Fotodiox’s new Pro Pronto AF adapter is finally available to pre-order. Announced a few months ago, the specialized adapter lets you autofocus Leica M-mount lenses with Fujifilm X series cameras.
The first adapter of this kind was the Techart Leica M-mount to Sony E-mount adapter released back in 2016. Fotodiox followed up with its own M-mount to E-mount adapter, but this is the first time we've seen one for Fujifilm X-mount cameras.
The adapter, which supports lenses up to 680g (1.5lbs), is constructed from brass and an aluminum alloy, and uses an integrated helicoid mechanism to extend and retract the lens using AF-S or AF-C contrast-detection autofocus.
Here's a video of Fotodiox's older Leica M-mount to Sony E-mount adapter in action:
The Fotodiox Pro Pronto AF adapter is available to pre-order now for $350. The Leica M-mount to Sony E-mount version is still available for $250.
Great idea. Too bad it has such gaudy graphics all over it. The team behind this should really have looked at the industrial design of the X-Pro3 and various Leica and Voigtlander lenses. If they had made the slightest effort to imitate elements of that camera and those lenses, this would be a great fit. As it is I won't be putting such a cheap looking (but expensive) adapter on my Fuji.
Hmm... interesting. I was on the fence about selling my Fuji, but with this and other adapters, I may just keep it and try out different lenses on it. Although some of the Leica lenses may certainly be out of my price range of course but if this even lets some of the older (perhaps manual) lenses be recognized by the camera (not necessarily AF but just recognized) that would be good too.
I wonder if they fixed the wobble problem, which carried over on the Sony version, when they copied the Techart Pro, piece by piece.
On the Sony, it made sense, because you could use AF with small fast lenses, and ones that you couldn't really get in native mount with AF - e.g. Voigtlander 40mm f/1.2
On Fuji, it seems to make sense only for fast 50mm's, where one just wants to have fun with a short tele ~75mm, and not drop the cash on the 56mm.
Fast 35's, which translate to ~50mm, not so much. Fuji already has a tiny 35mm f/1.4, which is not great in AF, but it focuses a lot faster than this and can be had for cheap.
@QuangFoto That was very brave of you. I always hold my breath updating firmware in any device. Especially if it waits a bit longer at certain stages.....
Mixed feeling about this specific adapter. I can see that somebody might find it useful who has some M glass sitting around and wants to use it with the Fuji MLC and where manual focus is not the best option (maybe caused by visual problems etc). But for the majority of users, I don't see why using (often much more expensive with few exemptions) M glass on a cropped sensor is a good option where Sony or Nikon FF MLC provides IMO a better way. Techart already made a similar adapter to mount M lenses with AF capability onto Sony FF MLCs.
its true about the crop otoh for the 50mm lenses around leicas voigtlanders start looking good for portraits ive got a leica 75mm that would be great for head and shoulder shots
FYI Canon EF lenses can be adapted to M mount but only with select adapters (I found one on eBay under the brand Gabale). This is useful if you have lots of MF Rokinon/Samyang lenses like me.
(I have the Sony E version. Its a fun proof of concept, but not super reliable for critical work, use with caution)
I have a K&F Concept adapter to mount EF lenses on M-mount. This normally defeats the purpose regarding EF lens size, but I use it to mount my Peleng 8 mm fisheye lens with EF mount on a Leica M series camera. It's still tricky with AF-based Canon EF lenses which have no aperture ring (you can demount the lens from an EOS camera with fixed aperture stop, but you can't change it when it's mounted with adapter on a Leica M camera).
Regarding EF lenses, why wouldn't you just buy the speed booster (optical FoV correction) EF to Fuji X adapter and have real electronic control of the lens, and one stop more light gathering? Those adapters can be had in the neighborhood of a couple hundred bucks USD.
Mr Bolton because some EF lenses don't have electronics. I'm talking about third party manual focus lenses, which is where I think this adapter really shines. Having something like a 35mm 1.2 from Rokinon and suddenly having autofocus on it?? Granted that's a big heavy example, but just an example.
Copal Fit: well the thing is, don't know if it's the case with this adapter, but with the Sony one you had to make sure it would fit because of the bits of the motor that stick out. The adapters specifical made for the Techart Pro or the Pronto have a small clearance cut out of them so there's no interference. I saw some other people online that simply took a dremel to their adapters but I decided to spend the $25 and get something that was clean and simple.
This China's engineering sometimes could be amazing! It is a matter of time to made follow focus like device that will work in sync with camera body to AF every MF lens. :)
What would be really nice - focal reducer with internal focusing. Basically inverse of the old Pentax AF 1.7 TC (which enabled AF on manual lenses by moving the elements inside the TC). That would be the best of both worlds - M (or other) vintage lenses without most of the APS crop and some AF (probably better than this adapter, since the motor would not need to move a whole heavy brass lens back and forth, just a few glass elements). Although I am not sure if it's even optically possible...
