Makes sense to me Cal. Now, how will you completely "Monsterize" it?
Looks like the R to L adapter is coming soon? Saw on FB that Leica was advertising it. So, you'll be selling the D3x?
The R Adapter L was released a few weeks ago. Stocks are somewhat short as yet, but deliveries in the UK and Europe have been happening.
That said, it's not really necessary. The R Adapter M has been available since before the SL shipped, same for the M Adapter L (T). The R Adapter M stacked onto the M Adapter L provides exactly the same R lens profiles that the R Adapter L provides. The benefits to the R Adapter L are as follows:
- Recognition and auto-selection of lens profiles for ROM-equipped R lenses.
- Less constriction in the physical mount interface, so potentially less vignetting with certain lenses and use situations. *
* With very long telephotos (280mm and longer) the M's 38mm mount diameter used with R lenses in adaptation can cause some vignetting. The R lens mount is 47mm diameter, the SL lens mount is 50mm diameter, so the R Adapter L removes this constriction. But I haven't seen it with any of my R lenses (15mm to 250mm, even with the 2x Extender-R on the 250mm), and see it just a little bit with the old Sigma 600mm f/8 mirror lens.
The other situation where the vignetting will be less is when using extreme extensions for high magnification macro work such as with the Focusing Bellows-R and Summicron-R 50mm lens set to 2.7:1 magnification. This is such a small part of my photographic endeavors that I deem it to be insignificant.
The R Adapter L also has one restriction that the two adapter stack does not: just like Leica R8 and R9 bodies, the oldest R lenses with one- or two-cam configuration cannot be used as the cams can damage the ROM contacts. So it is three-cam, R-only, and ROM-equipped R lens compatible only. ROM lenses are automatically recognized and the proper lens code selected; for three-cam and R-only lenses, you manually assign the lens profile.
I've been using the two adapter stack with my R lenses on the SL since November 2015 when I received mine. It works brilliantly. For M lenses that are six-bit coded, the code are recognized and automatically selected, otherwise you have manual assignment and the ability to turn off the lens profiles. For R lenses, all profile assignment is manual, like like with the R Adapter L and non-ROM lenses. It's very easy to assign the lens profile menu to a button on the SL and to edit down the lens profile list (with fw2.0 and later) so you can pick from exactly the lenses you have to work with.
I use some Nikon mount lenses on my SL as well. I fit a Rayqual Nikon F to Leica M mount adapter onto the M Adapter L. I haven't found a reasonable map of Leica lens profiles to Nikkor lenses that produced good results, so I don't bother with coding them at all. The results are excellent anyway, although some of my Nikkors are eclipsed entirely by the Leica R and M lenses (of course).
The SL is a brilliant camera in every way. Of course it's not perfect, nothing ever is, but if I needed diverse capabilities and fast operation, able to use any Leica lens from M, R, S, T, and SL series, as well as adaptable to nearly any other lens system, it is the only camera I would need.
G
