Adapted Rangefinder Lenses on Nikon Mirrorless

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Nikon Z7 with 1950s Rangefinder Lens

2018 Nikon Z7 with 1956 W-NIKKOR•C 3.5cm f/1.8. bigger.

 

November 2018   Nikon   Mirrorless   Mirrorless Lenses   All Nikon Lenses   Nikon Flash   All Reviews

 

Palm and Storm, 29 November 2018

Palms and Storm, 6:21 PM, 29 November 2018. 2018 Nikon Z7 with 1956 W-NIKKOR•C 3.5cm f/1.8 (see Adapting Rangefinder Lenses to Nikon Mirrorless), f/4 at 10 seconds at ISO 64, shown exactly as shot. bigger or camera-original ©  file. The palm tree is blowing all over in the wind; don't expect it to be museum-sharp.

 

Nikon Z6 Sample Image of a green and blue pool float

Blue and Green Pool Float, 09 April 2019, 5:27 PM. Nikon Z6, 1946 5cm (50mm) f/2 NIKKOR-H•C on adapters, f/8 at 1/320 at Auto ISO 100, Perfectly Clear. bigger, full-resolution or camera-original © file.

Not bad for an old weathered pool float shot with an over-70-year-old lens. This lens was Nikon's first lens for its first camera made in occupied Japan a year after World War Two. The Z6 lets us adapt this and just about any lens to it for great results, complete with Image Stabilization!

Nikon Z6 with NIKKOR H-C 5cm f/2

Nikon Z6 and 1946 5cm (50mm) f/2 NIKKOR-H•C used to shoot the photo above. The lens is on a Nikon S rangefinder to LEICA M adapter which is on a second LEICA M to Nikon Z adapter. These adapters all come from eBay. bigger.

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You don't need, and can't use, the FTZ Adapter with rangefinder lenses. Rangefinder lenses, the original mirrorless lenses, have to get closer to the sensor than the SLR lenses for which the FTZ is designed.

This is good, because we can get basic adapters for only about $13 direct from China over eBay for just about any kind of rangefinder lens.

In fact, we now can use Nikon's original 1940s-1960s rangefinder lenses on the Z cameras! It was easy to mount my 1956 W-NIKKOR•C 3.5cm f/1.8 rangefinder lens to my Z7, and it works great.

There is no such thing as a Nikon rangefinder to Z adapter yet, but no worries, I use a LEICA M to Nikon Z adapter AND a Nikon rangefinder to LEICA M adapter at the same time.

We can adapt anything to the Z because there are adapters for just about anything to LEICA. Use one of those and an M to Z adapter and we're good — and we don't need the FTZ for anything!

 

Historical Trivia

As you all know, Nikon's 1946 rangefinder lens mount is a copy of the original 1932 Contax rangefinder mount, so an adapter for either Contax rangefinder or Nikon rangefinder to LEICA M works.

When I say original Contax rangefinder mount, I don't mean Contax' completely different 1990s autofocus G mount system, but you knew that. (Contax G adapters are out there, too.)

Nikon has used the letter "S" as many marketeers have to suggest sexual satisfaction subliminally, so not only do they put it on today's Z lenses, they put it on their 1980s AI-S lenses, and yes, their 1940s-1960s rangefinder mount was also called the S mount. Saying "Nikon S Mount" will mean many different things depending on your generation. To Gen Z kids S means Z mirrorless, to old guys S means the linear aperture actuator of 1980s AI-S lenses, and to great-grandparents S means the Nikon rangefinder system. Always be specific when you say Nikon S.

Often the Nikon and Contax rangefinder mounts are collectively called the Nikon/Contax mount because they are the same except for a slight focus difference. The exact focal length of Nikon's first 50mm lens was slightly different from Contax,' so back in the 1950s there was a slight rangefinder focus error at closer distances if you swapped lens brands because each used a slightly different focus mount thread pitch. Today this makes no difference because we're focusing directly on the sensor, but it will mean that the focus scales become progressively less accurate if you use an adapter optimized for one brand with a different brand of lens.

