To code or not to code, it is a question .

[km25]

OK. Looking into the M10. I have a 24mm F2.8 Elmart. A 35mm Summ F1.4 ASPH, the one before floating rear element and a 90mm F2.0 APO ASPH. All of the lens are not coded. I heard all kinds of thing.

1. Some lens do not even need coding. No where on the Leica Web sight does it say this.

2. Can you not put this info. manually?

3. That the new flange with the coding has a new position relative foucing plans of the sensor, again not supported by Leica...they say things ware out and need repair or adjustment. That each lens is five hundred dollars.

Or should I just forget all of it and just see what the images will look like. I heard they will look just fine. Any body with ffed back.
kam

 

[JDLaing50]

If you decide not to six bit code the lens it can be coded manually in the camera using the menu.

Wide angle lenses, especially older ones, benefit from the coding.

The trick is remembering to change to manual code in the menu when you change lenses.

 

[Doug D]

If I understand correctly from what I've read - the new M10 will remember the last non-coded lens mounted (that you manually entered). So if you go back to a coded lens and then back to the non-coded it will remember how it was set. Sounds great if you own or use only one non-coded lens but of course, if you are swapping with multiple non-coded it could be problematic.

I have a 35 Cron ASPH and 90 Elmarit that are non-coded and was thinking of sending to Leica to be coded. They replace the flange and adjust as necessary to spec for focusing. I was quoted $300 each, not $500.

Just not sure it is worth it because manually coding is easy and neither of these lenses is likely to benefit much from the camera knowing which is which. More important for 28mm and wider as I recall.

 

[Gregm61]

OK. Looking into the M10. I have a 24mm F2.8 Elmart. A 35mm Summ F1.4 ASPH, the one before floating rear element and a 90mm F2.0 APO ASPH. All of the lens are not coded. I heard all kinds of thing.

1. Some lens do not even need coding. No where on the Leica Web sight does it say this.

2. Can you not put this info. manually?

Absolutely....the key is, REMEMBERING to do it every time you change lenses. I've come home before with 75-100 images with the same lens in the EXIF because I forgot to re-code the camera after every lens change, and if you're like me and want to see the actual focal length in the EXIF on all your images, well..... let just say it wasn't a pretty site.

3. That the new flange with the coding has a new position relative foucing plans of the sensor, again not supported by Leica...they say things ware out and need repair or adjustment. That each lens is five hundred dollars.

Actually, $350. I paid Leica NJ to 6 bit code my 90mm f2 Canadian Summicron from 1983 month before last, so unless they've just raised the price on the service, that should be the cost.

After doing that I sent a 21mm f2.8 Elmarit ASPH to DAG for the same thing and paid $240. Now, every M lens I own has the 6 bit coding and I for one think it's worth every cent.

 

[JDLaing50]

If I understand correctly from what I've read - the new M10 will remember the last non-coded lens mounted (that you manually entered). So if you go back to a coded lens and then back to the non-coded it will remember how it was set. Sounds great if you own or use only one non-coded lens but of course, if you are swapping with multiple non-coded it could be problematic.

I have a 35 Cron ASPH and 90 Elmarit that are non-coded and was thinking of sending to Leica to be coded. They replace the flange and adjust as necessary to spec for focusing. I was quoted $300 each, not $500.

Just not sure it is worth it because manually coding is easy and neither of these lenses is likely to benefit much from the camera knowing which is which. More important for 28mm and wider as I recall.

All the digital M bodies stay set on the last manual entry.

Coding the 90 will record in exif but coding anything 50mm or above doesn't do any worthwhile lens corrections. It's mostly for the wides.

 

[Doug D]

If I understand correctly from what I've read - the new M10 will remember the last non-coded lens mounted (that you manually entered). So if you go back to a coded lens and then back to the non-coded it will remember how it was set. Sounds great if you own or use only one non-coded lens but of course, if you are swapping with multiple non-coded it could be problematic.

All the digital M bodies stay set on the last manual entry.

Actually, I think there is a subtle difference with the new M10, which I tried to explain above - perhaps not clearly enough. With previous digital M's you set to Auto if you are using 6-bit coded lenses and select "Manual" to set a non coded lens. On the M10, if you have set a "manual" lens code for a non-coded lens and then put a 6 bit coded lens on, the camera now automatically goes to Auto and detects your lens without requiring you to go back in the menu and set to Auto.

