Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/12/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Mike, You can get a pretty good introduction to the Contax/Leica-L adaptors at Stephen Gandy's site (www.cameraquest.com). None were ever made by Leica or Contax---they are/were third-party products. The only ones currently in production I know of are made by an individual (or very small company) in Tokyo, and although I read about them in a magazine, I had never seen one in a shop until I bought mine. But the shop I bought it from, where I browse regularly, evidently often has a couple in stock----I guess I just never noticed them in the showcase. There is a Contax version as well as a Nikon-S version, and both can use either internal or external bayonet lenses. Visually it looks like the Contax/Nikon focusing helicoid has been "liberated" from a body, internal/external bayonet intact, and grafted on to a Leica screwmount. There are a number of Contax lenses that won't work (mostly wide angles), as well as a number that the manufacturer has never tested. There was nothing in the product information about Russian lenses. This looks to be pretty much a small machine shop/labor of love item. Well finished, fairly smooth, but also possibly more expensive than buying a used Contax II/III body. List price is 65,000 yen or so (US$520). For the adventurous, I have also seen an Alpa/Leica-L adaptor. The M6 I saw had a 50/1.9 Macro-Switar mounted, and the owner told me the lens could be focussed with the rangefinder. I don't know if they're still available or how much they might cost. Best Regards, PB On Fri, 04 Dec 1998 17:10:28 +0100, Mike Dembinski <mdembin@it.com.pl> wrote: >Paul C. Brodek wrote: > >> I recently found a Contax rangefinder/Leica-screw mount adapter in Osaka, which >> combined with an L-M adapter lets me use dad's lens on my M6 and M4-2. > >Is this a Leitz product? If so, what's the code? How much might one cost? I >presume it's for the internal bayonet - was one made for the external bayonet >too? > >I'm in the habit of buying Soviet Kiev R/F - fit lenses, and would dearly like to >use them on my M6 too - lack of frames in the finder have played havoc with my >composition. Paul C. Brodek Kobe, Japan pcb@iac.co.jp