Best adapted lenses for the GFX system?

[Jeffg53]

I have a stack of Leica R glass and would love to know which will and won't work on the GFX. So far I have seen that the 100 macro is fine but the 50 Cron isn't. That leaves me with a mystery for the:

19
28-90
180 Apo telyt

In addition, I have the Otus 55 and a Zeiss 135.

Can anyone shed some light on the above please?

The GFX has a lot of appeal because of the H adapter with tripod foot which the X1D doesn't have.

 

[Erik Lundqvist]

There are some good Pentax 645 telephoto prime lenses in the 200-400mm range that might be worth trying on the GFX, if any one has access to them. I would go with the manual focus A series lenses, but even the autofocus FA series have aperture rings. Here are reviews from the Pentax Forum.

https://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/SMC-Pentax-645-Telephoto-Primes-c14.html

Gary

The 200mm looks promising and with a 1.4 teleconverter it would cover my needs. The AF one seems to have slightly better reviews. These are very cheap imported from Japan as well if you buy used.

There is a Carl Zeiss Contax 645 210 which might be good as well. Again very cheap on EBay from Japan.

 

[peterm1]

I used the Zeiss 135 ZF.2 Nikon mount with the Fotodiox adapter while I was shooting at Coney Island the other day. Here is one sample shot at or close to wide open - it is one of the most "3D" looking shots I have ever taken - on my Mac 5K monitor it almost looks like it is popping out of the screen...

 

[Paul2660]

I recently tried many of my Nikon lenses, and Sigma Art glass, sure if you crop 1:1 or something like it, you can use them, but the crop to me takes away from the image and makes many things I like to work like panorama stitching next to impossible.

All my telephoto lenses, 70-200, @ 200, 200-400 @ full range of zoom and 200-500 failed. The 200-500 won't even work with the Fotodiox adapter with any aperture adjustments, thus I assume it has an electronic connection like the new Nikon 24-70. The other two showed a pure black vignetting around the corners, and thus I didn't work with them very much.

The Sigma Art 20, 24 and 35, were less than stellar, would have supported a 1:1 crop only, but full 4:3 corners were either smeared or too dark or both.

The 14-24 did very well past 18mm, and by 22mm there was no vignetting and the image could be used in the 4:3 size.

The older 45mm P Nikkor at F16 was very good also, but any F lower you could not get the full frame in without some softness. Would work with a 1:1 crop.

The Fotodiox adatper I have has started to get some play in it and I need to call them on Monday. I can't find anything loose screw wise, but it does concern me.

Still looking for a long glass solution for the GFX as I don't see Fuji making anything until maybe 2019, with announcement at 2018 kina.

The older H lenses either the 210 or 300 are the ones I am going to try sometime with the Fuji H adapter. The Fuji adapter allows full aperture control from the camera. I guess it should as it's their own mount shared with Hasselblad.

Paul Caldwell

 

[mark1958]

I second this lens. I just got my nikon adapter and this was the first lens I tried. Will shoot some more with it today.

I used the Zeiss 135 ZF.2 Nikon mount with the Fotodiox adapter while I was shooting at Coney Island the other day. Here is one sample shot at or close to wide open - it is one of the most "3D" looking shots I have ever taken - on my Mac 5K monitor it almost looks like it is popping out of the screen...

View attachment 125977

 

[fotophil]

There are some good Pentax 645 telephoto prime lenses in the 200-400mm range that might be worth trying on the GFX, if any one has access to them. I would go with the manual focus A series lenses, but even the autofocus FA series have aperture rings. Here are reviews from the Pentax Forum.

https://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/SMC-Pentax-645-Telephoto-Primes-c14.html

Gary

In my experience, the Pentax 67 ED M* telephoto lens (300mm f/4 and 400mmf/4) out perform the Pentax 645 lenses of the same focal length. Unfortunately the cheaper non ED Pentax 67 300mm and 400mm lens are not so good. I believe someone is producing a Fuji GFX to P67 adapter.

 

[mark1958]

Took some photos with the Zeiss 135mm f2.0, 180mm f4 Voigtlander Apo Lanthar (for Nikon), and the Fuji 120mm macro.
The top image is the 180mm but I cannot remember if the aperture was 4 or 5.6. The focus point was the second row of red tulips.
The second and fourth are from the Fuji f4.5 and 4, respectively. The third is the Zeiss-- cannot remember but i think f4ish..

The zeiss is really a good lens. I have taken different types of shots and very pleased. The Voigt is better than I would have anticipated but a bit of fringing. I also took some shots with the zeiss 18mm 3.5 and of course huge vignetting.

 

[mark1958]

I took some photos with the Hasselblad 40mm CFE IF and willing to dropbox some RAWs or jpgs to anyone interested. In my opinion, the 32-64 is pretty close at first glance. The hassy has a bit of fringing -- but minimal and removable. Perhaps Hassy a bit more micro contrast but the hassy is so big and heavy...

