RF coupled R lens on the XPan

[didjiman]

Well, I have a Summicron 50/2 modified to be RF coupled for the XPan. Here are some results:

First a close up. This is at F2 around 1/20th of a second:

Back up a little bit, the first few pictures I took with this combo:

Bike Trail:

My wife, you can see the massive "Hangar One" ex-airship hangar in the NASA Moffet Field:

More trail pic:

University of California, Santa Cruz:

Local high school:

and the California Live Oak, one of the prettiest trees in CA:

All in all, a good combo. The lens does not cover the whole XPan pano frame, may be about 50-52mm instead of 62-64mm. OTOH, it's 2+ stops faster than the 45/4 XPand lens and the performance equals it (well, it's a Leica afterall). I will do some experiments with low light wide open and focusing accuracy tests. The people that did the conversion set it to focus accurately at around 8 feet (best they can do), and there would be some accuracy issue closer up. We shll see...

// richard

 

[nksyoon]

Interesting - wonder how the corners & sides are compared to the Xpan 45.

Can you provide information about the conversion - is this something they're willing to do for others? Where are they located? How much did the conversion cost? If you'd rather not publish this info here, please PM me. Thanks.

 

[Fuchs]

Hi Richard, super interesting. I too would be interested in knowing if they are willing to perform the coupling for other people too. What version of the Summicron have you used??
Can you post a scan of a complete negative to see the corner fall off?
Thanks,

 

[Rob-F]

What a great project! I find it interesting that the Summicron covers such a wide field. I wonder if that 52mm can stretch to 54. That would be wide enough for projecting slides in a 6 x 6 projector--something I do now, but using the standard XPAN lenses, or else I shoot with my Hasselblad 500CM and a 50mm or 40mm Distagon.

Nice shots, good use of the format!

 

[Rayt]

Did you have to sacrifice an Xpan 45mm lens for the focusing mount?

 

[didjiman]

Hi all, I am asking the mechanics whether it is OK to send people their way. Will let you know. I just bought the cheapest Summicron R from KEH 🙂, around $250. I did do some tests at close focusing. Basically, the focus is accurate down to 2 feet @F2. No error after 2-3 feet. At 1 foot or so, it's off by ~6 inches but no one uses rangefinders for that close anyway.

No XPan lens is sacrificed, as I got one of the last R lens adapters from China. I think they are re-making them though so you can probably find them on EB*y.

My ultimate goal was/is to get a fast ~30mm'ish lens, the Fuji/Hassy one is brilliant but slow. I was hoping that they would take on modding a 28/2.8 PC lens but they say there are probably too much shift mechanism to do the conversion :-(. I am trying to see if other options are possible.

As for coverage, here's a full 65mm scan. I see using this mainly for low light, perhaps indoor shots, and not as a replacement for the 45/4 per se.

 

[didjiman]

OK< and now it can be told. skgrimes at skgrimes dot com. Email it to Adam's attention and tell them that you got the info from Richard. To do a Summicron mod, they will need a lens and the body from you. The job costs ~$350. They can probably machine a mount for you if you don't have one but it will cost more $. I have no idea how much but would guess ~$200?

In other words, don't expect this to be a 45/4 replacement, but a lens primarily for low light work.

Let me know if any of you try it too!

 

[Fuchs]

Hey, Richard, thank you very much for the info and for the scan!
It was once said that Leica R lenses covered way more than the usual 35mm circle, now I can see it's true.
cheers,

 

[Lutz]

Hi Richard, that's interesting. Would you have a picture of the set-up to give an idea of the bulk? How is the performance at infinity, or close-up? Why would you say that the mechanics set the lens to focus correctly at 8 feet and that this was the best they could do - if the lens is truly RF coupled...?

Cheers,
Lutz

 

[didjiman]

Here's a picture of the cam:

not very big at all. The lens is RF coupled. As I said above, the focus is pretty much spot on after 2 1/2 ft and beyond. I think SKGrimes didn't want to GUARANTEE that the focus will be perfect, but as far as I am concern, they did a great job!

 

[europanorama]

contax/yashica-xpan-adapter

contax/yashica-xpan-adapter

ktcamera.com kt163.com showed a c/y-xpan/tx1- adapter for 85 euro at photokina 04. i have seen a website showing zeiss pc-distagon 35/2.8 shots. i calculated +-5mm shift for a 24x65mm-pan. that chinese company has a translator and usually mr rens daughter natasha usually is replying in Q&A(emailing is useless). private emails to her ar ununswared. the chinese are blocking the net.... when i started msn-messenger it worked for 30 min. the second day they disturbed the line.....no chance for communication. pure chinese dictatorship. maybe calling them up could help. if the translator is inhouse... they also showing an interesting 4x5-system called lierse. gone from their website. maybe the best way is not buying anything anymore from china until....its called boycotting. or retaliation.
michael przewrocki
www.europanorama.tk
3dstereo-aeropanoramas/marspanoramas
like never before

 

[didjiman]

This forum needs more photos and traffic 🙂 Here's another TX-2 photo taken with the Summicron R!

 

[jan normandale]

Richard, thanks for this link. Certainly a lot of interesting comments and info here. Did you ever consider a slightly wider lens for adapting to the Xpan like a 35 or 25? If you did what did Grimes say?

cheers Jan

 

[apras]

wow very interesting. if you do convert some more leica R lens, i am interested to buy it. nice work!!!!