Full Autofocus with Leica M Lenses on Nikon ZF | Techart TZM-02 Review
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- čas přidán 9. 06. 2024
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Ok that's it. Nikon Zf ordered. I'm gonna grab the Techart and a Voigtlander. this looks like so much fun.
I use it on Nikon FZ….awesome!
Get typoch symera, z mount, much cheaper setup
@@strippedlist I have a soft spot for Voigtlander, they have made some of my fav lenses over the last 15 years. I want to get some of them again.
@@strippedlist maybe but when you’ve a load of M Mount lenses it’s a super way of making them autofocus. I’ve also a £15 manual adapter for Z Mount
@@bytomw I'll always have a soft spot for the 35mm f/1.2 Nokton series. I've had the first two, lovely lenses.
Another great video, Benj. Keep rocking it, man.
Great video as always Benj!
Thanks for this video. A week late for me as I just swapped 4 m-mount lenses for Voigtlander Z-mount equivalents. I pondered about the Techart adapter for a few months but decided against the investment for 5 reasons: 1. The adapter contradicts the effect of the floating elements that deal with optical corrections for "close" focus on some of the best m lenses (35 FLE, 50 asph, 75 asph, Zeiss 35 f/1.4, etc, etc) ; 2. User reports highlight a substantial rate of failure - seems like the mtbf for the adapter is counted in months and the device is very sensitive to wear and tear; 3. User reports often highlight focus failure even when it all seems ok in the viewfinder - the jittering motor might explain that; 4. Techart have zero customer service capability in Europe - basically if you have an issue you are screwed; 5. I do not trust Techart's ability to maintain firmware as Nikon fiddles with AF features.
even for it's neighbouring countries, Techart also have zero customer service capability :) they only focuses on selling them, not repairing them, i guess.
Been using the tech art autofocus adapters on my Sony’s from the day it came out. First and second version. Both great. Love the look from Leica, Zeiss and Voigtlander lenses on full frame. Just great. Great job Benj!!!
4:07 if you are holding the lens the adapter is going to break pretty quickly, ask me how do I know :D
yeah.... honestly one of the only downsides so far
@@benjhaisch I am a huge fan of this, I have 2 of the older version for Sony and it is an awesome tool. One of them broke but I still use it because it is allowing me to use eye focus for focus confirmation :).
I have Zf and good small M lenses, so I'll purchase this adapter asap.
Thank you for the great review!
That’s crazy cool!!!
My zf arrives tomorrow 🎉🎉
It’s very cool that this exists. I recently got the Megadap EF to Z adapter for using my Canon DSLR lenses on my Zf. It’s so great to be able to use so many classic lenses I shoot film with on my Zf with great AF (and full metadata). So fun.
Good to know the Summilux works on it. Gonna get one now.
I wished they made it for L mount
I am scared to get this and not use my M11. I don't need that temptation Benj !! Great video, man :)
Would love to be able to try this camera body
I use my Leica M lenses on my Olympus EM1 MkII. They work so well, even wide open particularly the 75 F2 Apo Summicron. Pure magic.
Thanks for the video, nice job. I just became tired of battling AF period. I picked up the Voigtländer close focusing M adapter for my Z7II and absolutely love it. Sure it's a bit slower initially but with a focusing tab you learn the lens just like you would on an M body. I know what I'm focusing on, no hunting, once set it doesn't move unless I move it. Absolutely love it. Makes DOF preview wonderful. Slows me down and I'm excited about making pictures again. X100V has been on the shelf for the past six months... not anticipating a change, except possibly getting more older Leica glass. d:-)
It’s pretty impressive. Just picked mine up w my Zf, the first thing I thought (paired with the 50mm Nokton 1.5) was “wow, this seems as good or better than the continuous AF on my x100VI” 😮
400 is very steep but really opens up the mount. May need to sell the x100VI
Nice results.
How’s the hit rate on shots? I’ve had adapters like this before and they confirmed focus but the shot wasn’t actually in focus when I looked at the image.
I shot an evening stage performance and street performers with the Zf and Techart adapter. I was shocked that eye focus grabs on with moving fire handling buskers in near dark urban conditions with a Jupiter 85mm f2. I'm having a lot of fun with this combo.
Honestly, I bought this adapter 2 months before the Nikon zf released just to use my vintage manual focus lenses.
I’ve used this pair on and it is now my favorite system. I used fujifilm for a long time, but I have since moved to Nikon all because of this setup.
It’s not for everyone, it’s not the best focusing adapter but I’ve used so many different lenses with character that it makes it all worth it.
Thanks for making this vid. Love your channel. 📸
I got the Sony version of this adapter and it’s pretty great! My Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f1.2 on my A9 III was awesome!
