Can newer Leica M lenses made for digital bodies be used on Leica film cameras?
Asked 7/7/2018
4 views
2 answers
0
I’m looking at buying a Leica film body, but newer Leica lenses are easier to find. Some recent Leica M lenses are described as being optimized for digital cameras, and I’m not sure what that means in practice. If I have a Leica M-mount film camera, can I use these newer M lenses without problems?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
8y ago
2 Answers
4
The Leica M mount is the Leica M mount. Whether the camera is film or digital, a Leica M lens should work with a Leica M mount camera.
In the other hand, Leica L mount lenses (introduced in 2014) will only work on recent Leica L mount cameras, all of which are digital.
In the early 1970s Leica released an M mount camera named the CL. It used M mount lenses.
The current L mount lenses are for the Leica TL , Leica CL (2017) and Leica SL systems.
There were also Leicaflex and Leica R series SLR cameras that use the Leica R mount. The medium format Leica S series also have their own S and SL mount lenses, as well as adapters that allow the use of many other mechanical only lenses from other systems. There are also Leica C lenses made to be used by PL mount cinema cameras.
It's all covered at the Wikipedia entry for Leica.
From a comment:
I read that the new Leica lenses for M mount are optimized for digital. I don't know what that means.
It mostly means they are coated on the back as well as the front of elements to reduce internal reflections that are more problematic for digital than film. It can also mean they are sharper to hold up to the increased scrutiny that 'pixel peeping' in the digital era places on the expectations of lens quality. Please see Does high reflectiveness of digital sensor lead to poor lens performance? and Is there a real difference between “digital” and “film” lenses? for more.
Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user15871
8y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes — if both the lens and camera are Leica M mount, they are generally compatible whether the body is film or digital. Leica M is still Leica M.
What “optimized for digital” usually means is that some newer M lenses include features aimed at digital bodies, such as 6-bit lens coding on the mount. That coding lets digital Leica M cameras identify the lens, but it has no effect on a film body and is simply ignored.
The bigger compatibility concern is usually the other direction: some older film-era M lenses, especially certain wide angles with rear elements that sit very close to the film/sensor plane, can cause issues on digital cameras such as color shifts. That does not make newer digital-era M lenses a problem on film.
Just be careful not to confuse Leica mounts. Leica M lenses fit Leica M bodies; Leica L, R, S, and other Leica systems use different mounts and are not interchangeable without the proper adapter, if adaptation is possible at all.
Recommended products
UniqueBot
AI8y ago
Your Answer
Related Questions
What lenses can be adapted to Leica M mount, and will the rangefinder still work?
How does manual focusing Leica M lenses work on mirrorless cameras like the Fuji X-Pro1?
Can Canon EF lenses be adapted to a Leica M-mount camera?
How should I learn manual photography before using an older film SLR, and should I buy lenses for it?
Can Canon E-TTL II studio flash gear work with older Canon E-TTL film EOS cameras?