Using a Mamiya 7ii lens on on a Leica S2

<p>Hi all<br>

<br />Is there any way to use the super sharp Mamiya 7ii lenses on a Leica S2?<br /><br />There is an adaptor that allows Mamiya 645 lenses to be attached to the S2, but any ideas on 7ii lenses?<br /><br /><br>

Thanks<br>

<br />Jakob</p>

<p>Two huge issues: the first being that the back-focus (rear element to sensor) distance of non-retrofocus (or minimally retrofocussed) wide angle lenses is simply too short to accommodate the reflex mirror of the S2 at anything approaching typical camera to subject distances. A fix for this might be to build an MF digital as a mirrorless camera to get rid of the mirror box - but then you're left with the second issue: that of the sensor's difficulty in intercepting oblique light rays. This latter problem can usually be at least somewhat mitigated with software, but the brief history of this software "fix" indicates a rate of success that is somewhat mixed. </p>

<p>Even if you made such an adapter, it would work for macro photography, nothing else. As John says, you can't get the M7 lenses close enough to the focal plane of an SLR type camera to shoot at normal distances.</p>

<p>If you are set on shooting medium format digital with that kind of lens, there is a chap in Korea who modded a Mamiya 6 body to take a Hasselblad V-mount digital back. It was up on ebay for a long time...seems to be gone now. The same principle would work with a Mamiya 7 body.</p>

<p>Thanks. This makes sense. Bit silly to think I could put lenses from non-mirror cameras on a mirror camera. The geometry will always be a problem. Thanks for the responses.</p>

<p>Hi Jakob,<br /> it's not totally impossible to use Mamiya 7 lenses with your Leica S. The flange distance of M7 system is about 59mm which is rather large for a rangefinder camera. I don't know the Leica S flange distance but my guess is, it's shorter. So an adapter or an adaption of the lenses is theoretically possible. I did some modifications on M7 lenses (43, 65, 80, 150) in order to use them with my Alpa FPS and a IQ180 back because the lenses are very sharp (as you say;-) and they easily cover the 54x40 large sensor. The aperture is no problem because M7 does not have a spring aperture but the aperture is closed directly by the aperture ring at the lens. The central shutter is electromagnetic and normally closed. One has to disassemble the lens and remove the shutter blades to have the shutter open. Mamiya Germany did that service for me. They also disassembled some unused mechanical parts at the back barrel of the lens to avoid interferences with my customized adapter (which even allows shift movements on the FPS.)<br /> Enclosed a link for a 80MP pic by the M7 150f4.5 at open aperture.<br /> https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/18437364/pictures/150mm-Mamiya-7-150f4.5-Apo%40f4.5.jpg</p>

 

<p>Hi Christoph,<br>

I have the 210mm M7 lens. I also want to convert is for use on a technical camera. Would you be willing to share some photos of your 150mm M7 lens modified to mount on the Alpa just to see?<br>

<br />Did you do it yourself or can you share the details of who provided the customized adapter?</p>

<p>thanks, Jude</p>

<p>HI Jude,</p>

<p>sorry I didn't find out how to upload pics to photo.net but please check my post at LuLa.</p>

<p>Please feel free to ask further details of the conversion.</p>

<p>http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=94282.msg770225#msg770225</p>

<p>Christoph</p>

<blockquote>

<p>it's not totally impossible to use Mamiya 7 lenses with your Leica S. The flange distance of M7 system is about 59mm which is rather large for a rangefinder camera. I don't know the Leica S flange distance but my guess is, it's shorter. So an adapter or an adaption of the lenses is theoretically possible. </p>

</blockquote>

<p>amazing, but you are right, Mamiya 7 flange is about 59mm, Leica S2 flange is 53mm, so look for a good engineer </p>

<p>@ Mag<br>

then I suggest:<br>

1. buy a no-name "what ever"-to-Leica S adapter<br>

2. buy from Mamiya service the M7 camera bajonet mount ring as a spare part<br>

3. unscrew the "what ever" bajonet side of the adapter, machine it shorter to match the M7 flange distance, add screw holes for the M7 camera bajonet mount ring and mount it<br>

4. Ask Mamiya service to disassemble back barrel of M7 lens to remove leaf shutter blades and eventually the aperture lever in case it interferes with the adapter and the Leica S baronet.<br>

Good luck, Christoph</p>

 

<p>Impressive work by Christoph. Mamiya may or may not eventually deliver a digital body for its 7 optics, but the ability to use them (or even the Mamiya 6 lenses) on another digital camera is appealing. The Leica and Alpa MF cameras are heavy investments and perhaps an equivalent of the much lower priced Pentax 645Z (or D) or other digital body may be interesting for some MF amateurs, although the smaller than 6x7 sensor size (also true for the Leica S series) may not be advantageous in some applications. </p>

<p>Thx Arthur. Mamiya belongs to Phase One. It took them years to release a new 645 mirror reflex camera (XF), they won't develop a mirrorless camera. 645 or 66 format mirror reflex bodies have too long flange distance to mount the M7 (or M6) lenses. Actually I consider to completely re-engineer the M7 80mm and 150mm lenses for my Contax 645 camera (theoretically possible because the M7 back barrel diameter is rather small, so it can slip a bit into the C645 mount ... without interfering with the mirror) but that's a bigger effort to do. My biggest hope (dream? ;-) is that Fuji would release a mirrorless "MF" camera using the 44x33mm Sony sensor (used also in Pentax 645Z an others), that would be a damn good and unique high IQ camera with rather small and light weight lenses and short flange distance making it possible to mount many kinds of third party lenses (incl. M6, M7) by adapter are or modification (including the option of shift adapter for 66, 67, 68 lenses for architecture photography), in other words a reasonable priced alternative to the Alpa FPS.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>amazing, but you are right, Mamiya 7 flange is about 59mm, Leica S2 flange is 53mm, so look for a good engineer</p>

</blockquote>

<p>This could work for half the lenses - the 80mm, 150mm and 210mm. The others (43mm, 50mm, 65mm) have rear cells which protrude a fair distance back into the Mamiya 7 body, so you don't have that 6mm of space to work with on the Leica. Since it was those "optically true wideangle" lenses that really earned the Mamiya 7 its reputation, this is a pity.</p>