Best adapter for M lenses at reasonable cost

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eleskin

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I took the plunge on a NEX 5n today and of corse I need an adapter for my M mount lenses. I do not want to sink a large sum $ on an adapter but I do want something reasonable in durability
( I will be mounting a Noctilux, 35mm Nokton f1.2 and I do not want anything falling apart). I see some on EBay including the Metabones adapter. Anyone have any good suggestions for what I should get?
 
I was waiting for the NEX 7 but the high ISO capacity and price of the 5n won me over. I intend to use the 5n along with my M8 as a low light high ISO camera. The Hawk adapter looks great, but I do not do macro work. I am a street photographer and I feel I can save a little bit more money. Is there anything I can find under $100 that is decent for what I need?
 
It's not macro. It essentially allows RF lenses to work like SLR lenses (i.e., eliminates the RF close focus limitations.) If you are never shooting closer than 1m, then I'm a fan of Metabones.
 
Depends on what you think is a "large sum of money" I have the Voigtlander VM Adapter and love it. Although I did not try the Hawk, I did try a few of the other eBay jobbies but the sloppy fit really turned me off. After trying and selling two different ones I decided to stop wasting my time and sprung for the Voigtlander. It's really well made, solid feeling and no play at all in the mount when focusing, adjusting aperture etc. Highly recommended.

http://www.cameraquest.com/voigt_adpt_sonye.htm
 
The problem I have found with "ALL" of these mounts is the tolerances are not great with any of them. I have a number of M lenses that fit all my M cameras just fine. With the adp. mts. I had to get two, as two of my lenses were loose on one adp. but at 25.oo who cares.
The other problem with the M adp's is that none of them will focus to just inf. they all go past it, cheaper to make... Get yourself a Ricoh GXR and M-Module, I did and all my lenses work fine and I don't have any issues with WA's now I only go down to the 21mm lens but a 15mm is next on the list. Plus the shutter is very quiet in comparison to the Nex. But I was happy with the results I got with my Nex 3 and M lenses 35, 50, 90.
 
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I bought from eBay a reasonably cheap "no name" one which arrived on Friday.

In the course of trying it out I quickly realised that while the adapter itself fits on the camera body snugly any M mount lens I cared to try was a bit loosy goosy. I had just about reconciled myself to having to buy a new more expensive one when on closer examination I realised that the adapter had thin slits along the edge of the adpater just under (and parallel with) the bearing surface that the M lens bayonet lugs bear onto to hold the lens tightly in place.

I quickly realised this must be designed for just such an adjustment. So in each of these slits I placed a small screwdriver blade (the small jewellers type) and twisted it slightly. This had the effect of forcing the slit wider and forcing out the bearing surface. It is now perfect. All M lenses now mount tightly. I anticipate that it will get more loose again over time and a lot of use but the same treatment should work at least a few times.

The reason for buying a cheap adapter is that I was not sure I would like the experience of a MF Leica M lens on an NEX camera and did not wish to waste a lot of money. I can say it works very well with focus peeking (in fact its easier to focus these lenses than when they are on my M8). So I may end up getting a more robust and expensive version one day but until then with this minor tweaking the cheap one works fine.

I would be interested to know if other cheap adapters are similarly equipped.
 
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+1 for the Hawk's adapter. It costs the same as some of the better built adapters, costs quite a bit less than the most expensive, fits rock solid, works smoothly, and, at least for my copy, my M lenses stop at infinity as they should.
 
agfa100 said:
The problem I have found with "ALL" of these mounts is the tolerances are not great with any of them. I have a number of M lenses that fit all my M cameras just fine. With the adp. mts. I had to get two, as two of my lenses were loose on one adp. but at 25.oo who cares.
The other problem with the M adp's is that none of them will focus to just inf. they all go past it, cheaper to make... Get yourself a Ricoh GXR and M-Module, I did and all my lenses work fine and I don't have any issues with WA's now I only go down to the 21mm lens but a 15mm is next on the list. Plus the shutter is very quiet in comparison to the Nex. But I was happy with the results I got with my Nex 3 and M lenses 35, 50, 90.
Click to expand...

I would have maybe agreed with you last year, but the Hawks adapter changed all of this. It nails infinity focus with all of my M lenses, and allows SLR-like minimum focus distances, which gives it a major advantage over the GXR.

p.s. the new 5N shutter is much quieter than previous models.
 
R/J (Rainbow?)

R/J (Rainbow?)

I bought mine used several years ago for about $80. It says R/J on it, and I've noticed that Rainbow's site had some with these letters as well.

In any case, if these R/Js are Rainbows, and they're still made the same way, the M mount with locking pin and finish on the four bayonet flanges is as good as any Leica body.

The thickness is also the proper size, so racking to infinity on a proper M lens will take you there and not before or after.

There's no need for a Hawk unless you want macro and don't want to use a proper macro lens adapter. It just stretches your lens out a few mm like a mini extension tube.

If your M lens goes to .7m then an R/J or Rainbow is going to let you focus to .7m as well.


Teuthida said:
Rainbow Imaging. Works great, nice solid build, $29. Can't go wrong.
Click to expand...
 
ampguy said:
I bought mine used several years ago for about $80. It says R/J on it, and I've noticed that Rainbow's site had some with these letters as well.

In any case, if these R/Js are Rainbows, and they're still made the same way, the M mount with locking pin and finish on the four bayonet flanges is as good as any Leica body.

The thickness is also the proper size, so racking to infinity on a proper M lens will take you there and not before or after.

There's no need for a Hawk unless you want macro and don't want to use a proper macro lens adapter. It just stretches your lens out a few mm like a mini extension tube.

If your M lens goes to .7m then an R/J or Rainbow is going to let you focus to .7m as well.
Click to expand...

The Hawks really isn't about macro. It allows most of my rangefinder lenses to focus down to .3-ish meters, which is inline with most SLR lenses, not macro lenses. Despite spending $180 twice on Voigtlander adapters, I took a risk with the Hawks at the same price and haven't used another adapter since. It is also the only brand where I've heard consistent remarks about proper infinity focus. Other brands seem to be a bit of a crap shoot in this regard.
 
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from the outside, the metabones appears to be well made, that is until you open it. Mine has a poor quality screw, it broke into half when I was tightening it after dissembly, I used minimal force and it broke. This is the first time this sort of thing happened to me. Lesson learnt, you got what you paid.

6814382323_d0c97380e7_b.jpg


the cost cutting leaf spring also sucks, why not a whole ring, how much can you save this way?

6814548425_1097da23e0_b.jpg



have a look of the voigthlander adaptor, for how a real leaf spring should look:

6814547201_ae4115062e_b.jpg
 
I have used a number of adapters from jinfinance for the M43 and E-mounts, to adapt Leica-M, Leica-R, Nikon and Canon FD lenses. Not expensive sort and I am pleased with the quality and accuracy. Time to time though such adapter slots need to be "touched" with the tip of a pocket knife to eliminate any play..
 
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