Phil_F_NM
Camera hacker
I have loved the Leica mount 21mm Super Angulon enough to have owned two samples but after I sold my M9, I sold the SA and went on with life. A few years ago, I got a 2.1cm Nikkor from Maitani here on RFF and have been using that lens on my F2 until just last week.
I like the F2 for the incredible viewfinder but with this lens, I have to lock up the mirror so I decided to adapt it to Leica. I still have my combat tested M4 which I'll never sell.
Anyway, I purchased a cheap adapter from ebay and the USPS lost it. They delivered it to the wrong address and upon their attempt to retrieve the item, they couldn't get it back.
So, I was about to buy another one and Ben was getting rid of a bunch of Nikon gear, a fantastic 2.1cm Nikkor, an F2 among a bunch of other pieces. He had a Novoflex LEINIK M39 adapter that he modified a bit to mount on a Leica but the modification wasn't done yet.
The adapter is actually something like a macro or microscope adapter, not for doing what we've done. Novoflex confirmed that the flange registration distance of the adapter is wrong.
Before giving me the adapter, Ben ground away a bit of the sides of the base flange as they interfere with both the frameline preview lever and the lens release button.
This is the point at which I took possession of the adapter and continued the mod.
The registration of a Nikon F mount lens is 46.5mm and a Leica M is 27.8mm. The adapter was .35mm too long so I unscrewed the base part of it and put it on a fresh sheet of 400 grit sandpaper on a very flat chunk of countertop plywood. Over the course of an hour or so I removed the fraction of a millimeter of aluminum and then I had the registration distance difference correct to adapt the Nikkor to the Leica.
After that came the internal tab which locates the optics of the lens and prevents them from rotating when changing the aperture. If this isn't done, the rear element of the 2.1cm lens will hit the "ceiling" of the camera just in front of the shutter.
I took a small 4.8mm x 1.5mm x (5mm) piece of aluminum and set it into the adapter with a small amount of JB Weld.
If you're to do this modification yourself using any Nikon to whatever adapter, ensure you measure the arc a bunch of times and try to get a thin marker or pencil into throat of the mount to properly locate the tab. If you put it in wrong, there is a chance the lens won't mount at all which is ok but as the slotted tab on the lens is beveled, there is a very slight chance that you could mount the lens but not dismount it without great difficulty.
The proper dwell of the forward (lens side) of the tab is 5mm from the outside of the flange.
So I let the JB Weld cure for 24 hours and it was off to the races.
Here's the tab in the adapter.
Here's the top of the adapter, showing the model and general layout.
Here's just a full frontal of the lens on my M4.
One thing to pay attention to is the alignment of the adapter to the camera itself.
I sanded off actually .33mm of the adapter base flange and .02mm off of a Voigtlander M-LTM adapter to get the lens in proper alignment with the camera. This rotated the Novoflex adapter about 1/8 turn into the M39 adapter and ensured the squared top of the rear element is parallel with the inside of the camera. It also makes it easier to read the focus and aperture settings in the same orientation as they have on the F and F2.
NOTE:
One more point to add: the rear element of this lens is pretty large and has a nice metal shield around it. Should you decide to do a similar modification and put this lens on your Leica, be it a Barnack or an M body, make sure to take the lens off the adapter then the adapter of the body to ensure that shroud over the rear element doesn't scratch the inside of the camera.
Phil Forrest
I like the F2 for the incredible viewfinder but with this lens, I have to lock up the mirror so I decided to adapt it to Leica. I still have my combat tested M4 which I'll never sell.
Anyway, I purchased a cheap adapter from ebay and the USPS lost it. They delivered it to the wrong address and upon their attempt to retrieve the item, they couldn't get it back.
So, I was about to buy another one and Ben was getting rid of a bunch of Nikon gear, a fantastic 2.1cm Nikkor, an F2 among a bunch of other pieces. He had a Novoflex LEINIK M39 adapter that he modified a bit to mount on a Leica but the modification wasn't done yet.
The adapter is actually something like a macro or microscope adapter, not for doing what we've done. Novoflex confirmed that the flange registration distance of the adapter is wrong.
Before giving me the adapter, Ben ground away a bit of the sides of the base flange as they interfere with both the frameline preview lever and the lens release button.
This is the point at which I took possession of the adapter and continued the mod.
The registration of a Nikon F mount lens is 46.5mm and a Leica M is 27.8mm. The adapter was .35mm too long so I unscrewed the base part of it and put it on a fresh sheet of 400 grit sandpaper on a very flat chunk of countertop plywood. Over the course of an hour or so I removed the fraction of a millimeter of aluminum and then I had the registration distance difference correct to adapt the Nikkor to the Leica.
After that came the internal tab which locates the optics of the lens and prevents them from rotating when changing the aperture. If this isn't done, the rear element of the 2.1cm lens will hit the "ceiling" of the camera just in front of the shutter.
I took a small 4.8mm x 1.5mm x (5mm) piece of aluminum and set it into the adapter with a small amount of JB Weld.
If you're to do this modification yourself using any Nikon to whatever adapter, ensure you measure the arc a bunch of times and try to get a thin marker or pencil into throat of the mount to properly locate the tab. If you put it in wrong, there is a chance the lens won't mount at all which is ok but as the slotted tab on the lens is beveled, there is a very slight chance that you could mount the lens but not dismount it without great difficulty.
The proper dwell of the forward (lens side) of the tab is 5mm from the outside of the flange.
So I let the JB Weld cure for 24 hours and it was off to the races.
Here's the tab in the adapter.
Here's the top of the adapter, showing the model and general layout.
Here's just a full frontal of the lens on my M4.
One thing to pay attention to is the alignment of the adapter to the camera itself.
I sanded off actually .33mm of the adapter base flange and .02mm off of a Voigtlander M-LTM adapter to get the lens in proper alignment with the camera. This rotated the Novoflex adapter about 1/8 turn into the M39 adapter and ensured the squared top of the rear element is parallel with the inside of the camera. It also makes it easier to read the focus and aperture settings in the same orientation as they have on the F and F2.
NOTE:
One more point to add: the rear element of this lens is pretty large and has a nice metal shield around it. Should you decide to do a similar modification and put this lens on your Leica, be it a Barnack or an M body, make sure to take the lens off the adapter then the adapter of the body to ensure that shroud over the rear element doesn't scratch the inside of the camera.
Phil Forrest