I was thinking about that, just shoving the optics from a focal reducer into my Pronto and seeing what happened. I I had the resources to just tinker with adapters more.
Doesn't Leica already make these adapters? They talked up the SL2's sensor filter array as being optimized to adapt M series glass to it. But wait, I don't think their adapter has AF.
I'd have a very specific use for this kind of accessory: with an adapted macro manual focus lens you get to use focus braketing to easily make many frames for stacking! Nice :-) Ok I know you can change focus manually but it's better not to touch the camera in this situation
from the experience with the Sony version of this adapter, I rather enjoy manual focusing.
1. problem: it can only go in and out very little, so focusing near by subjects is impossible with any lens longer than 50mm.(unless you manual adjust the lens...) 2. problem: focusing itself isn’t really good with most lenses that have any problems with field curvature on the sonys and that are most m mount lenses because leica m mount cameras have thinner filter in front of the sensor 3. problem: the weight of the lenses you use have to be quite small
so imho it only works decent with small dslr lenses below 50mm adapted to leica m to fit on the adapter...
I've found that it works to just treat it like you have a focus limiter. For example if I'm using an 85mm and I set it to 20ft focus, it will be able to focus from 10ft to 50ft. Or set to infinity to have 50ft to infinity for landscapes and birding. So just have to set it to the range for the subject you're shooting and it's easy enough to change a bit as your subject distance changes. Obviously that range gets smaller with the longer focal lengths, but I'd say you can comfortably use this adapter with anything up to 200mm.
Having third parties add to the X mount platform makes it more open and accessible, which is great for users and great for Fuji. So this is indeed good news.
However, I would like to say that part of the fun and enjoyment of using vintage lenses - at least for me, is in fact the process of manually focusing the lens. It gets me closer to the mechanics of photography which I like.
I do of course see why there are use cases for this adapter and I'm very glad someone took the time to design and manufacture this.
When one turns the focusing ring of a lens, the elements inside the lens move, and sometimes in opposite direction in the case of floating elements. All these actions give a lens its "unique" image quality in close-distance, mid-distance, and infinity. Now, this adapter requires one to fix the lens at infinity, and that means all the characteristics you like about that lens in mid-distance and close-distance is lost. Is it still the same vintage lens that you grew to love?
I tried it on a friend’s Sony with an M lens, it worked well enough with good results. It was not very quick, but using my XT2 with manual focus aid is slower still. So, yes, a cool gadget if you have M glass.
Well a lot of adapters like this seem to require a few firmware update iterations before they finally get it right. And since the Fuji's AF algorithms have been much more recently reverse engineered, you might be volunteering as a betatester.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, but something to be aware of.
Why? Could one really tell the difference between a Leica M and a Fuji X? Fuji lenses are already superb (they used to make lenses for Hasselblad.) Too, with Fuji lenses, one gets to keep money in his savings account.
Not saying Leica doesn't also make superb lenses, just how much better are they in real-life situations?
I use both and while they each have their merits, there really is no comparison between M glass and Fuji lenses. Whether or not that quality translates as well to a non-native sensor, I do not know.
I have not used Leica lenses on my Fuji to do a direct comparison but I have some experience with them. Are they better at 24Mp than the best Fuji lenses? In my opinion they give a somewhat different look to your images. It is not a matter of sharpness only.
Don’t break into too much sweat just because people have options. ;) Lots of folks have Leica M glass so there certainly is a market. Even Fuji know that, hence make their own M adapter.
@Tom_A Yes, they are better at 24MP (which is the FF resolution of an M, up until the M10-R), without a doubt, but bear in mind that you are paying for that. I think Fujifilm lenses are great value, so don't take this as a knock on Fuji - I just do feel like you do get what you pay for. Where you will notice it the most is shooting wide open.
Having said that, I think it would be madness to go out and purchase M lenses to use with your Fujifilm camera when there is great native glass at reasonable prices. These adapters are aimed at people like me who gravitate to Leica and Fujifilm because of the unique look of both of their images (in an age where Canon, Nikon and Sony images are starting to become indistinguishable in my opinion) as well as the pleasure of manual controls, and who have both Fuji cameras and M lenses already.
If I did not have my Leica gear already, I would definitely not look elsewhere beyond my Fujifilm lenses.
