Are You NOT Using Coded Lenses On Your M8, M8.2 ?

I gave coding a go and bought the M-coder/D-coder. Too much effort for not much benefit (to me) apart from being able to tell which focal length was used.

Anyone after an M-coder/D-coder ? :)
 
ampguy said:
I use a lot of 28'swith no greenish corners.
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I only use 2, a type-IV Elmarit and an f/1.9 Ultron but both produce cyan corners if the coding isn't used.

The issue is that cyan or vignetting correction can never be just right, because aperture detection cannot be accurately determined.

Recommend you subscribe and read the Reid reviews articles on this issue, and if you like, go ahead and code and turn lens detection on, but also be prepared to have to post process and undo the over-corrections that will happen.
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I have the 12 (which requires Cornerfix), 15 Heliar, 21 Elmarit pre-ASPH, 21 Skopar, the 2 28's mentioned above, and 2 35 Summicrons, all which I hand-coded (permanently by milling the black slots) and all which the M8 takes care of the cyan with no overcorrection at any aperture. If there's a problem with other lenses, I am not prepared to say. I'm done buying lenses, these are it for me.

I was a Reid subscriber for a year. With over two years of shooting the M8 I have my own hard-fought experience to go on now, which I prefer over theory or anything I might read on the internet that appears to contradict what I've seen in practice.
 
It is my understanding that coding is useful for wide angle lenses only. According to comments I have read in Reid Reviews, anything 50mm or longer do not benefit much from the coding, whereas for focal lengths under 50mm, coding will assist in avoiding minor vignetting on the edges.
The only lenses that I have coded are the 15mm CV Heliar and the 35mm CV Ultron. I also have a 35mm CV Nokton that is not coded, and frankly, I see no difference in edge brightness between the two. My uncoded 40mm Summicron is bright all the way across, so it seems that as focal length increases, the need for coding decreases.
 
At first I used no coding and no filters on my M8, 15mm, 21mm, 28mm, 35mm. I soon found I needed the filters. With the filters in use, I found I needed the coding. All confirmed again when I got a used 18 ZM and tried out CornerFix.

So now all the lenses (including several 50s) I use on the M8 are coded except the rarely-used 15. I do like the lens ID in EXIF, so when and if I ever use the 75mm Heliar on the M8 I'll dab some black & white fingernail polish in the pits of a Milich 50/75 adapter so it will ID as a 75 Summarit.
 
For those who want to code LTM lenses:

A "kipon" adapter, with pre-milled 6-bit slots, is now starting to show up on Ebay. Same price as non-milled Voigtlander adapters.

- Cesar
 
I got a Kipon today, but can't get it to work on my CV LTM lenses on the M8. It brings up the correct framelines (in this case 24 & 35mm), but there's no lens model showing up in the exif data. So I guess it's not going to deal with vignetting or cyan issues either (though I've not received my filters yet from Leica so can't test yet)

Anyone else used these adapters?

Do you need to paint in the white as well as black markings? If so, what medium would you recommend - I've done the black with a Staedler marker, but have no white to try with?

TIA and kind regards
 
Jim-st said:
I got a Kipon today, but can't get it to work on my CV LTM lenses on the M8. It brings up the correct framelines (in this case 24 & 35mm), but there's no lens model showing up in the exif data. So I guess it's not going to deal with vignetting or cyan issues either (though I've not received my filters yet from Leica so can't test yet)

Anyone else used these adapters?

Do you need to paint in the white as well as black markings? If so, what medium would you recommend - I've done the black with a Staedler marker, but have no white to try with?

TIA and kind regards
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Both. And model paint like Humbrol semi-matte works best.
 
I used that automobile touch-up paint that comes in the little tubes with the brush inside. It's made to stick tenaciously to bare metal without a primer. It's glossy, but that hasn't seemed to pose a problem for the code reader on my M8.
 
I just got a 28/90 Kipon 6-bit adapter from one of the big ebay sellers of them and the threads were milled in about 60 degrees off. I had planned to use the adapter on my CY 28mm f/1.9 but I have to look at the side of the camera to check aperture. No way am I going to be able to use that.

