Re: Leica-M close up attachments

[Afterswift@aol.com]

<<It looks exactly like the illustration labelled "SOMKY" on page 41.
Do I need an additional tube or spacer to mount any lens on this thing?
--J.Redfern>>

I use a Somky from time to time, and have for many years. If you have the
collapsable 2.8 50mm Elmar, to attach it to the Somky or the Sooky-M, merely
collapse the lens and you'll notice that the back of the lens tube has
bayonet protrusions. These lugs will fit into the mount of the Somky. Press
the lugs into the mount and rotate clockwise I believe, until the lens locks
in. I now do that automatically. A special tube is required to accmmodate the
lens head of the rigid Summacron. As I underestand it, the Summacron lens
head can be unscrewed from the rigid Summacron mount and screwed on to the
special tube, which has the same configuration of bayonet lugs as the
integrated tube of the 50 Elmar. The collapsable Summacron will not
accommodate the Somky, I believe. Mount the Somky on the camera first, then
attach the lens. 

To get good results with the Somky, I suggest that you use a tripod unless
you can shoot at 1/250 at least. The Somky corrects for framing, parallax and
focusing. No meter compensation is necessary in most cases. I don't think
Leica makes a Somky for the M6. I don't have the latest Leica Catalog.

With the arrival of the SLR, I found that I can do close up work much easier
with a macro lens, such as the Nikon 2.8 55mm, which covers all fields down
to somewhat more than 1:1. Now I seldom use the Somky, unless I want to get a
close-up on the Leica roll for some special reason. 

I prefer to use the 50mm Elmar as a fixed lens. It has a tendency to unlock
from its mount when the aperture ring is rotated. I eliminated that
possiblilty by wrapping a few turns of black contact around the outside of
the barrel. In effect, this makes the Elmar a rigid lens, very light and
compact, yet fast enough for most conditions.

I see no reason to use an RF camera for close-up work. Its forte is fast
handling, existing light, silent operation, focusing fast normal lenses, and
top quality lens resolution. Why hobble a Leica with all sorts of extraneous
plumbing?

Bob Rosen