Fuji officially announces M Adapter...

[Alberti]

Originally Posted by Contarama

I don't know but everytime someone says smash or crash into the sensor I about freak out...

The lens family focusses correctly on infinity, so the lenses will never touch the sensor. That can't be the reason.

The M5 has a LDR that swings into position - that also protrudes into the space between lens back and film plane (the sensor) that made that body incompatible with some lenses - they worked well without the light meter of course.
Here it would be more difficult if some kind of mechanism is in place.

A valid reason would be something in between, say a curtain (for changing lenses) or a mechanism to take dust off the sensor. It could also be that a light sensor can be obstructed - but I expect many in-sensor mechanisms to exist for normal photography. Maybe just the flash meter does not work with wide lenses.

[rxmd]

Well then I suggest you guys just wait until the adapter is actually on the market and then we'll see what works and what doesn't and why.

[Lss]

Originally Posted by lam

The camera side of the M-Mount Adapter features an array of electronic connections that automatically pass information to the FUJIFILM X-Pro1 body based on pre-registered lens profiles. With firmware version 1.10 or later, this information is transmitted by pressing the Function button on the side of the adapter, which allows users to access the M-Mount Adapter Settings menu on the rear LCD.

In other words, Fuji does not want users who already bought other adapters or would prefer to buy cheaper ones to access these features. It will take some time to reverse engineer the precious information, but it is certainly entirely doable. Is it worth the trouble for any manufacturer is the big question? Perhaps for Hawk's helicoid adapter, but not a regular dumb ring.

No surprise here, but it is pretty disappointing Fuji did not have anything better up their sleeve.

[rxmd]

Originally Posted by Lss

No surprise here, but it is pretty disappointing Fuji did not have anything better up their sleeve.

Such as...?

[Lss]

Such as something more than a dumb ring (which this essentially is given the description of the lens selection feature, which is there mostly to keep off-brand adapters out of competition). However unrealistic, many were hoping for more.

[rbelyell]

Originally Posted by Lss

Such as something more than a dumb ring (which this essentially is given the description of the lens selection feature, which is there mostly to keep off-brand adapters out of competition). However unrealistic, many were hoping for more.

still not clear at all what 'more' you were hoping for. what specifically do you know this adapter does not have that you wanted?

[Lss]

Originally Posted by rbelyell

still not clear at all what 'more' you were hoping for. what specifically do you know this adapter does not have that you wanted?

Personally, nothing. I don't own the camera. I expected this to be a dumb ring and a dumb ring it essentially is. Okay, it is actually a little bit more (I don't say better, since I would rather see the added functionality also added to the menu so that users with existing adapters could enjoy them).

The issue is that many were however hoping for a way to utilize M glass up to their full focusing potential. Whether a realistic expectation or not, they were. This adapter does not deliver in that respect. I guess I was feeling a little disappointed for all those people.

[jsrockit]

Originally Posted by Lss

The issue is that many were however hoping for a way to utilize M glass up to their full focusing potential. Whether a realistic expectation or not, they were. This adapter does not deliver in that respect. I guess I was feeling a little disappointed for all those people.

Yes, unrealitsic.

[rbelyell]

personally, and no disrespect, i think its 'unrealistic' to criticize something before it even reaches the market. fact is we do not know what this does or doesnt do, so how can anyone be disappointed? further, if we are indeed to have disappointment that is 'reasonable', that must be based on something specific, not a nebulous 'failure to reach its potential'. i dont know what the heck that means.

the xpro is a fuji, not a leica. it is not a rangefinder. it is not hardware-optimized for RF lenses. while an adapter coupled with a software update may significantly improve user experience and perhaps even IQ, it cannot change those basic facts. expectations to the contrary are baseless. we need to get over it already.
tony

[Lss]

Originally Posted by rbelyell

personally, and no disrespect, i think its 'unrealistic' to criticize something before it even reaches the market.

Okay, disagreed.

[rxmd]

Originally Posted by Lss

The issue is that many were however hoping for a way to utilize M glass up to their full focusing potential. Whether a realistic expectation or not, they were. This adapter does not deliver in that respect. I guess I was feeling a little disappointed for all those people.

No disrepect, but would you also feel disappointed for those other people who expected it to add autofocus to M lenses? Or, for that matter, to cook coffee for them?

It may sound harsh, but if other people's expectations are unrealistic this is basically their problem. I don't think there's much point in assuming their presumed disappointment for oneself.

Then again, what kind of "utilizing the focusing potential" would those people have expected? Rangefinder focusing would be impossible without a second viewfinder window anyway, so as discussed earlier all you'd get is a little virtual moving arrow on a virtual distance scale, a.k.a. zone focusing on steroids. A rangefinder arm wouldn't even fit in there - given the adapter thickness of 10.1mm, this would have to include all the mechanics including the roller and the Leica M bayonet. From a technical point of view all this is pretty obvious as soon as you advance from "what would be nice to have" to actual technical considerations.

