Leica MD2 with Visoflex - will this setup work?

[Katie]

So I bought a visoflex with bellows and double cable release (see my post in the FS forum) on CL a while back. I just contacted a guy about his MD2 for sale ... so if I have the visoflex with bellows and cable release ... do I just need a lens for the MD2? Or do I have to have a visoflex lens? Does a regular lens require an adapter for the visoflex to M42 mount? How will it focus? I understand that I'll need to use my handheld meter and a tripod ... but having never used a Leica, tell me what this will be good for (image wise - and focal length wise) and how focusing will work without the finder on the camera body?

Thanks for your input. I've been wanting to try a Leica ... Sorry to be so dim about this!

 

[Katie]

Will Dead Link Removed work with the Viso (not II or III). And do I need any more dang adapters?

or would Dead Link Removed be better? Again, any more adapters needed?

 

[John Koehrer]

There's a little bad news on this one> The 65 won't focus to infinity on the Viso l, it's thicker than the ll or lll. My book doesn't show an adapter for the 200 on the Viso l, only the ll and lll.
The Leica accessory guide shows adapters for the 135mm Hektor lens head(UOOVH/16580), 125mm Hektor w/o barrel(UOOXI/16572), 90mm Summicron(UOOZK16598),
90mm Elmar and Elamarit lens heads(UOOWV/16585).
The numbers above are the old alpha catalog numbers and the newer system.
The 200 you link to has a bayonet adapter with it and Your Viso has a screw mount, there may or may not be another tube that would allow it to be mounted but I wouldn't buy the lens until you determine positively that you can fit them together.
Either the Viso ll or lll will work with the MD-2 but you will need a focusing adapter with the 65. The 200 appears to be a full set.

 

[Katie]

Thanks John for all your information!

I decided to pass on the camera body. I am already invested pretty heavily in Hasselblad, and he wanted IMO too much for it ($500). I guess I still need to sell my Viso and Bellows!

 

[John Koehrer]

Hi Katie,
I think the Viso l uses the bellows to focus all of the lenses it can use. There may be some combination of tube and adapters that would allow use with more current lenses but I am not familiar with such a list.
I suspect it might be quite a search for the tubes anyway.