I have used Leica lenses on my Fuji XPro2 with the Fuji M adaptor. Manual focus of course. With this setup, I would typically open the aperture to the max to make focusing more accurate (i.e. reduce DoF to make it more ovious when the focus wasn't dead on.) This made handling a bit awkward as I would then have to move the aperture back to where I wanted it exposure-wise befor pushing the button. My question is: With the Techart adaptor, does focusing remain accurate with the lens set at (say) f/8? Or would you recommend some aperture changing to get the best results? (Lenses designed for SLRs, DSLRs etc. wouldn't have this issue as they normally sit at their max aperture, only stopping down at the instant the picutre is being taken.)
What does using that thing do to battery life?
note that you can get a Nikon F to Leica M mount adapter which allows your vintage Nikon MF lenses to be used with this as well. u can do the same with canon fd.
I will try the adapter on the Nikon Z6III, and it should improve the speed on autofocusing. Cheers!
Good work Benj. Imagine this for the Leica SL system though. Then we have an AF camera with a sensor thats designed for M lenses with better results than Sony/Nikon etc. Of course the adapter itself needs to also compensate for distance to the sensor for things like corner sharpness too. Of course shooting wide open these things matter less but im more curious about closed down apertures f5.6-11. This is all super nerdy and doesn't usually matter but in the case of Leica or M mount lenses they are so expensive so it's always a little concerning for me when adapting them.
man i need this adapter for fuji
Do you think this will work just as well on a Z6?
the techart adapter for L-Mount is long overdue... That would open up so many possibilites for Leica and Lumix users. @benj have you tried adapting Nikon F glass to M mount and sticking that adapter onto the techart? Should be possible if iam not mistaken.
Does the adapter allow manual focus or is it only for autofocus?
The techart adaptor for e mount also works super well - if only they could make one for L mount - it's going to make my m mount lenses work a treat on the SL3.
Would love it for L-Mount :)
Please keep holding on to the Zf! Love your content and I would like get get more about NIKON.
I'm trying to! haha
Nice video... Is there any M to Z adapters with contacts that will pass just proper aperture to the camera? (Non-auto focus)??
There isn’t a way for an M lens to send aperture values regardless, but you can set them manually on camera while shooting really easily.
I'd personally pick the TTArtisan 6bit M-Z adapter instead. You get the fine experience of manually focusing Leica lenses (and other vintage glass adapted to Leica M) and trap focus with subject detection and 3D tracking. And you can "input" focal lengths to the exif on the fly. No need to fiddle with making sure you are not gripping the lens or being in infinity or not.
really hope an L-Mount adapter comes out for this! is that possible you think? L to M autofocus adapter?
It uses phase detection, so FpL, S5II/9 SL3 should work.
L-mount focus protocol should be easier than Sony to reverse engineering.
I'm pretty sure it will come at some point.
Time has come.
same, it's so odd that the Leica L-mount is the one that isn't available.
Nice! I have the first version and it's really the only way to focus mf lenses fast enough on a camera without a rangefinder, for anything but stationary subjects [for me].
Did you test single af or continuous/tracking only? I wonder if it nails focus more often there. Thanks!
I find it works best in continuous af on my Sonys
@@kenthomsonphoto1 very interesting. Thanks!
I own this adapter. Add any of the many inexpensive vintage 35mm to M adapters and you can also get decent AF performance with vintage lenses... think Leica R, Contax CY, Nikon F... the list is long. It really suits the Zf... I can use all my Nikon AI/AIS glass with it.
I bought the Techart Adapter for Contax G lens and it is unreliable on the ZF. It works for like a minute and then stops working. I bought the megadap adapter instead to use sony lenses and it works flawlessly. The autofocus sometimes feels like its a native lens
What was the opening song after the intro? 0:30
Hi Ben I got the adapter and after a regular firmware update for my zf. Now the camera says shutter error and does not focus. Do you experience such a weird thing?
Hmmmm I haven’t heard of that, sorry!
May I ask you? Have you a chance to test Sony with Techart Auto Focus adapter with Leica M lens? How is it comparing to Nikon + Techart + M lens in term of speed and focus accuracy? Thank you.
I haven’t, I tried to reach out to techart but with no response. I’ve heard the Sony one isn’t as good though.
They also have the same adapter for M to E mount. I use it with the Sony A7CR and it works similar to ZF. It makes it an even more versatile camera now that it adapts my m lens making it autofocus.
I've heard less than stellar things about the M to E adapter, you dig it?
