[Leica] M8 Coded lenses

[red735i at earthlink.net (Frank Filippone)]

There is an interesting thread on the Forum about lens coding.  Folks are 
starting to play with the coding schemes, using a Sharpie
and white out ( Typewriter correction fluid) to fool the body into thinking 
a different lens is on the camera.  What good this will
do is as yet unknown, but hacking into camera technology seems to please 
some people, and may prove if there is really anything to
the coding theories..

If you wish to read the thread....   http://tinyurl.com/ymru2m


What is most interesting .... The Tri- Elmar has of course 3 focal lengths.  
Apparently the camera reads the lens coding form the
dots, then checks the position of the VF preview lever for which of the 3 FL 
the lens is at.  In effect, the body can tell if the
28, 35, or 50mm position of the lens is being used.

With 6 bit coding, at first in my mind, there were only 64 different lenses 
possible to be distinguished.  I thought this was kind
of limiting.  Using the VF preview position, this expands the possible 
unique lenses to 3x64 different lenses.  That is a bunch of
unique signatures that represent some future growth, and possible uses...

BTW, no one has hacked into the coding and tried a Zeiss or CV lens using a 
Leica lens profile.... yet.....

Frank Filippone
red735i@earthlink.net