Leica Amedeo's new Contax to M-Mount adapter for Internal Mount lenses.

Brian

Product of the Fifties
Arrived Monday, ~$150 off of Ebay inclusive of Fed-Ex shipping charges. Arrived within a week. I have three West-German Zeiss 50mm F1.5 Sonnar T's, all perfect glass. I had one shimmed for Nikon S-Mount, decided to Zero that one for the new adapter optimized for wide-open use on the M9. A Second one is optimized for the M Monochrom and deep-yellow/Orange filter. The new adapter uses an "index-cam" to correct for the difference between Zeiss and Leica, to keep good agreement across the full focus range. This assumes a specific focal length for the lens, and there is always going to be some deviation from lens to lens. I have this one good for 0.7m to infinity at F1.5.

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Test of new Amedeo Adapter
by fiftyonepointsix, on Flickr
 
The Fence Post test- wide-open,

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I iterated this about 5 times to get really good agreement. The variable stand-off ring of the post-war Sonnar makes this easy.

At F4,

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Test of new Amedeo Adapter by fiftyonepointsix, on Flickr

And a Bokeh shot for F1.5,

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Test of new Amedeo Adapter by fiftyonepointsix, on Flickr

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Test of new Amedeo Adapter by fiftyonepointsix, on Flickr
 
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This is a single-helical design, much like a 5cm F3.5 Elmar and 5cm F2.5 Hektor in LTM. M-Mount is best suited for an "Indexed-Cam", as the cut in the curve must be perfectly positioned with respect to the CAM roller of the camera. There are some LTM wide-angle lenses that use a single helical and an indexed cam, but the increased DOF is more forgiving. This adapter holds focus from close-up to infinity at F1.5.
 
In using the 50/1.5, is "seems" to flare more easily than the J-3 and J-3+. I will pay more attention to this, but a number of backlit shots came out like this.

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Test of new Amedeo Adapter by fiftyonepointsix, on Flickr

I use a vented shade, one used with a J-3 often. J-3's will flare when shooting with the sun close to the field of view, but this lens seems more susceptible.
 
I have Six Contax RF's....and Twelve Nikon RF's...

If you want to use the lens on a Digital camera, you need the adapter. I prefer the viewfinder of the Nikon over the Contax, modified a Nikon S2 to use with Zeiss lenses.

This adapter is well made. I have two of Amedeo's early LTM adapters, the threads are very thin on them. I had to fine-tune the shim of the lens for them, keep a Tessar 5cm F2.8 on one. The second- I use it as a tool for set to shim for Contax mount lenses. I've adapted a number of lenses to Leica mount, many using focus mounts from lenses with bad glass. The West-German Sonnar is more difficult to adapt because of the big rear element that sits close to the image plane.

This adapter is the nicest to use of any of the Contax/Nikon to M-Mount adapters- I also have two Contax/Nikon to M-Mount adapters for internal/external mount lenses. They were cheap, one given to me and a second bought for $90.
 
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Brian, I've been having a lot of issue with my Nikkon 5.0cm f1.4 RF lens and I think it has more to do with the Amadeo adapter that I got. Mine is a Contax to Leica one and I think I need to Nikon S to Leica. This $150 version seems to be smaller and built for the 50mm. I think he also sells one for the Nikon S focal plane. Will this adapter work with the Nikkor 10.5cm? If not, If I get the $250 version, will it work with both 5cm and 10.5cm lens? Vince
 
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