12mm voigtlander F mount on an F3

[hap]

I was interested in the 12mm F mount voigtlander F mount 5.6.

Thought I could mount on my F3. But.....the flash shoe is proprietary and incorporated into the rewind crank to the left of the prism. Can change to standard shoe with a coupler but then is it problematic to mount the 12mm finder off axis ......like that?

Seems to be a bad idea.

thoughts?

 

[Phil_F_NM]

This is how the 2.1cm Nikkor mirror lockup lens does it. It only mounts on the F2 or F but the viewfinder use is the same, attach a Nikon AS-1 coupler and mount the finder in that. You'll never notice any difference with a lens that wide.

Phil Forrest

 

[hap]

I appreciate your response Phil. It sounds like it's doable but maybe problematic, in part by the precarious mounting of a big finder sitting on top of a coupler at the end of the top deck of a F3.

My other concern is the well known circuit board underneath the rewind crank that can crack if stressed. apparently, some people have rendered their F3 useless by breaking it and there are no replacements or repairs possible.

 

[hap]

not really interested in buying the 12mm just to mount on my FT3. although it does have MLU and a prism mounted shoe.

 

[hap]

Do you know the angle of view of the leitz vf for the brooks 100 veriwide? Is that a suitable finder for the 12mm nikon F mount ?

 

[Phil_F_NM]

You could always find a prism from an F3P, it has the shoe on top. Or you could get a cheap DW-3 then JB weld a shoe from a parts camera onto the top of it. For use on the F3, this is probably the most crazy but compact way of doing this. For what it's worth, I never had a problem with an F3 after mounting a flash (usually SB-24, SB-25 or SB-26, sometimes SB-12) and treating the camera like a journalist does.

Phil Forrest

 

[Godfrey]

I used an F3/T for years and years, throwing any flash, RF flash trigger, or viewfinder onto the hot shoe mount adapter heedlessly. Never once had a problem with it.

A 12mm lens has such a wide angle of view that the small difference in the position of an optical viewfinder is irrelevant. Even the one made for the lens by Voigtländer is, at best, about 85% coverage, so the small displacement to one side and above will not make a whit's worth of difference to framing.

G

 

[hap]

I used an F3/T for years and years, throwing any flash, RF flash trigger, or viewfinder onto the hot shoe mount adapter heedlessly. Never once had a problem with it.

A 12mm lens has such a wide angle of view that the small difference in the position of an optical viewfinder is irrelevant. Even the one made for the lens by Voigtländer is, at best, about 85% coverage, so the small displacement to one side and above will not make a whit's worth of difference to framing.

G

That's what I kind of thought. However, looking for "validation" and extract pearls from the gallery.

I have the Leitz viewfinder for a Brooks Veriwide 100. ...as it has an angle of view about 100 degrees. Since this is just about the same thing as 18mm on a 35 camera, getting close to at least 15mm. the frame lines have some bit of extra space so using the entire field I am reasonably certain I might be in the 85% you are talking about. IT's also compact and engraved "LEITZ Wetzlar". What more could a guy want!.

Reading through some of the older posts on the F3, there people complaining about cracking their circuit boards with the flash. Apparently, it reallly does make the camera dead.

 

[Beemermark]

Use the F3 flash adapter and mount it the VF there. The field of view if huge, you won't notice the VF is slightly off axis.

 

[hap]

So....if you mount one of these voigtlander ultrawides on an appropriate Nikon, and the mirror is locked up, will it still meter? I think the F3 reads of the film plane. Not all Nikons meter the same way but it may be a moot point with one these lenses that stick deep into the camera.

 

[Phil_F_NM]

So....if you mount one of these voigtlander ultrawides on an appropriate Nikon, and the mirror is locked up, will it still meter? I think the F3 reads of the film plane. Not all Nikons meter the same way but it may be a moot point with one these lenses that stick deep into the camera.

You will get a meter response but not the proper reading. You might get close enough by using both higher ISO setting and over-exposure compensation, but I wouldn't trust it enough to use Aperture Priority. All that said, I still drool a little over the 12mm and 15mm CV lenses in F mount.

Phil Forrest

 

[hap]

You will get a meter response but not the proper reading. You might get close enough by using both higher ISO setting and over-exposure compensation, but I wouldn't trust it enough to use Aperture Priority. All that said, I still drool a little over the 12mm and 15mm CV lenses in F mount.

Phil Forrest

Yes, the Sirens are singing. However, it could be an expensive mistake.

 

[Corran]

I've used my 12mm F-mount on many of my F-mount cameras, including an F3. Even tried it on digital with Live View and electronic shutter!

Frankly the times I've used it has been as a point-and-shoot with external meter and no VF usually as I generally know how wide it is and you aren't getting anything approaching precision with the VF either way.

But to be honest it's much more likely to be used my my Nikon SP or Leica M6. The newer Voigtlander VF is way better than the original chunky one it was supplied with originally.

 

[hap]

I've used my 12mm F-mount on many of my F-mount cameras, including an F3. Even tried it on digital with Live View and electronic shutter!

Frankly the times I've used it has been as a point-and-shoot with external meter and no VF usually as I generally know how wide it is and you aren't getting anything approaching precision with the VF either way.

But to be honest it's much more likely to be used my my Nikon SP or Leica M6. The newer Voigtlander VF is way better than the original chunky one it was supplied with originally.

I mostly agree as hoping to mount it on the F3 and find a voigtlander F-S mount (for my SP) but they are super rare and probably fetch very high prices. I heard that Amedeo had a prototype but that is not practical. However, with the LTM adapter much easier to expand options to screwmounts and M's.

You tried it on a Nikon mirroless with Live View? Which model? Did it meter?

I am not so concerned about the VF, I have a Leitz veriwide VF which could get me in the ball park. It's very compact.

 

[Corran]

I can use it easily on my Nikon D800E, with full metering on Live View. The edges have the usual digital problems associated with deeply-recessed ultrawides, though I think the D800E was slightly better than my old Leica M9 in this regard.

Amedeo had a F-S adapter clone that he sold for a while on eBay. Hey I found it:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/133723246328

I think they were much cheaper when he started, but I could be misremembering. He came out with them literally the month after I finally found a NOS Voigtlander F-S adapter, but I paid about $300 for the privilege IIRC. I love my 12mm and 15mm lenses though...

If the $280 is not too much, maybe write him a message and see if he'd make another one.

A shot from my 12mm on the Nikon SP: