By Heinz Richter
I am a firm believer that owning a Leica is more than just owning a camera, it is the investment in a camera system. One of the main reasons to own a Leica are the Leica lenses. To me, their unsurpassed performance makes a Leica more desirable than anything else on the camera market.
However, that is a very costly proposition. The Leica and Leica lens quality and performance come at considerable cost. Short of a huge photography budget, compromise might be in order from time to time. For instance, I like super wide angle lenses, but use them only occasionally in my work. For that reason I compromised on a Voigtländer 15mm f/4.5 Super Wide Heliar instead on its Leica counterpart.
I also replaced the standard Leica neck strap with one of the elk leather straps from Eddycam. I consider it one of the best neck straps currently available and it is of a quality that compares with Leica in any respect.
I had a couple of odd camera adapters lying around. I don’t even recall how I got them. They sat on my desk collecting dust. But in the back of my mind there was also the quiet thought of putting them to use. That turned into a two day project of which I am not at all sure if it is really useful. Time will tell.
The two adapters mounted together
One of the adapters has a Leica M mount on one end. The thought occurred to me that, if mounted to the bottom of my camera, it could hold a lens which then could function as a hand grip and, more importantly, allow me to carry an extra lens.
Attaching the adapter to the bottom plate of my Leica was no major problem. But I soon realized that it wouldn’t offer enough clearance for lenses protruding past the lens mount.
Even though their mounts are not a match, I found that with some tinkering, this adapter could be attached to the other odd adapter piece, a Nikon piece of equipment. This combination offered enough depth to allow attaching it to the bottom plate of my Leica, still having enough clearance for all of my lenses.
But how to attach it? After considering various venues, I decided to attach a metal plate to the end of the adapter. A ¼ inch hole in the center is now holding a fastening screw from an old tripod. Finally a piece of soft leather functions as a protector over the metal plate.
The Leica M8 I used for the photos has long been replaced by my trusty Leica M240. Have I used this device on it? Well - No. While the idea is solid, I found it not as handy as I thought it would be, relegating the whole thing to being not much more than an interesting exercise.
Obviously this idea nothing new. The Benser base plate a while back offered the same possibility and held even two lenses, and other, similar accessories have been available as well. But this I made myself and, unlike most everything else in my camera outfit, it hardly cost anything at all. That is a rare claim to make for a Leica owner.
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For other articles on this blog please click on Blog Archive in the column to the right
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