Using Non 4:3 system lenses on the Leica D3

The rest of my Leica page - and my panorama page

Not as easy as I thought.

NEW
focusing screen for your viewfinder

Twice now I have read that somebody referred to the idea of the Digilux 3 as a "mini DMR" while I don't have a DMR, I do have the Digilux and a large collection of generally tack sharp lenses.

KATZ eye focusing screens... These guys make a focusing screen with a split screen prisme for the Olympus 330 - I have contacted them to find out if it will work in the Leica Digilux 3, but have not hear back yet. If it does I will place a order and review it here promptly. as it positively would make manual focusing much easier.

The references I have seen suggest putting Leica R lenses on the Digilux 3 body, while Im sure this is technically easy, I am not entirely sure they will perform as expected. simply because they were designed for a mirrorbox larger than the 24x36mm negative area. The mirrorbox on my D3 is only 26x28mm seems like about maybe 25% of a typical 35mm SLR when I checked..

I stuck my Nikon 50mm 1.4 on the Digilux and the E1 body, it works perfectly at f.8 albeit with a smidge of highlight flare, nice for portraits, but when I open up wide to f 1.4 I get flare resulting in no contrast - like - really NO contrast. Soo after tossing this around in my mind for a while I have decided that the reason must be that the exit lens on the nikkor lens is significantly bigger than the entry to the mirrorbox on the cameras, so basically a lot of light hits the front of the "stuff" inside the camera bouncing around and scattering light all over the place. stop down and the lens start to work again as expected when the light path become narrower.

Unlike the big real element on the nikkor (and I am sure most R lenses) the rear element on the D3 Kit zoom is only 28mm and this applies to other 3:4th lenses I checked also.

Soooo. my conclution is that YES a R lens will positively mount and take pictures on the D3, but don't expect to operate lenses with large rear-elements wideopen. and also one should expect some flare at smaller f.stops.. which naturally can be very flattering for portraits, but maybe questionable for say wildlife images. (smile)

In other words, your non-system lenses will work on the 4:3 system, but don't expect to enjoy your expensive glass wide open - critical sharpness do not apear until about f 5.6 or smaller.

I tested my several of my lenses - nikkor 50 f 1.4 - nikkor 300 f. 4 - nikkor 80-200 f. 2.8 - nikkor 35-70mm f. 2.8 - they all worked well when stopped down to at least f 5.6

Well while I did run into a few challenges, so far all the lenses have been working great when stopped down, meaning, once set to f. 5.6 or 8, the quality of the images are beautiful and as expected. but like the 50mm my 300mm also tend to get very soft and suffer from highlight flare when used wide open. Because of the 600mm "crop" the lens deliver a very shallow DOF even at f. 8 as in the picture below. (no I am not a bird photography expert)

Other issues naturally is focusing the lens when not having a spilt screen focus aid, also since the lens effectively projects a 600mm lens image, its VERY dificult to handhold at anything less thatn 1/500th sec.

Leica users forum - digital - great place for all information about the D3

Post with links to reviews of the Leica D3 - Leica users forum.

Olympus 4:3 system website - all pieces compatible with 4:3 will work on your Leica Digilux 3

Thoughts about the cousin the L1 by Andrzej Wrotniak, I have beena big fan of his since we started comunicating in the early days of the Olympus E-10 - He give you a good idea what this camera is all about.

Lens Adaptors - Stephen at Camera Quest sell very nice and clean adaptors for most major camera brand lenses, I purchased the one for Nikon and it works flawlessly.

Popular Photography - Review of the Panasonic L1 cousin of the D3

Camera labs - Another L1 review