[Lss]

Originally Posted by rxmd

No disrepect, but would you also feel disappointed for those other people who expected it to add autofocus to M lenses? Or, for that matter, to cook coffee for them?

Right, no disrespect at all there.

[willie_901]

What is the purpose of the electrical contacts on Fuji's adapter?

[Lss]

Originally Posted by willie_901

What is the purpose of the electrical contacts on Fuji's adapter?

Based on the announcement (copied in the opening message), they are only for communicating the lens profiles, i.e. which lens is used.

[rxmd]

Originally Posted by Lss

Based on the announcement (copied in the opening message), they are only for communicating the lens profiles, i.e. which lens is used.

And probably the simple fact that the adapter is present, so that you can leave the "shoot without a lens" option switched off.

I wonder how long it will take for other makers to reverse engineer the protocol on those contacts, it can't be that difficult given how little it actually does.

[rxmd]

Originally Posted by Lss

Right, no disrespect at all there.

There really wasn't (I'm sorry if you took it that way) - I was genuinely interested why one should feel disappointed for other people if one know that their expectations were unrealistic in the first place, and a few particularly absurd examples would illustrate the point better.

[f16sunshine]

I bought a Photodiox Adapter from Precision camera. It's difficult to imaging the official Fuji being a better tool for adapting lenses considering the modest features that adapter will bring. It's not really just a price issue but, one of principle. Why pay Fuji a $150 premium for an adapter that tells the camera what you already know when you mount the lens. Is in camera control of distortion and vignetting recovery better than doing it in PP on a full size computer screen with LR/PS/A3 ..etc ? Those adjustments are done in camera and do not require the adapters contacts anyway. As others have said, I expected more innovation. Focus peaking at the very least seems a simple thing to do. Although again that would be an in camera function and nothing to do with the adapter.

What it seems to boil down to is with the Fuji adapter you pay a $150 premium to select frame lines outside of the camera menu ?? Is that it?

[Gabriel M.A.]

Originally Posted by photomoof

What would be the purpose of a rangefinder arm connection??? What am I missing here?

Speculating that the electrical contacts (as ambiguously mentioned in-passing by Fuji) would somehow convey distance information, you'd need an "arm connection" in the adapter.

[rxmd]

Originally Posted by Gabriel M.A.

Speculating that the electrical contacts (as ambiguously mentioned in-passing by Fuji) would somehow convey distance information, you'd need an "arm connection" in the adapter.

Yeah, but it was pretty clear from the beginning that the adapter would be "mostly armless".

[Gabriel M.A.]

Originally Posted by rbelyell

personally, and no disrespect, i think its 'unrealistic' to criticize something before it even reaches the market.

Hey, criticizing something before it reaches the market is an after-effect of criticizing the performance of something that's never been used!

[f16sunshine]

Originally Posted by Gabriel M.A.

Hey, criticizing something before it reaches the market is an after-effect of criticizing the performance of something that's never been used!

Well I hope I don't sound like that although I have not used the fuji adapter.
I'll tell you what. Using the M lenses on the Xpro1 is sure a pleasure.
So far I've tried the Hex limited 50mm f1.2, Canon f1.5/85 and Zeiss Contax 40-80mm zoom.
All make beautiful images. For Portrait and short to id tele users I sure hope that fuji brings a 2 stage zoom option to the vF magnification.
The current 10x option is nice but too much for 50mm+ lenses when used handheld. On the tripod it's fine.

[Lss]

Originally Posted by rxmd

There really wasn't (I'm sorry if you took it that way)

Okay, no hard feelings.

I was genuinely interested why one should feel disappointed for other people if one know that their expectations were unrealistic in the first place, and a few particularly absurd examples would illustrate the point better.

The thing is, I don't think all those expectations are unrealistic in the technical sense. Unrealistic for what we should expect Fuji to offer for a line of competitive products, yes. But I cannot really go into much technical detail without an NDA.

[semilog]

Originally Posted by f16sunshine

What it seems to boil down to is with the Fuji adapter you pay a $150 premium to select frame lines outside of the camera menu ?? Is that it?

...and imprint EXIF data, and automatically do jpeg corrections -- these are very handy things for many people. In addition, centering, flange-to-sensor distance, flange-to-flange parallelism, and mount quality are likely to be held to tighter tolerances than on the aftermarket adapters.

The Kipon XF-to-M adaptor that I got was garbage, with horribly loose machining tolerances. Garbage.

If you look at the prices of premium adapters such as those made by Novoflex, you will not be surprised by the price that Fuji is charging.

[semilog]

Originally Posted by rxmd

Yeah, but it was pretty clear from the beginning that the adapter would be "mostly armless".

What was the question, again?

[Dante_Stella]

You don't actually need the CPU to burn focal length into the metadata even right now; if you tell the camera what lens you are using, it will do it (I was surprised to find a bunch of "21mm" shots in the Lightroom metadata. The beauty of the Fuji adapter is not plowing through so many menus to get there.

Dante