Leica M39 Lens adaptors for Canon EOS Body

Hi all,

Recently my grandma gave me an old Leica IIIg Rangefinder camera with three lenses. It was a pleasant surprise, and in doing some research I've only heard great things about the camera.

I haven't had all of the equipment checked out by a professional yet, but they seem to be in great condition with only few slight scratches, but no breaks in the lenses. They are all M39 LTM screw mount lenses. (These aren't my photos)

A wide angle:
W-Nikkor.C f/3.5 35mm
http://www.mir.com.my …F-Nikkor/RF35mm/index.ht​m

A regular:
Leica Summicron Collapsible f/2 50mm
http://www.kenrockwell​.com …apsible/D3S_768​5-1200.jpg

And a telephoto
Canon f/3.5 100mm
http://www.flickr.com/​photos/ngminchai/35516​49436/

I love shooting on film, but I was also looking into ways to mount these lenses on a Canon EOS body (I have a Canon T3i)

I've been getting mixed messages, some people claim it's impossible, while others say it's easy as long as you have the right adapter. The biggest concern I've seen is that the adapters do not allow you to focus at infinity, if at all.
Most of these have been from a few years ago, so I'm wondering, is it now possible to mount these M39 LTM lenses on an EOS body with just one adapter? Or is there a trickier, more complicated way to do it? Some people have been talking about stacking an M39 to M42 adapter to a M42 to EOS adapter.

If you're curious, here are a few adapters I've been looking at. Some seem sketchier than others, any suggestions? Has anyone shot with adapters of any sort for these lenses?

http://www.fotodiox.co​m …t_info.php?prod​ucts_id=38
http://cgi.ebay.com …unt-adapter-/370468458259
http://www.amazon.com …ter-Cameras/dp/B004USBEVC
http://www.dhgate.com …ae00012ad163d4a​c43c4.html
http://rocksphoto.com/​goods-419.html
http://www.peleng8.com …non-eos-lens-adapter.html

Thanks so much guys!

The short answer is "no," M39 cannot be adapted to EF mount. In fact I'm pretty sure no rangefinder lens can, because they have much shorter flangeback distances than SLR lenses. There are adapters that allow you to physically mount the lens, but you won't get infinity focus. You can definitely forget about the collapsible lenses, unless you feel like damaging your mirror.

The only exception to this is if you have a Visoflex lens (which is what the Fotodiox adapter is for). Visoflex lenses are pseudo-SLR systems that would essentially convert a rangefinder into an SLR by adding a mirror box. None of the lenses that you have falls into this category.

If you really want to use the lenses on a digital body, pick up a Micro 4/3 camera. They work perfectly and it's pretty fun. I have a M39-mount Canon 50mm f/1.4 that I use from time to time.

I've always assumed no for the reasons stated above.

That said, I use the iiif and love it. The iiig was the last Barnack model, introduced about three years after the first M model, the M3. The iiig differed from previous iii models in that it was a slightly larger, and more importantly, had a viewfinder with parallax corrected frames for 50mm and 90mm…all older models had a smaller viewfinder for 50mm, uncorrected.

The iiig was relatively limited production, so it can still draw US$800 or more depending on condition.

I use an aged Summar 50mm/2 lens, dating back to 1934, but I've also thought about adding the Summicron…

OK, maybe information you already know, but just wanted to stress that it's a hell of gift.

All the above is correct... It's really not practical to use those lenses on your Canon camera. It's due to the short film register used with rangefinder camera lenses, as mentioned already.

But, why not just pick up a few rolls of film and enjoy using the lenses on the Leica camera? If you get a C41 film (color print or B&W print) you can even have moderate resolution scans made at your local one hour photo lab when they process the film, at reasonable cost. Those scans are adequate for online use usually.... For quality prints or other uses you might want higher resolution film scans than most one hour labs offer, but that's possible, too.

This assumes that the shutter is still good in the camera. The cloth curtains tend to get pinholes in them and timing might be off from sitting unused for a long time. If needed, the camera can be put back into fully usable condition, but Leica are pretty expensive to have worked on and good repair people are getting harder to find (one of the best is located about 45 min. drive from my home, thankfully).

These are my Dad's old cameras and lenses, that he gave me a few years ago...

Thanks for the advice guys, I did some searches on ebay and I was pretty amazed by how much the camera's worth.

I was thinking about using the lenses for video (which the Leica obviously can't do) to see how it'd look. Oh well, it's still a great camera for still photography!

Thanks again!

Awhile ago I bought a Jupiter-3 50mm f/1.5 lens which is an M39 mount. It doesn´t focus to infinity on my Canon DSLR but I have used it for close up shots of flowers. I bought an M39 to EOS adapter from E-bay some time back and use this lens occassionally. You may be better off buying a Micro 43rds camera/Sony NEX etc in the future as they will focus to infinity and you will have video capability as well.

I got a nice picture of my fingernails with the Jupiter 3 on my A6000 via a Metabones adapter.
The Sony adapter is still on its way...been two months now. This is the problem of living where I live.