Amedeo 50mm Nikon to Leica M

[raid]

Must it be a 50mm adapter or can it be any Amedeo Nikon S to Leica adapter?

 

[keytarjunkie]

Must it be a 50mm adapter or can it be any Amedeo Nikon S to Leica adapter?

Hi Raid, There are two main adapters Amedeo makes for Nikon S to Leica M. (okay, there is also one without RF coupling for the later 5cm f/1.1)

The standard adapter can take both internal and external mount lenses (with many exceptions), and has the normal Nikon/Zeiss Contax helicoid.

There is also an adapter for internal-mount lenses only (basically, all the 50mm lenses except the later 5cm f/1.1, Voigtlander 50mm f/1.5, and Voigtlander 50mm f/2.5) which has a focusing tab and focuses "Leica-style", backwards from Nikon and Zeiss Contax.

I love the look of the "Millenium-Nikkor" 50/1.4 on film, but I would also love to see some images from this lens on digital M or mirrorless cameras. Very few images can be found online, despite its reputation as Summilux-like performance. Maybe someone can share some, or even post a comparison with the Summilux ASPH?

 

[raid]

Does the Millenium Nikkor mount on M8 or M9?

 

[horosu]

Just to follow up on this thread, I have a problem with this adapter.

Specifically, I bought an Amedeo internal mount adapter for 50mm Nikon-S lenses to use on my M cameras. I bought it from Amadeo Adapter Japan.

I already had a Amedeo Contax to Leica adapter, which worked perfectly, but I bought that one directly from Amedeo, in one of the rare instances that he sold directly on eBay.

The problem I have with the Nikon adapter is that my lens (Nikkor Millenium) exhibits severe back focus at all distances.

I wonder if that is a adapter problem or a lens problem. How can I solve this issue?

I love the Millenium Nikkor and would love to be able to use it at it's full potential. Do I have to buy another adapter? Can the lens be adjusted for this back focus by disassembly and removing some shims?

Kind regards, Horea

 

[Zuiko-logist]

This might be a stupid question. Does the lens show back focus on a Nikon body, ie without adaptor?

 

[horosu]

This might be a stupid question. Does the lens show back focus on a Nikon body, ie without adaptor?

🙂

I don't have a Nikon body to test the lens on, I only have Leica camera bodies. I can post photos that show the pronounced back focus of this lens + adapter combination on my Leica camera

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The older Nikon 5cm F1.4 lens uses Shims, not as easy to adjust as the post-war Sonnars. I would guess the Millennium Nikkor is the same.

The optical block comes out of the mount, is held in by retaining rings. You will need to add a shim.

My Amedeo Adapter was bought directly from him several years ago, when he personally made the adapters. The focus with my Millenium Nikkor is perfect- no adjustment required. Focus of my lens is also perfect on the S3-2000 that it came on. The West-German Sonnars, it is not uncommon to have to adjust them for use on the Amedeo Contax to Leica adapter, due to deviation of the Lenses. Those are easy to adjust, as they use a ring for adjustment. I just did two for a friend.

 

[raid]

I am very happy with my Amedeo adapter with the Millenium 50/1.4 Nikon lens.

 

[GMOG]

My Amedeo Adapter was bought directly from him several years ago, when he personally made the adapters.

So who is making them now? I wonder if quality control now is the same as what it apparently was.

I recently bought one of the Amedeo 50mm lens adapters for a S-mount 50/1.4 specifically for mounting this lens to my Z5 via a Novoflex M to Z adapter. My example came to me with two annoying flaws.

When it arrived and I removed it from the packaging every surface was covered in a sticky layer of what I think was helical grease. The helical itself was full of fibrous lint and something gritty, and as such did not feel very good to operate.

I took it apart and cleaned off the grease/debris mixture and put it back together using a light helical grease I have. I also spent time cleaning off a bunch of lint-catching tiny burrs that were hanging off the ends of the helical threads. It felt much better after that, but still had some "bumps" in the range of its motion. So I worked the helical while pushing and pulling the two pieces into each other with some pressure, and after that took it apart and cleaned/re-greased the helical again. Now it feels like it should, smooth all the way 'round.

The other issue is one I cannot correct, but it is not a deal killer for me because I don't intend using this lens on a rangefinder body (but having that option might have been nice). The symptom is the rangefinder coming short of infinity when the lens is at the infinity position. This is the same on the M6 and both of my M3s. My Leitz lenses are much closer if not perfect on all three bodies.