What I'm not clear on is whether the M10 automatically reverts to "manual" (with the last entered manual setting) when you take off a coded lens and mount a non-coded lens. Someone on the l-camera-forum suggested that it does but unfortunately, I don't have an M10 here in front of me to confirm. It would be very convenient if this is the case, especially if you own only 1 non-coded lens.

 

[Irakly Shanidze]

No lenses actually need coding. You can apply a lens profile in Lightroom later when you need to. It is convenient, though, as M10 recognizes coded lenses automatically, even if it is set to manual input. The only real advantage is convenience: later you can use EXIF information as metadata to search for pictures in the LR library. For instance, you remember shooting that specific photo with a 90, because it was a portrait, but do not remember when you shot it.

You do not have to do it yourself. Leica will code your lenses $100 a piece. At least, they did when M8 came out. Probably it is more now.

--
Irakly Shanidze
www.shanidze.com/en
www.artphotoacademy.com

 

[Doug D]

No lenses actually need coding. You can apply a lens profile in Lightroom later when you need to. It is convenient, though, as M10 recognizes coded lenses automatically, even if it is set to manual input. The only real advantage is convenience: later you can use EXIF information as metadata to search for pictures in the LR library. For instance, you remember shooting that specific photo with a 90, because it was a portrait, but do not remember when you shot it.

You do not have to do it yourself. Leica will code your lenses $100 a piece. At least, they did when M8 came out. Probably it is more now.

--
Irakly Shanidze
www.shanidze.com/en
www.artphotoacademy.com

Point taken on need to code or not but I think the convenience factor and the EXIF make coded lenses worthwhile. Unfortunately, I can confirm that Leica NJ wants over $300 to code - although I am aware of the do it yourself and eBay flange fixes.

Glad you are confirming coded lenses are now automatically detected even if menu set to a manual lens. Can you confirm that it will revert back to last manual setting when you remove coded lens and again attach the non-coded (i.e., without having to go back into the menu)? thanks.

 

[Irakly Shanidze]

yes, both M10 and SL work the same way: when they see a coded lens (or ROM lens in case of SL), they switch to it automatically. Once you put a non-coded lens, the camera defaults back to the last manual setting.

 

[Doug D]

excellent - thanks

 

[Adrian Tung]

Absolutely....the key is, REMEMBERING to do it every time you change lenses. I've come home before with 75-100 images with the same lens in the EXIF because I forgot to re-code the camera after every lens change, and if you're like me and want to see the actual focal length in the EXIF on all your images, well..... let just say it wasn't a pretty site.

EXIF is the least of my concerns, the time I had a bunch of 50mm summilux shots with greenish corners all because I left the camera at 28mm elmarit, lol.

Speaking of which, no one has yet to mention one can just use a sharpie and manually code the lens.

 

[Godfrey]

OK. Looking into the M10. I have a 24mm F2.8 Elmart. A 35mm Summ F1.4 ASPH, the one before floating rear element and a 90mm F2.0 APO ASPH. All of the lens are not coded. I heard all kinds of thing.

1. Some lens do not even need coding. No where on the Leica Web sight does it say this.

2. Can you not put this info. manually?

3. That the new flange with the coding has a new position relative foucing plans of the sensor, again not supported by Leica...they say things ware out and need repair or adjustment. That each lens is five hundred dollars.

Or should I just forget all of it and just see what the images will look like. I heard they will look just fine. Any body with ffed back.
kam

When I started shooting with the M9 in 2012 with all non-coded lenses, I set up the user configurations to reflect my most used lenses with manual coding, it was easier to remember to change the user config whenever I changed a lens than it was to hunt up the lens profile manually. Over time, I bought a couple of coded lenses, and had my 1972 Summilux 35 coded. When I switched to the M-P, I kept working the same way. The coding includes focal length information which affects how AutoISO functions, convenient and handy.

Working with all coded lenses makes using the M much more convenient, particularly if you like to look back at your work and see what lens was used to make a particular shot. But it wasn't essential.

