KONICA 48 mm f2 III LENS ON NIKON Z6

[MarkWalberg]

I love the old Konica rangefinders. I've often thought about how the lenses would do on a digital camera.
So, I finally did it. I had an old shutter from a Konica with the nice 10 blade iris. I took out the shutter leaving the iris. Then, I screwed the front and rear elements of the Konica III lens onto the front and back. Then, I screwed the shutter into a m25 to M42 adapter. Screwed this into an M42 helical 12-17 mm, screwed this onto a 9 mm M42 spacer, then screwed this into a thin M42 to Nikon Z ring. Amazingly, all this works very well, and the lens gives great images.

This particular Konica III had a Seiko shutter with the 5 blade iris. The older Konirapid shutters had the 10 blade iris, which is definitely nicer. You can see this in the out of focus part of a picture below. I'm having a lot of fun with this lens.

At the end of the Konica III series, they made the Konica S and others. The Konica 48 mm f2 was available as a lens on the better models. I've got one of these and it seems to be the same as the Konica III lens. These can be found for less money.

A neat thing is that I can screw out the front and rear elements any time and put them back into the Konica III quickly, and all works like the original.

 

[MarkWalberg]

Here are some pictures with this set up.


These pretty flowers seem to be open only one day.

On this set up, the lens focuses to about one foot, a lot closer than possible on the rangefinder.
Also, the out of focus part of the picture is much nicer with the 10 blade iris compared to the 5 blade iris in the rangefinder body.
I've had a blast using all sorts of lenses on the Z6. It is like a new world has opened !

 

[das]

Very cool project. In case you didn't know, you can buy this standalone lens - it's the Konica 50mm f/1.9 in M39. The same lens as on the IIA and the 48mm f/2 on the III. 🙂.

 

[MarkWalberg]

Interesting. I found your web page about this lens. I've always like this lens. It can be had for a lot less money with the adapted appproach above compared to the M39 version. How many blades on the iris of the newer leica mount lens?

 

[MarkWalberg]

I just bought a Konica S with the 48 mm f2 lens on eBay for $1. I'm sure it is the same lens as on the III. A great lens for almost nothing.

 

[das]

Interesting. I found your web page about this lens. I've always like this lens. It can be had for a lot less money with the adapted appproach above compared to the M39 version. How many blades on the iris of the newer leica mount lens?

I believe it also has ten aperture blades.