Looking at the focus cam I can see that someone worked it with a file, and this work was done towards the infinity end of travel. Why was this done? Based on my observations this modification was unnecessary and is detrimental to proper rangefinder alignment. The lens itself focuses to infinity just fine, verified on the Z5. Am I missing something on this point?

Here's the cam, set to infinity:


This adapter came to me in a bit of a sad condition, rough in the details. I thought about sending it back but in all fairness I've worked on it so now I own it. It works very nicely on the Z5, there's no denying that, and that's why I bought it so I am happy in this regard. But still, I'm left with the feeling that I paid a lot for something that didn't quite live up to the reputation.

I can't help but wonder if I am the only person who has had this kind of experience with a recently purchased and perhaps recently manufacured Amedeo adapter.

 

[splitimageview]

Who did you purchase from?

These are still manufactured by Amedeo's tech in Venezuela, not exactly a stable economy or country, which is why availability has been spotty.

Amedeo now lives in Florida.

 

[GMOG]

Who did you purchase from?

CameraQuest.

 

[wlewisiii]

I'll be getting mine on Monday from Cameraquest according to USPS tracking.

 

[splitimageview]

I've probably seen as many Amedeo adapters as anyone, over the years. I used to distribute them to US buyers a few years ago, when he was still in VZ. He'd ship them to me bulk and then I'd forward them to the US buyers.

There were sometimes subtle cosmetic differences between individual units but this was back when he was building them himself. Mostly it was the chrome finish, which is a toxic and messy procedure. Now that he has someone else doing all the work the quality control may not be up to the same standard.

I'd recommend contacting Stephen and get his thoughts...Amedeo is a stand-up guy and should be able to provide a replacement one way or another.

 

[GMOG]

I'd recommend contacting Stephen and get his thoughts...Amedeo is a stand-up guy and should be able to provide a replacement one way or another.

Makes sense from the standpoint of providing important feedback, but I'm not sure I want another copy after giving this one my personal touch. It serves me very well now, and the issues I corrected possibly limits the usefulness in returning it. That I messed with it voids, in my mind, the possibility of a return/exchange.

I'll think more on it. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The filing might be necessary on the Contax to M-Mount Amedeo adapter, but NOT the S-Mount adapter. The Contax adapter uses an indexed cam. The S-Mount adapter is straight, no slope. I suspect someone confused the RF cam between the adapters.

 

[keytarjunkie]

I also just bought a brand new Amedeo S-M int/ext adapter from Stephen which arrived incredibly over-lubricated. Maybe it's the way they're being stored/sealed for an extended period of time that's affecting the lubricant? A new $350 lens adapter should not require an immediate CLA, it's kind of frustrating. The grease on my old S-M internal-only adapter has also basically dried up after a few years and needs a reapplication. That filed cam would've killed it for me!

 

[Zuiko-logist]

Did it clean up ok?

 

[keytarjunkie]

Did it clean up ok?

I'm sure it will. I'm away from my repair equipment for a few weeks, but I did take a peak under the lens release button, which is held in place by a single screw with two springs underneath. It appears simple enough to come apart. Make sure you know how to work with helicoids before disassembling.

edit: I relubed both my old internal-mount adapter and the new regular adapter I recently purchased. They're a million times more usable now.

 

[GMOG]

Mine cleaned up fine using naphtha on pec pads and swabs. I tried alcohol first. It didn't work well on the grease.

 

[wjlapier]

Hey, I came across a problem recently. Don at DAG returned a CLA M3 and my Amedeo adapter for LTM doesn’t focus at infinity ( past it actually ) with my Millennium Nikkor. LTM to M adapter is Raqual. Is it the Amedeo adapter? raqual, or the rangefinder adjustment on the M3. My Canon 50mm f.1.2 with the Raqual is close to infinity but still past it a tiny bit. BTW, the Canon lens is fine on a Leica II but the Nikkor isn’t with the Amedeo adapter. Don says he can adjust the Amedeo adapter to work with the M3 and the M3 rangefinder focus will be unaffected if I use a Leica lens later.

FWIW, I only have the two 50’s mentioned in this post.

One other thing—Don says the M3 rangefinder was set to specs using Leica equipment as I would expect.