Then I bought the M-D. No manual coding available. If a lens doesn't have a six-bit code, the body simply records "Not Set" in the EXIF data for any lens info. If a lens has the six-bit code, the lens profile is used. I'm glad that most of the lenses I use are now coded ...

I see differences in the rendering qualities of all lenses under 50mm depending upon whether the lens profile is set correctly or not. There are probably differences in the longer lenses too but they are much smaller.

Nowadays, when I buy a lens I want it to have the code or I have it updated with the code.

G

 

[bosjohn21]

i have been shooting happily shooting without coded lenses on my M digital cameras and I am not able to see any effects but I also have not really done any testing to see if manually setting to the closest profile ie my fifty f 1.5 Cosina I will manually set to the fifty mm Sumilux early version or forget to set which is most of the time and I have not noticed any ill effects, I would not worry much about it and its a lot of money for the coding

 

[km25]

First of thanks for all your kind responses. There was a statement made during my investigation on this matter. It was that the new flange in used by Leica changes the distance to the sensor plane. What little difference that would make can be make in the adjustment of the lens/camera RF? Or am I just wrong.

 

[Gregm61]

First of thanks for all your kind responses. There was a statement made during my investigation on this matter. It was that the new flange in used by Leica changes the distance to the sensor plane. What little difference that would make can be make in the adjustment of the lens/camera RF? Or am I just wrong.

--
kam

That would have to be completely wrong, otherwise no M lenses would work on whatever body you are talking about. That distance has to remain the same from body to body (film or digital) for the same set of lenses to work.

--
"There's shadows in life, baby.." Jack Horner- Boogie Nights

 

[Irakly Shanidze]

yes, that's an option. just remember to repaint the codes once in a while, they do not stay long.

 

[km25]

Thanks again, a lot good info. I hope this well help others too.

 

[M Dennis Fern]

I own a collection of late 2000 pre-asph, non-coded Elmarits and Summicron lenses. When I tried to use my 21mm Elmarit and 28mm Elmarit (all last generation before the asph elements) on my Sony A7R there was unacceptable corner blurring and purple color casts as well as vignetting. This was a slight problem on my 35mm Summi and 75mm Summarit. I would like to use these lenses on a digital camera. Do I need to have 6 bit coding to use my wides without the blurring and color casts or is there a way to enter lens information into the 'M240 and M10 manually and solve the problems? Will getting the lens coded solve these problems completely?

 

[Godfrey]

I own a collection of late 2000 pre-asph, non-coded Elmarits and Summicron lenses. When I tried to use my 21mm Elmarit and 28mm Elmarit (all last generation before the asph elements) on my Sony A7R there was unacceptable corner blurring and purple color casts as well as vignetting. This was a slight problem on my 35mm Summi and 75mm Summarit. I would like to use these lenses on a digital camera. Do I need to have 6 bit coding to use my wides without the blurring and color casts or is there a way to enter lens information into the 'M240 and M10 manually and solve the problems? Will getting the lens coded solve these problems completely?

The Sony A7/A7R sensors are not best suited to use with wide Leica M lenses. They have a thick sensor stack and work best with lenses made for the Sony mount.

Leica provides lens profiles to help tune nearly all their lenses on the M cameras. If a lens is coded, you can set the camera to recognize the code automatically. If a lens is uncoded, you can set the correct lens code manually on M9 and later models (typ 240, 246, 262 and M10).

Leica M wide angle lenses work better on the M bodies even without codes at all compared to the Sony bodies, but setting the codes removes residual color shading and other artifacts.

G

 

[rc53]

Absolutely....the key is, REMEMBERING to do it every time you change lenses. I've come home before with 75-100 images with the same lens in the EXIF because I forgot to re-code the camera after every lens change, and if you're like me and want to see the actual focal length in the EXIF on all your images, well..... let just say it wasn't a pretty site.

EXIF is the least of my concerns, the time I had a bunch of 50mm summilux shots with greenish corners all because I left the camera at 28mm elmarit, lol.

Speaking of which, no one has yet to mention one can just use a sharpie and manually code the lens.

Remember if you use a sharpie that the marks will gradually wear away. This might well cause dust inside the body and on the sensor.