I’ve been using it for a while on Sony, works great with better lenses. My Voigtlander 35 f1.4 is also great as long as you keep the af in the centre, probably due to lens performance towards the edges
Oh my god this is amazing! And is this the sexiest looking combo ever??? It might be. Only thing i dont like about the ZF is the vlog style lcd screen i wish it had a normal flippy screen like a fuji XT3 for example
I really don’t like the way the flip screen now seems to be only available on high end cameras and with all other cameras we now have to put up with a fully articulating screen which is irritating for photography.
Yup. I went from xpro2 and xt3 to the Zf, the Zf is so damn good, it's miles ahead of the xt3. Except the f***** flippy screen.. I just never flip it, let it sit there. But it's a shame really. Who's gonna use a Zf for video anyways? The screen is very high quality though and the images are so good it's crazy(I've never used full frame before mind you)
@@JHL1994 The nice thing though is that you can now reverse the screen and use the camera strictly through the viewfinder. If you're going for retro, then this makes more sense imho.
can you do another review of this adapter after 6-12 months continuous usage?
I hope I can keep the ZF that long haha
Interesting. I just bought the Sony A7C2 in japan. I have been using vintage Voigtlander 70mm MF and Nikon 20mm MF lenses. Can this techart adapter be used in conjunction with Sony A7C2 ?
They make a version of it for Sony, yes. I’ve heard mixed reviews though.
Is this a new preset??? 😮
Got mine on eBay for like 280 from Japan, worth every penny
Hey! I wonder if anyone has ever used this setup with the Voigtlander 35mm f1.4? It's definitely worth to check it out for me, having also a closer focusing ability than 0.7m, an EVF, IOS, etc... I also just recently purchased the Brighting Star 28mm 2.8 and would love to try it out as well with this setup.
thank you for this video. very informative! just one note: the music doesn't really fit the scenes in my opinion. but that's just me.
AF speed and accuracy are still disappointing. But it's definitely an awesome item.
thank you very nice review~!! Benj~~!!
Ok. This is going to be a run-on sentence, but I want to make sure I'm asking clearly lol.
If you were to decouple focus acquisition from the shutter button (IE: fires shot only, doesn't initiate focus)... and instead use back button for AF... does that mean that you can use the back button to initialize autofocus via the adapter... but also retain the ability to simply grab the focus tab and use it to manually focus? Meaning that effectively you can leave it set to infinity and shoot autofocus all you want, but with the ability to jump straight to manual focus any time?
Odd question, I know, but I've always wanted to have this ability in a clear motion rather than tied to buttons or switches. The Leica Q basically does it, but of course that's a fixed 28.
So yes, you can, you just get stuck with whatever the camera has last autofocused to, so it o have full range, you have to focus to infinity with AF and then you have the full MF range if that makes sense
@@benjhaisch Ok, cool. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. I could see this "reset" motion becoming muscle memory, similar to mindlessly resetting M lenses to infinity so it's easy to "pull" focus onto the subject quickly in the OVF.
Thanks! Definitely an interesting option to keep in mind. The ZF does appear to be a pretty nice camera too.
How cold is it in that room?!
cold in the mornings, hot AF in the afternoons this time of year :/
Does this adapter work better on Nikon Z or Sony?
I noticed on the site that it supports video on Nikon but unsure if that feature ever came over to Sony after.
I’ve heard mixed reviews about it on Sony, which is why I never purchased one
I found wide angle m lenses work better on Nikon than Sony. 50mm and above are comparable
I find Zf a bit heavy for my use and prefer a7cii, etc. as a compact kit if that's what we are looking for. I know Zf is much better looking but is heavier and the grip attachment wasnt good enough for me
Contrast detection autofocus or phase detection? Or both?
Should be sensor dependent and not have anything to do with the lens
Just good for stills ,
Woah, first time I am seeing this camera. I’m def digging it! Much smaller than my A7RII which is what I typically adapt my M lenses to. I personally hate that setup. This seems much better for that purpose.
Its almost 200 grams heavier...
@@mmmmmmmhm1765 I'm just not a fan of that camera. I only use it for video nowadays.
Does this mean you can get an autofocus adapter so M lenses would autofocus on a Leica SL?
not yet, sadly
Ben always dresses like it's subzero in his office 🥶
I love this teleconverter but for the money they need to last. I went through 2 in 2 months. Just froze up and wouldn’t focus anymore. I’m going to get another one when they’re a little better
Do you think you can use this combo on a wedding day?
yep!
Where can I purchase Cascade 03?
Still making sure they work well across different cameras/lighting/etc
@@benjhaisch looking forward to it! Any timeline/guesstimate? I'm super willing to purchase a beta. Would like to utilize for a shoot coming up.
What’s with the hat and coat? No heat there?
I wear what I wear
With this TechArt AF adapter from Nikon Z to Leica M, you will be able to use it more than all kinds of lenses, such as Nikkor AIS and Olympus Zuiko.
