paulfish4570
Veteran
RFF member ferider (Roland) kindly offered to modify an SMC Pentax-M 50/1.4 lens for use of a Kipon Leica M-mount adapter for me use on my Bessa R2m. After two rolls of film, one in c-41 color and one in BW, I have to say the kit works beautifully. Here are some thoughts and photos:
Lens with adapter fits the R2m snuggly and confidently.
The lens and adapter - and camera - look good together.
Focus is silken.
Lens/adapter/cam combo is well-balanced, and comes to hand nicely.
The front of the lens intrudes into the viewfinder field at the bottom right corner, but barely conceals anything in the bottom right corner of the 50mm frame lines. It is not a factor in my composing.
Focus is dead on, from inside three feet to infinity.
The SMC Pentax-M 50/1.4 is sharp with a capital S, but not too contrasty. The OOF field, I think, is a big plus: it is smooth and orderly. There is nothing dramatic about the OOF that would detract from what is in focus.
Half-stop clicks on the lens are handy, as the R2m’s TTL meter uses half-stop increments.
Metering is perfect through the lens, according to my two rolls worth of experience, both with ISO 400.
Framing is accurate.
Rendering fits the way I see things very, very well.
Conclusion: this lens stays on my R2m.
cam at infinity:
cam at closest focus:
For those of you who are interested in Roland’s engineering of this kit, which requires modification of the lens before it fits the Kipon adapter, see this link. http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113676
And for those of you interested in obtaining this lens/adapter combo, you will have to contact Roland ... J
The Bessa grip, which you might have noted in some of the pics. was provided by Roland. It immediately became a treasured - and mandatory - accessory.
Some sample color pics made with the kit:
Some BW:
f1.4 (gonna takes lots of shots to nail focus at this DOF), handheld at 1/60 or 1/125:
Lens with adapter fits the R2m snuggly and confidently.
The lens and adapter - and camera - look good together.
Focus is silken.
Lens/adapter/cam combo is well-balanced, and comes to hand nicely.
The front of the lens intrudes into the viewfinder field at the bottom right corner, but barely conceals anything in the bottom right corner of the 50mm frame lines. It is not a factor in my composing.
Focus is dead on, from inside three feet to infinity.
The SMC Pentax-M 50/1.4 is sharp with a capital S, but not too contrasty. The OOF field, I think, is a big plus: it is smooth and orderly. There is nothing dramatic about the OOF that would detract from what is in focus.
Half-stop clicks on the lens are handy, as the R2m’s TTL meter uses half-stop increments.
Metering is perfect through the lens, according to my two rolls worth of experience, both with ISO 400.
Framing is accurate.
Rendering fits the way I see things very, very well.
Conclusion: this lens stays on my R2m.
cam at infinity:
cam at closest focus:
For those of you who are interested in Roland’s engineering of this kit, which requires modification of the lens before it fits the Kipon adapter, see this link. http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113676
And for those of you interested in obtaining this lens/adapter combo, you will have to contact Roland ... J
The Bessa grip, which you might have noted in some of the pics. was provided by Roland. It immediately became a treasured - and mandatory - accessory.
Some sample color pics made with the kit:
Some BW:
f1.4 (gonna takes lots of shots to nail focus at this DOF), handheld at 1/60 or 1/125:
raid
Dad Photographer
The lens has always been awesome, Paul, and now you have it a mount that fits your other non-Pentax cameras.
paulfish4570
Veteran
thanks, raid. i am tempted to buy an mx or me and another copy of the lens so i can have a matching slr kit ...
raid
Dad Photographer
I use my SMC 50/1.4 mainly on a Spotmatic F. Is the MX the small sized body that comes with the pancake 40mm lens?
paulfish4570
Veteran
yes, the mx/me series is very compact, like the om series.
raid
Dad Photographer
I have a black MX with the pancake lens. It is a small combo.
ampguy
Veteran
Great image quality. That setup is smaller than I expected. Impressive engineering work. Maybe someday we'll all be 3D printing our lens adapters at home! Maybe the lenses too!
Particular
a.k.a. CNNY, disassembler
Thanks for posting these images. I remember the original thread, and was intrigued. It looks like a relatively simple project. The resulting lens looks like it is not oversized, and well suited to an M mount camera. It seems really usable.
How accurate is the focussing?
How accurate is the focussing?
paulfish4570
Veteran
focus is dead on ...
Particular
a.k.a. CNNY, disassembler
Great! Very impressive.
Mablo
Well-known
The image quality is awesome. Makes me think of 50/1.4 Summilux quality. Great review, thank you Paul and Roland.
paulfish4570
Veteran
thank you, Mablo.
Michael Markey
Veteran
Very nice Paul...looks good on the Bessa.
I use Pentax when not using an RF.
The 50/1.2 is very good .
The 50/1.7 is sharp and has more contrast.
Of the short tele lenses I like the 100/2.8.
I`m currently trying a 35/2.8 .....
I use Pentax when not using an RF.
The 50/1.2 is very good .
The 50/1.7 is sharp and has more contrast.
Of the short tele lenses I like the 100/2.8.
I`m currently trying a 35/2.8 .....
semilog
curmudgeonly optimist
Oh, how I'd like one of these. I don't suppose Ferider is doing this on a regular basis?
paulfish4570
Veteran
am waiting for him to chime in ...
gb hill
Veteran
Outstanding Paul. I have a Spotmatic that was given to me. The lens is yellowed but I've been sitting it in the sunlight. It's almost clear now, but have forgotten about it until this post. I'd need one in 39mm ltm but think I'll keep it for the Pentax.
gb hill
Veteran
Since Brian is no longer posting maybe Ferider can take over Brian's forum.
Jamie Pillers
Skeptic
Hi Paul, very cool. And just to comment on the photos... your low-light landscapes are always fantastic! You should make MORE!!
Roland... VERY cool modification - thanks for trying it! Just to be clear: the modification is essentially adding the focusing 'cam' to the slr lens so that it pushes the rangefinder wheel in the camera... correct? And can I assume that its not a minor exercise to calculate the dimensions of the cam.. correct? And regarding focus distance: the pentax lens normally has a close-focusing distance of something less than a half a meter. Can the Leica M rangefinder mechanism accomodate this shorter distance, or is the modification limited to 0.7m?
Roland... VERY cool modification - thanks for trying it! Just to be clear: the modification is essentially adding the focusing 'cam' to the slr lens so that it pushes the rangefinder wheel in the camera... correct? And can I assume that its not a minor exercise to calculate the dimensions of the cam.. correct? And regarding focus distance: the pentax lens normally has a close-focusing distance of something less than a half a meter. Can the Leica M rangefinder mechanism accomodate this shorter distance, or is the modification limited to 0.7m?
paulfish4570
Veteran
greg, that yellow does nothing to IQ, IIRC.
paulfish4570
Veteran
jamie, close focus is about 2.5 feet. and the way i understand the engineering, you are correct on that, too.