@CTMR - it is reasonable that there is a difference. I have a little experience with M and R lenses but not side by side. I did find the pictures having a slightly different look. Of tangential interest, next to Fuji lenses I have a few Mamiya 645 lenses which I use with an adapter to nikon and from nikon with a focal reducer to fuji. Images are nice, but i sure prefer the convenience of AF
Yes, I tried a friend’s fuji 90 and it is shockingly good. It also measures perfectly. I expect that a leica 90 will only look a little different, not technically better
I cannot comment on that one. I have always avoided anything longer than 75mm in M mount as I do not think I have the manual focusing chops. The Leica 90mm lenses are supposed to be uniformly phenomenal but that doesn't really matter if you cannot focus accurately and quickly.
There was an astoundingly engineered old Contax film SLR that focused by moving the film plane. The sensor already moves with IBIS, why not autofocus too?
Like the TAP or this Pronto, it wouldn't be a perfect solution for lens designs that are highly sensitive to flange distance changes (e.g. wides with floating elements), but it would work well for unit focus lenses.
I used to own a pair of Contax Ax cameras. They were phenomenal in construction and operation. Although I used its moving film plane AF with a couple Contax lenses, it also allowed all my Tamron adaptal lenses to become Af lenses on the Contax body. Yes by today's standards, Af was slow but very accurate and silent and for longer focal length lenses, one has to manually prefocus the lens to a suitable Af range, but it was workable. As a byproduct, any lens mounted could have its min focus distance reduced automatically into macro territory!
I wished technology continued on the "moving film plane" idea to sensor related cameras, so that adapted manual focus lenses could also become AF.
Exactly, autofocus-through-sensor is more feasible than ever in 2020. We won't accept any excuse from the camera makers !
If this is ever to be implemented, I'd expect either Fuji (very legacy oriented) or Sony (always in search of a technological edge) to do it.
And let's not forget that a sensor travelling at will from the front/back would also be useful in dealing with the lenses' front/back focus. No more sending a lens back to the repair workshop, several times in a row. The end-user could adjust the focus to his/her taste. (Yes there are "lens docks" which are intended for this, but they cost additional money and are restricted to certain lenses/manufacturers).
What? People like to adapt their old glass onto mirrorless? Of course! And it is adapters like this that make Sony look like the most flexible option for mounting vintage lenses.
Note to Nikon, having no adapter that auto-focuses your AF-D lenses or indexes AI and AI-S lenses is one of the reasons I refuse to buy a Z. You need to be developing an FTZ-D adapter and working with Fotodiox to get a variant of the above focusing adapter with indexing support for your old F-Mount glass.
The TechArt adapter allows you to adapt Nikon manual focus lenses to the Sony E mount cameras which have phase-detect autofocus. I have one on my A7rii and it works well.
Manually focusing M lenses on the Fuji X bodies (certainly the X-T*) is a real joy thanks to the tools provided; peaking,/rangefinder/matte, zooming in on those, etc. I suppose it'd be nice not to have to focus at all, but it's not so bad.
Th unique split viewfinder is what makes it for me. You can have the focusing viewfinder set to 3x mag and peaking and you can focus without having to press any buttons or move any points. It's always on manual focusing plus a separate clear viewfinder for framing with no obstructions.
It seems really slow to focus (obviously moving all the glass and metal with a small motor does not help), is it actually useable? For landscapes or tripod macro shots, perhaps, but these could be focused manually as much easily?
Anybody got one of those - what's your use scenario? Genuinely curious.
I have no M mount glass but I've seen people doubling up, using first the M and then other lens to M adapter.. so I'm thinking this might give new AF life to a number of my old but nicer manual lenses in a variety of mounts.
I have the TechArt Pro for Sony E Mount using on Sony a7rii. It works well for the most part, even in pretty low light. On the sony it helps to eat batteries, but that is mainly a Sony problem. I wonder what this will be like on Fuji cameras. Worth a try is my guess. Solutions like this are a great aid for portraits in particular
Is it really a Sony specific problem? Pushing an entire lens body in and out must be inherently more battery-intensive than moving just the focusing element in a purpose-built AF lens.
Probably not, but the Sony has already a big battery problem. I always travel with at least three batteries. The movement is not as great as you might think, as you have to "manual focus" into the zone of focus which the adapter will cover. Also, a good thing about the solution is you can add other adapters to the M adapter, stacking them to accommodate other lenses. I can use almost all my adapted vintage lenses on this solution.
Was gonna say.. I'm kind of a Fuji fan boy about my X-H1 but I still tell people that if they buy one, get a couple of extra batteries and carry them around with you. My longest lasting battery MILC is still my older Olympus. Maybe due to slower processor and smaller sensor/lower res EVF?
Plus on the H1, it's just more fun to leave it in Boost mode and carry more batteries.
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