Apo-Lanthar 90/3.5 and adapter

[Orio]

Hello
I bought the Voigtlaender Apo-Lanthar 90/3.5 because it's cheap and good and it fits my budget well after the purchase of the M9.
I have however a problem with the frame, the 28-90 Voigtlaender adapter brings up the 135mm frame instead of the 90mm frame.
Any suggestion on how to fix it?
Different adapter, or...?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Ronald M]

Adapter is wrongly marked or improperly made or something is wrong with the camera.
Try a different 90 to eleiminate the camera being wrong.

 

[Orio]

Unfortunately, I don't have another 90mm to try. I have the Biogon 35/2 with native M mount and it brings up the 35mm frame correctly.
So maybe is it adapter's fault?

 

[GBR66]

Assuming that you are talking about the 90mm on the M8? The M8 doesn't have a 135mm frameline - 90mm is the longest lens supported....I think from memory it is 24/35, 28/90, 50/75. Soooo...it isn't bringing up the wrong lines....it may just be the innaccuracy of the M8's lines at longer distances that is catching you out.

Guy.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Guy's analysis makes sense to me.

Cheers,

R.

 

[GBR66]

Roger, That is the most qualified support my opinions have ever had...and off topic, I loved your technical explanation of grain last night...followed by the caveat of "in drink after a night with an ex-Hell's Angel..." or something similar!

 

[squinza]

But the OP talks about the M9...
Seems like an adapter problem. No way to try it on an older camera?

 

[GBR66]

Apologies - misread the OP!

 

[Roger Hicks]

Apologies - misread the OP!

Aaaargh! Same here.

Yes: the only possibilities are (a) try the lens on another Leica (b) try another 90mm on the M9.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Orio]

Thank you all.
I have no access to another Leica or lens, for the moment. Sunday there is a used camera fair in a town reasonably near. I'll get there and see if I can borrow a lens or camera for a moment to test.
I really hope it's the adapter, I would hate to send the camera to servicing, it's brand new (two weeks only).

 

[payasam]

Strange. Voigtlander M adapters are widely held to be well made. Possibly wrongly marked, as Ronald said.

 

[f16sunshine]

Hi Orio
Nice to see you here. Is the adapter clearly marked 28 90 on the front? CV adapters are chrome and show Brass machining marks on the M-mount side. Do you see Chrome and Brass. I'm thinking it could be possible that the adapters is not actually a CV one but rather a Chinese knock off in the CV box. It seems unlikely that the adapter or camera could be faulty from their perspective manufacturers. Their could be a foul player somewhere.
Does the 28/90 frame come up when you use the preview lever? I think on the M9 it is the lever position furthest to the left (away from lens).

 

[Orio]

hi Andy!
based on your description, mine seems to be an original Voigtlaender adapter. I bought it in a box last year when I had the Bessa R. The seller was serious so I don't think it was a clone.

I don't know what is going on. It is very strange. I made further testing, and it seems that in fact it's the 90mm frame what I see. But it only is reliable when I focus at the nearest possible distance (1 meter). If I focus far, like I did earlier today, the frame is not good anymore, and the actual picture coincides more with what is the 75mm frame (which I mistaken for the 90mm, thus believing that the 90 one was the 135... I know I sound confused, LOL)

In the end, frame seems right but I get this huge error (parallax?) when I focus far away.

I then tried to use my other adapter which is an original Leica, made for M3 (based on the writing), it is a 35-50 mm adapter.
The curious thing is, the viewfinder shows in fact the 50-75mm frames, but it also shows, as a "ghost" (don't know how to name it better), the 90mm frame. As if it knew that a 90mm lens is actually attached to the adapter!
This sounds absurd to me, but that is what happens.

Can not figure the whole thing out, really 🙄 I just know that in spite of the difficulties, I love the camera and the lenses! 😀

 

[rustysheepdog]

Hi Orio!

I have an M8, not the M9 - the viewfinders aren't quite the same as you do have a 135 frame in there, and I can't be certain what else appears with the 135 frame. But, have you tried inserting your 90 and turning it FIRMLY until it clicks home? I have one screw-bayonet adapter that needs to be mounted that way or it fails to locate the frame selector cam correctly. It gives me a mixture of partly formed frame lines if I put the lens on the camera gently.

And as for the 90 frame only being accurate at close range, that's certainly true of mine. At longer distances it's grossly pessimistic AND off centre. Still, what can we expect with these cheap cameras, eh?🙄