Leica LTM lenses on Canon LTM cameras

MultiFormat Shooter · Apr 23, 2024

Sorry if this has been asked before, but my DuckDuckGo-fu is weak. Will Leica (brand) LTM lenses focus accurately on Canon rangefinders, specifically the Canon 7 series? I ask because I know Soviet-copy Leica lenses only work on Soviet-copy Leica cameras due to the difference between the "true" focal length the rangefinder "expects," versus the actual focal length it "gets." Is there a similar issue with Leica (or other brands of) LTM lenses on Canon cameras?

Thanks!

AnselMortensen · Apr 23, 2024

I have had no problems with using a collapsible 50mm Summicron on my Canon P.
Sorry, I have no experience with the 7-series.

titrisol · Apr 23, 2024

MultiFormat Shooter said:
Sorry if this has been asked before, but my DuckDuckGo-fu is weak. Will Leica (brand) LTM lenses focus accurately on Canon rangefinders, specifically the Canon 7 series? I ask because I know Soviet-copy Leica lenses only work on Soviet-copy Leica cameras due to the difference between the "true" focal length the rangefinder "expects," versus the actual focal length it "gets." Is there a similar issue with Leica (or other brands of) LTM lenses on Canon cameras?

Thanks!

YES -

MultiFormat Shooter · Apr 23, 2024

AnselMortensen said:
I have had no problems with using a collapsible 50mm Summicron on my Canon P.
Sorry, I have no experience with the 7-series.

Thanks!

MultiFormat Shooter · Apr 23, 2024

titrisol said:
YES -

Yes, there's an issue, or yes, they focus accurately?

jimjm · Apr 23, 2024

Canon designed their rangefinder cams to be compatible with the Leica design. I have used Canon lenses on Leica LTM bodies and Leica lenses on Canon P and IVsb bodies without any issues at all.
The Canon 7 was built to the same standard.
Many Soviet-era Leica copy cameras and lenses suffered from manufacturing variances and crude materials and design. I had an Industar 50mm lens that wasn't even close to the quality of any of my Canon lenses.

MultiFormat Shooter · Apr 23, 2024

jimjm said:
Canon designed their rangefinder cams to be compatible with the Leica design. I have used Canon lenses on Leica LTM bodies and Leica lenses on Canon P and IVsb bodies without any issues at all.
The Canon 7 was built to the same standard.
Many Soviet-era Leica copy cameras and lenses suffered from manufacturing variances and crude materials and design. I had an Industar 50mm lens that wasn't even close to the quality of any of my Canon lenses.

Thank you!

aw614 · Apr 23, 2024

The only issue I see on Canon 7's is the external bayonet may interfere on some collapsible lenses' focus lock. It was something I noticed when I mounted an industar 50 and a Light Lens Lab 35mm.

MultiFormat Shooter · Apr 23, 2024

aw614 said:
The only issue I see on Canon 7's is the external bayonet may interfere on some collapsible lenses' focus lock. It was something I noticed when I mounted an industar 50 and a Light Lens Lab 35mm.

Good to know, thanks!

eli griggs · Apr 23, 2024

I remember hearing that during the Korean War, a number of Leica body, photographers used Japanese Glass, finding it cheaper, more available, and as good, if not better than the German stuff.

In general, the only difficulty in using Leica standard lenses of any type, is with FSU cameras, particularly the Soviet FED, but it's mounting ring is shimmed with brown paper gaskets and can be shimmed by careful users with a digital micro-caliper, and more easily to cut, brown paper shims.

Mr Flibble · Apr 24, 2024

Yeah, basically there's the Leica standard lens registration distance that every camera manufacturer used for their screw mount copies/derivatives. Everyone EXCEPT those from the Former-Soviet Union.

Dali · Apr 24, 2024

Mr Flibble said:
Yeah, basically there's the Leica standard lens registration distance that every camera manufacturer used for their screw mount copies/derivatives. Everyone EXCEPT those from the Former-Soviet Union.

What do you mean? 28.80mm flange focal distance is not valid for FSU stuff (won't bet on prewar Soviet gear though...)?

guangong · Apr 24, 2024

The only difference between Leitz LTM cameras and Canon LTM cameras is the better construction and design of the Canon cameras…for example, combined viewfinder-rangefinder window. However, both Leicas and Canons are a charm to use. For whatever reason, Nikon and Zeiss rf camera lenses were not interchangeable.

reddesert · Apr 24, 2024

Dali said:
What do you mean? 28.80mm flange focal distance is not valid for FSU stuff (won't bet on prewar Soviet gear though...)?

The flange to film distance should be the same between 1. Leica and Japanese Leica-copy RFs incl Canon; vs. 2. FSU screwmount RFs like FED and Zorki.

What differs is the fiducial focal length that the rangefinders are calibrated to. I just explained this in another thread, basically the body RF expects a certain amount of movement as the lens is focused closer than infinity. One of the systems has lens cams that move like a nominal ~51mm lens and the other has lens cams that move like a nominal ~52mm lens. The offset goes as (focal length)^2/f-number, so it is most noticeable for tele lenses or fast lenses. If you only use wide lenses or 50/2.8 or slower, you probably won't see the focus offset.

The same fiducial-focal-length offset issue happens for Nikon rf lenses versus Contax rf lenses, although here, different from the LTM situation, the FSU Kiev lenses are said to match the Contax.

Dali · Apr 24, 2024

reddesert said:
The flange to film distance should be the same between 1. Leica and Japanese Leica-copy RFs incl Canon; vs. 2. FSU screwmount RFs like FED and Zorki.

What differs is the fiducial focal length that the rangefinders are calibrated to. The offset goes as (focal length)^2/f-number, so it is most noticeable for tele lenses or fast lenses. If you only use wide lenses or 50/2.8 or slower, you probably won't see the focus offset.

This is certainly the reason why I did not notice anything strange using FSU lenses.

outwest · Apr 24, 2024

I use only Nikon LTM lenses on my Canon.

MultiFormat Shooter · Apr 24, 2024

Thanks for the replies, everybody! I just wanted to make sure other makes of lenses would be usable, if I decide to go the Canon rangefinder route.

titrisol · Apr 25, 2024

MultiFormat Shooter said:
Yes, there's an issue, or yes, they focus accurately?

Yes, the Leica lenses work fine.
FSU, unless they are adjusted not so much

MultiFormat Shooter · Apr 28, 2024

titrisol said:
Yes, the Leica lenses work fine.
FSU, unless they are adjusted not so much

Thanks!

Leica LTM lenses on Canon LTM cameras

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