons in the past. The first one had to be sent to DAG to have the lens' rf adjustment tweaked as it was slightly off on my MP. The second one I owned focused perfectly on my MP. The point is that it's a tremendous lens and the worse case senerio is that the focus may have to be adjusted but it's not very expensive, just a minor annoyance.
 
Thanks for all the info. I'm hoping to get an M8 soon - I like the images I get from my 50 Hex (used currently on Hexar). I'm hoping the M8 and the Hex will work well together given the above info. Nick - beautiful photos of how they work well together.
Vice versa I've use my 35 Cron with the Hexar with no problems.
 
FWIW, many of my M & LTM lenses, including those made by Leica, are a bit off focusing on the M8, but the Hexanon is not 1 of them; it works fine. But then again, I've never had a problem w/it on my film bodies, either.
 
Depending on the lens and when built, you may get a touch of back focusing with a 50mm Hexanon on an M8 . And as someone said, it's not uncharacteristic to get focusing errors with any brand on an M8. My Summilux 75 is still at Leica getting fixed...

Hexanons all seem to have very slightly longer focus, which does not pose a problem for film but sometimes does for digital. But this is a simple optical adjustment, usually to the spacers between the optical cell and the focusing mount. The RF cam pitch tracks Leica perfectly.

That said, the 50 Hexanon is infinitely adjustable for focus and RF cam operation without major disassembly (the basic adjustment is just like an SLR lens - although you definitely need a an optical bench and a plunge micrometer to get everything right). DAG charges $65 to do both.

Note that the optical and RF adjustments are dependent on the 50mm and 21-35mm; the RF cam height MUST be reset after the focus is reset. So make sure that if you have someone do this, that they do both adjustments.

NB for Hexanons that they are optimized for 50 x focal length: 1.4m for the 28, 2.5m for the 50, 4.5m for the 90mm. Take a hard look at the MTF chart in the system brochure. It's all laid out. The 21-35mm is optimized for 2m.
 
Dante_Stella said:
NB for Hexanons that they are optimized for 50 x focal length: 1.4m for the 28, 2.5m for the 50, 4.5m for the 90mm. Take a hard look at the MTF chart in the system brochure. It's all laid out. The 21-35mm is optimized for 2m.
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OT, what about the 50mm f1.2/60mm f1.2?
 
Mine front focused when wide open by about an inch and a half. Damn annoying, but it had good company. It and a 50 Summicron (rigid), a 90 AA, a 135/2.8 and a 50/1.5 Sonnar are all at DAG for focus adjustment. How do I know that the problem is not the camera? Because each of the above lenses was off by its own amount and the 35/2, 50/1, 50/1.4, 75/2. 75/1.4, 90/2.8 are all spot on. I verified this three separate times using a tripod and ruler. At $80 per lens, it won't be cheap to fix, but then I will have the pleasure of using all of these lenses as I had originally intended.

Ben Marks
 
Hacker said:
Ben, when you say it front focuses, are you referring only to the closest (minimum) focusing distance?
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Hacker: It was near the front end of the focusing range -- maybe 4 feet. I tested the lenses there as I do a lot of portraiture and 90% of my photos are taken in the 1-to- 3.5 meter zone.

I did not test the 50 Hex at further distances.

Ben
 
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