Can Leica Lenses be used on Nikon slrs with an adaptor? Heresy I know but has anyone seen the new Nikon fm3a? I'd love to see an M with the same features (keeping the rangefinder of course)!

Don

-- Don Harris (don@dchphoto.com), July 01, 2001

Answers

Nope.

-- Bill Dewberry (dewbie@earthlink.net), July 01, 2001.

The flange-to-film distance on the Nikon is greater than that of a Leica R, and a whole lot greater than an M. Neither type of lens would focus to infinity on a Nikon by itself, let alone adding the thickness of an adaptor. If you have Canon EOS, you can use R lenses with an adaptor, in stop-down mode.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), July 01, 2001.

YES: I have an adapter to use VISOFLEX lenses on a Nikon body and have done so for years. Any Visoflex lens or accessory can be used on the Nikon series with this adapter, but you must use stop-down metering. I have been using a 90 Summicron (16462 mount), 135 Elmarit (16462 mount), 280 f:4.8 Telyt and a 400 f;6.8 Telyt on a Nikon F body for years. All of these focus to infinity. The adapter was made in the late 60's by Professional Camera Repair of New York. The 65, 90 and 135 Elmar's, 90 Summicron, 135 Hektor and Elmarit will all focus to infinity with the appropriate mount. I also use a Leitz Bellows 2 with the adapter for close-up work with the Nikon body. It will focus to infinity with the 90 Elmar and 135 Hektor with Leitz adapter rings. As mentioned in a prior posting, the "M" lenses can not be used on other makes of cameras. You can not use the "R" lenses on a Nikon body with the adapter I have.

Good luck.

-- Mark A. Johnson (logic@gci.net), July 02, 2001.

Andrew Nemeth had his Nikon F2 customized in a Nikon F2A-R with a Leica R bayonet ring.

-- Lucien (lucien_vd@yahoo.fr), July 02, 2001.

Sometimes I think Leica would have been better off forgetting their slow selling SLR line and should have just produced SLR lenses in Nikon, Canon, and other camera mounts. Now with the AF explosion, however, I'm not sure too many people would be interested in lenses costing well over $1000 a piece in manual focus.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), July 02, 2001.