 

[macz5024]

I am thinking about using my Pentax 645 lenses (35, 150, 200, 300 - with aperture ring) on the GFX. However up to now I had a bad time with the Fotodiox adapter. The lenses do not get locked... If hold them in place, they do a good job on the GFX. Mainly the new 35 mm is good - better than the Fuji zoom and would be worth being used with an adapter. I have ordered the Kipon adapter now. Hope it works better....?!
The Mamiya 120, 150 and 200 mm lenses perform flawlessly on the Fotodiox adapter - and are very good on the GFX. However the 50 mm shift lens just rotates on the adapter and cannot be locked in place.
Markus

 

[Satrycon]

has anyone used a Leica M lens on the GFX yet ? with this adapter > https://www.fotodioxpro.com/products/lm-gfx-pro

 

[grrr101]

I think also it would be interesting to share as much information as possible on lenses for GFX

Here is my (very recent) experience on the subject:

1) I have got several Fotodiox adapters for GFX : Nikon, Pentax, Mamiya and Hasselblad V (HB)
All seem to work fine and focus to infinity (it is not or not always a hard focus, but a t least there does not seem to be problems)
The Pentax and HB adapters have a mount for a tripod
They are expensive but some are big, and they must be of high precision, because they might be the weakest link in the wole chain

2) Pentax lenses are really very good:
35 MM A
45 MM FA (it seems I have a good copy)
150 MM A
120 MM macro (incredibly good as many people have said)
45-85 MM zoom (very cheap in Japan and quite good on first impression)

A useful link for pentax 645 lenses:
http://forum.mflenses.com/userpix/20118/big_517_majh197_1.jpg
In 1985 Modern Photography made measures on 45 mm 50mm 75mm 150mm and 80-160mm zoom
The best lenses at f8 were measured at 70 lines pair/mm which is really quite good
I made a quick computation and the sensor of the GFX seems to be at 70-80 line pairs/mm

3) Nikon PC lenses (at least 28 mm 3.5 and probably 35 mm 2.8 as well as Canon equivalents) are cheap an cover the area of the 44x33 mm sensor
Very good buy for a cheap wide angle, fully manual of course

4) Hasselblad V lenses are also very good
I tested
a) Planar 100mm 3.5 : really very good, different color rendition that Fuji 63mm lens
Better at f8 than at f3.5
b) Sonnar 250mm 5.6 : suprisingly good at full aperture
(this means that Sonnar 150mm and 180mm are also very good since they are better optically than the 250mm, maybe not at full aperture)
c) Same lenses with 2X Mutar : not very good, somewhat disappointing

5) Mamiya lenses are somewhat disappointing, even if 110 mm 2.8 is interesting (and 80mm f4 should be good)
300 mm (at least my copy) provides little contrast

6) Manual focus is less a problem than I thought
> you just prefocus approximately
> and then move a little bit your focus left and right and look in the viewfinder for the sharpest (or the most coloured, depending on the MF aid you chose) image
> when you are convinced to have reached the best possible situation you shoot
Obviously, especially with telelenses:
> better be at f8, f11 or f16
> take several (or many) shots repeating each time the procedure and chose the best shot quietly at home
Since you need a fast shutter speed with telelenses, the ISO setting is used as the adjustement parameter to make all this possible, and ISO between 1000 and 2500 is not uncommon (ISO 400 is not uncommon also with a bright sun)

Hope this helps
Please ask for more information if you need

Guy

 

[CAMBOUSA]

When I spoke with everyone last week, I was told they were being machined as we were speaking. So it shouldn't be too much longer. I'll certainly have more information to share as soon as it's shared with me!

I've got another call in about an hour, and I am going to see what I can find out.

I should be getting the first batch of these tomorrow, barring any customs SNAFUs. I'll update everyone with some photos.

 

[CAMBOUSA]

I should be getting the first batch of these tomorrow, barring any customs SNAFUs. I'll update everyone with some photos.

Haven't had a chance to shoot with one yet, but first impressions from me are as follows:

Its very solidly built. At first holding its a little heavier than the WRE-CA WRS Adaptor, but not quite as heavy as the ACB-CA Actus adaptor. But I haven't done a side by side feel yet. It functions the exact same as the previous adapters from Cambo.

I hope to have some testing time very soon.

 

[Quentin_Bargate]

Haven't had a chance to shoot with one yet, but first impressions from me are as follows:

Its very solidly built. At first holding its a little heavier than the WRE-CA WRS Adaptor, but not quite as heavy as the ACB-CA Actus adaptor. But I haven't done a side by side feel yet. It functions the exact same as the previous adapters from Cambo.

I hope to have some testing time very soon.

If production has commenced, I'd like to reserve one.

 

[Paul2660]

I believe Capture Integration now has them in stock, Atlanta GA.

Paul Caldwell

 

[Quentin_Bargate]

I believe Capture Integration now has them in stock, Atlanta GA.

Paul Caldwell

Bit of a trek from London :ROTFL: But good to know.

Any idea on availability in the UK?

 

[CAMBOUSA]

If production has commenced, I'd like to reserve one.

The initial production run is making it's way into stores and the hands of users like yourself. I know that we got 5 of the original order for stock, and 2 remain after filling orders from our dealers.

Bit of a trek from London :ROTFL: But good to know.

Any idea on availability in the UK?

Its a little bit outside of my wheel house (because its a bit of a trek from the US) but this page has a list of the dealers in the UK. Let me reach out and see if any have been shipped to that area and I'll get back to you. Just keep in mind that Cambo HQ is closed right now for the Easter holiday and won't re-open until Tuesday.

https://www.cambo.com/en/where-to-buy/west-of-europe/

If not, I'm sure something can be worked out somehow.

 

[Quentin_Bargate]

Blake, thanks.

I know the guys at Teamwork in London and will also ask them.

 

[CAMBOUSA]

Blake, thanks.

I know the guys at Teamwork in London and will also ask them.

Let me know if for any reason they aren't able to assist. I'll get you taken care of.

 

[peterm1]

Just ordered the last CA-GFX adapter from Capture Integration. Depending on how well it works with my 17mm and 24mm TS-E lenses and 11-24mm, I may finally say goodbye to my A7RII for good (especially once the Fuji 23mm is released). It would be so nice to be able to work with one system only, especially one as good as the GFX system. I just shot with both systems at Coney Island and will be publishing a blog post about it tomorrow.