I put it on my CV 15mm and tweaked the mounting a bit as it has three threaded holes per screw to enable users to align the lens' focal point and aperture markings with the top of the camera. In this case, it's about 30 degrees clockwise when looking at the front of the camera.

That said, I would not recommend these adapters or this seller since I went through nearly a month of run-around trying to get it. Once I did, I saw that the product was machined wrong and I'm generally unsatisfied with the whole experience.

Phil Forrest
 
The first screw-M adapter I did I milled all six troughs, but after that one I only milled the ones that get painted black. Same for my M lenses I milled myself. My 21 Elmarit I had to paint a flange screw with white, but otherwise the white ones are superfluous, as the code reader seems only to read the black ones, and the lens flanges are shiny enough to fool the reader into thinking the white codes are present.
 
swoop said:
Shooting in RAW makes coding pointless.

None of my lenses are coded.
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????:confused:This post doesn't make sense; the corrections are made by the camera firmware before the DNG is written.
 
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using a voigtländer 15mm with UR/IR-filter but without coding. the UR/IR filter makes the cyan coners. so if one want black clothes to be black the coding is a must
 
If you want your colors uncontaminated with infrared effects, you'll need to use the UV/IR Cut filter. But the filter causes excess cyan in the ends and corners. Coding the lens allows cyan correction in the camera automatically for both DNG(RAW) and JPEG files.

Alternately, the cyan can be corrected in post with CornerFix for instance. From what I've seen CornerFix may be the superior solution, as it's so adjustable... I think Sean Reid has found this to be the case as well.
 
I tested all my uncoded lenses "almost" hoping to see the problem. Shoot bright clowdy skies and white walls fully closed down and fully open. I never could produce any problem on the edges. Amost disappointed, which is really silly. So test and keep using. If there's no problem why fix anything. But I also didn't appreciate expensive physical coding in an already expensive camera when it can obviously be communicated with software. In fact, now I dislike it even more.
 
Phil_F_NM said:
I just got a 28/90 Kipon 6-bit adapter from one of the big ebay sellers of them and the threads were milled in about 60 degrees off. I had planned to use the adapter on my CY 28mm f/1.9 but I have to look at the side of the camera to check aperture. No way am I going to be able to use that.

I put it on my CV 15mm and tweaked the mounting a bit as it has three threaded holes per screw to enable users to align the lens' focal point and aperture markings with the top of the camera. In this case, it's about 30 degrees clockwise when looking at the front of the camera.

That said, I would not recommend these adapters or this seller since I went through nearly a month of run-around trying to get it. Once I did, I saw that the product was machined wrong and I'm generally unsatisfied with the whole experience.
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This isn't anything necessarily 'wrong' with the adapter. A lot of LTM lenses have the focus scale off at an angle when mounted on an LTM body, but the aperture remains at top dead centre. This is because the focus throw of the lens (the mechanical screw) always starts at the same place, and ends in a place that is convenient to reach with the focus lever. So when you mount a proper LTM lens on the adapter the same happens, the scale can be off to the side depending on the lens. But mount a CV lens on the same adapter and both the focus scale and the apertures are off at an angle. They may have the same screw thread, but the lenses are not designed the same way. The adapter will still work OK though.

So it strikes me you are blaming the Kiron LTM adapter made for LTM lenses when you are mounting a CV lens on it.

Steve
 
Nope, perhaps I didn't explain clearly enough. When I mount ANY LTM lens to this particular adapter, the lens is nearly 60 degrees counter-clockwise when looking at the front of the camera. This puts the focus tab at infinity over near the frameline selector lever and at close focus the tab will be at the top of the camera.
I have mostly LTM lenses which I've used on M bodies for years now. Yes, there are individual quirks here and there which may put a lens a FEW degrees off, but not 60.
This is just bad QC and the customer service hasn't been much better.

Phil Forrest
 
The seller said they were going to look into the problem at the factory level to ensure QC through the whole adapter run. When they get the issue solved, I'll be sent a new adapter. It's just going to take a while, is all.

Phil
 
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