Adapting Leica M-mount lenses to Canon RF

[Rofocale]

Hey, fellow Komodo users. Looking to start building a collection of super compact lenses for my portable KX package. Love the look of so many of the lenses for Leica’s M-mount but worried about the camera’s shallow flange focal distance (20mm), especially as the Komodo’s sensor cover mask probably reduces that even further.

My questions are:

1) does anyone have any experience adapting M-mount lenses to the Komodo OG or X? Anything you can share to help make an educated choice?

2) have you come across any lenses that aren’t compatible? Any lenses that you know work?

3) I’m looking for a locking adapter, but the only one I can find is from C7adapters. Never used their gear before. Any experience with this adapter/brand? Not seen or heard anything about them, but I’m based in Japan and western tech is often a pain to get hold of, and silly expensive. https://c7adapters.com/en/product/leica_m_-_rf_mount/265

Thanks in advance!

 

[Rofocale]

Quick note: can’t change my obviously fake username until Feb 15th. Apologies as it does fly against forum rules.

 

[wellmadeproductions.2024]

I'm looking for similar information. Komodo OG with an URTH 'RF to M' mount adapter.

My 21mm Summilux mounts but the image distorts / fish-eyes.

 

[Rofocale]

I’ve been a bit of a deep dive on this and came across a couple of posts on the other forums.

There are apparently issues with light smearing when adapting some M-Mount lenses to cameras with thicker sensor stacks such as the Canon R series, Sony Mirrorless, etc. The glass covering the sensor on Leica cameras is, apparently, ultra-thin and the lenses are designed to accommodate this. From what I understand, it’s the thickness of this stack, not the flange distance that causes these smears, but, depending on the lens design, its focal length and the sensor size, these effects may or may not present.

Not much info on RED forums, but some on Sony and Canon-related sites. The wider the lens, the more unusable it becomes, apparently. ASPH lenses appear much more prone.

Can anybody add to this from a RED Komodo user’s perspective? If the flange distance is not the issue, then regardless of the quality of the adapter the smearing effect may still present, I assume.

I’ve heard of some Nikon users having the glass of their sensor replaced to compensate. I’m relatively new to RED and never even heard of this phenomenon before yesterday evening, but I’d love to hear from anyone how may have overcome this problem.

 

[Rofocale]

I'm looking for similar information. Komodo OG with an URTH 'RF to M' mount adapter.

My 21mm Summilux mounts but the image distorts / fish-eyes.

Just seen this, thanks for posting. Check out my comment below, it might be relevant to your use case.

 

[Michael von Hirschheydt]

I recommend the Novoflex RF/ M Adapter. The quality is better with tighter tolerances. The advantage is the good construction quality (metal housing), low weight and compact dimensions. Disadvantages are the low rotation angle for sharpness and a clicked aperture ring. Since M lenses have been manufactured since the 1950s, there are several models with the same name but very different technical designs. In terms of overall image quality, lenses before 2006 (analog era) are generally problematic. Due to the short flange distance, the light rays are strongly curved towards the edge and hit the sensor at an angle, which can result in a drop in brightness towards the edge and blurring. Leica sensors compensate for this design disadvantage with lenses that are progressively inclined towards the edge. Because of the numerous possible combinations, I recommend trying it out. Lenses >= 50mm show fewer artifacts. Since the Leica lenses are not optimally adapted for use on a cine camera, they are more suitable for people who are looking for lenses with “character”. In my opinion, the explicit purchase is not worth it simply because of the high price. Anyone who already owns such lenses for their Leica M should definitely experiment with them.

 

[DanielHager]

I do use on a Komodo X and OG and V-Raptor X the Leitz Cine 0.8 21mm, 24mm, 35mm and 50mm on a regular basis with a Novoflex RF/M adapter with a lot of joy, although with a little bit of play on the lens side. I recently upgraded to aC7adapter, because of the locking mechanisms - which is fantastic. BTW the Leitz Cine 0.8 are discontinued, instead you can get the Hugo lens from Leitz.