 

Thickness

Many adapters are made about 15 microns too thin to make things easier on their makers. This means they focus past infinity, but it also means the maker can get sloppy and not worry too much about the exact thickness. The only real problem is if the adapter is too thick and won't focus to infinity. If it's too thin, as often happens, it works fine, but the focus scale won't be accurate.

I've used the $200 German Novoflex adapters, and they are just as bad as the $13 ones from China.

 

Common Sense

While I'll explore this out in the public interest, I wouldn't actually go out of my way to shoot any of these combinations unless I already owned the pieces and was in a bind.

Adapting lenses is mostly the province or hobbyists, defined as those who enjoy experimenting with equipment and owning nice cameras. For those of us who have to produce for a living, adapted lenses rarely give performance as good as native Nikon Z lenses, and they are always slower to fiddle with and shoot, with manual aperture setting and focus. Tomorrow I'll shoot a comparison between the $5,300 LEICA SUMMILUX 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE and the native 24-70mm and I suspect the 24-70 will give better results, as well as working much faster. If you demand the very best performance and look closely, while the Nikon gives better results than Canon or Sony here, using the right same-brand lenses usually still works better.

 

Focus Magnification

For precise manual focus, program one of your buttons to ZOOM at MENU > CUSTOM (pencil) > f controls > f2 custom control assignment.

Now you can tap the button to zoom the finder and focus precisely. Use the nubbin to move the magnified area around.

 

Focus Peaking

A faster way to set manual focus is to use the "peaking" aid, which highlights what's in focus without having to zoom. It's faster but less precise.

Set this at MENU > CUSTOM (pencil) > d10 Peaking highlights.

 

Good News

More great news for adapting lenses to Nikon Z:

1.) While there are often massive auto white balance and exposure errors when adapting random manual focus lenses to the Canon EOS R and the Sony cameras, miraculously I get good, consistent exposure with every manual lens I've tried on my Z7. Nikon is lying and no, you don't get matrix metering even with Nikon AI-S lenses on the FTZ, but otherwise you get consistent averaging exposure with all random lenses.

2.) The Z7's internal vibration reduction really works, letting my handhold my 1950s lenses at 1/4 second!

3.) LEICA screw mount lenses also work great. I use screw-to-m adapters and then my usual LEICA to Z adapter.

4.) While Nikon's sensors come from Sony and adapted wide lenses often work poorly in the corners on Sony, I get pretty good results with just about every wide lens on my Z7. I'll presume Nikon is using a different microlens design that lets it work well with my 1958 LEICA 21mm f/4, and even works with my impossible original version of the Voigtländer 12mm f/5.6! Yes, with the insane 12mm lens there is some color shift at the sides, but it's still pretty usable and my 21mm rangefinder lenses work great on my Z7, while my 21mm lenses work very poorly on Sony.

 

Nikon Z7 with Voigtlander 12mm f/5.6

Nikon Z7 with Voigtländer 12mm f/5.6. bigger.

 

Nikon Z7 with LEICA 21mm f/4

Nikon Z7 with LEICA 21mm f/4. bigger.

 

5.) While I can't adapt my best LEICA lenses with additional viewfinder optics ("goggles") to Sony because Sony's grip gets in the way because Sony's bayonet mount turns the wrong way, the bayonet mount of the Z7 goes the other way, so goggled LEICA lenses work great! Just be sure to attach the lens to the Z adapter first, and then attach that pair to the camera. It won't work the other way around.

Nikon Z7 with LEICA 35mm f/2 with goggles

Nikon Z7 mit LEICA SUMMICRON 35mm f/2 für LEICA M3. bigger.

 

6.) Current model LEICA lenses love the Z7, giving LEICA owners the highest-resolution solution available for their lenses. LEICA cameras stop at 24MP; with LEICA, it's never about the picture; it's about the lifestyle.

Nikon Z7 with LEICA 35mm f/1.4 FLE

Nikon Z7 mit LEICA SUMMILUX 35mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE. bigger.

 

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27 May 2022, 29 November 2018