M mount lenses only of course.
sure, you can get an AIS to M adapter and just toss it on
Is there a similar adapter for L-mount?
No
No
Sad that it’s the 2nd Nikon ZF video that you’ve not mentioned that besides the 26mm 2.8, they also have a wonderful 28mm 2.8 that actually focuses quicker. No love for that lens? 😀
I use the 28mm for most of my photos on the ZF and it's one of the reasons the ZF is disappointing me. I love the focus speed size, etc...but the lens is just lacking that pop that Leica glass has. I wish Nikon or VC would release some small mf lenses that have that extra pop I'm looking for.
Haha I made the same mistake twice. To be fair, I filmed three videos in a row *and* they do make a 26/2.8 as well, but I was definitely referring to the 28/2.8 :)
@@benjhaisch I actually thought you had the 26/2.8 Haha.. All good. I was just wondering why you were giving the 28mm no love. I really love mine although it's optically not the greatest lens but it's a bit like the Fuji XF 18mm f2 that it's not the greatest lens optically but there's just something about the size that works. I think the 26mm is optically a lot better but the focus is a tad slower and noiser. Love the videos on the ZF so far. I also have the Techart adapter and it's wonderful.
A couple of things you didn't mention is that if turn off the auto focus function, it allows for full manual focus assists unlike just a dumb adapter. In addition to that, if you set the aperture value on the camera to a certain value, it records focal length information in the EXIF.
I would have liked to see it grab an eyeball or something in motion like a moving car.
This is basically what the SL system should have been. And correction, Leica wouldn’t sell it for $4k, it would be $6-7k haha
I have it...very disappointing..it works 50% of time...another 50% missed focus or system hang and stop working..
I hope you don’t feel pigeon holed into Leica adjacent content… but dude it’s so good
Don't some Leica lenses have floating elements? It might also be worth considering that as you would be sacrificing some performance
shouldn't matter as long as infinity focus is good, right?
@@benjhaisch as far as I know, it should matter (at least a bit) because floating elements move at a different rate than the whole housing as you focus to adjust for different distances. If a lens has floating elements and you focus by moving the whole lens, performance might be reduced at closer distances or perhaps in the corners. For example the micro Nikkor 55mm f/2.8 has floating elements, when you focus closer not only the lens unit moves, but also the inner distance between some elements changes according to the focusing distance via a second inner helicoid
@javixo1997 that’s mostly to work with focus shifts though, yeah? Something that shouldn’t pertain to this in particular to my knowledge, either way, I haven’t had any issues with close focus even when the lenses are set to infinity.
Stopped down accuracy is ridiculously bad.
When dof is big, it misses a lot/always.
makes sense as most lenses focus wide open and then bring the aperture down at the point of capture
The magic of leica lenses is the manual focus experience (don't you know it by now).
Sure, but that’s more about the M than anything tbh.
How is the manual focus experience of leica lenses any different from any other (well built) lens?
@@ajk5585 Leica lenses are made with very tight tolerance, it is very smooth when you turn the focus ring or the aperture ring and the focusing is gradual, so it is easy to guess where you almost reach the focus. About the method, the lenses have all the markings required for hyper-focusing distance.
Typoch Symera has 2 lenses for z mount
They aren’t autofocus though
@@benjhaisch true but the eye autofocus works with z mount manual lenses
@strippedlist eye manual focus assist, yes
Hmm. Perhaps we no longer need a Leica body ?
"not applicable to LTM/M mount lenses that are with the infinity lock button."
Wanted to get this to slap on the steel rim re-issue, I guess not now.
Wait what. I use this with lenses that have infinity lock all of the time… it’s sort of ideal for it.
@@benjhaisch i got that from their website. That’s re-assuring if you’ve tested that out. Thanks Ben!
Maybe there is a reason for it, but my basically live that way on the Thypoch Simeras unless I need to close focus
@aqilhidayattttt I’m wondering if some of them just stick out too far and could hit the adapter as it moves in and out. But I have seen it be an issue on mine uet
That would definitely be too slow for fast paced street photography, for example. Shame because of the high cost and the obvious drawback to such an adapter.
Not worth ir in the end. I got it and used on Z6 II and Z9 with TTartisan 50mm 0.95 and Samyang 85mm 1.4. With Z6 II focusing is very inconsistent. Forget about AF-C or video. Needs very good lighting. Freezes very often. Have to turn camera on/off to get it working again. With Z9 focusing a little bit more consistent, but still unusable in poor lighting or AF-C/video. It's not reliable for serious photography. Funny to play around for a couple of weeks, but when excitment of 0.95 or ''vintage'' lenses weans off, believe me this adapter will be collecting dust on the shelf. Any Z mount autofocus lens of any brand is way better option... or just use manual, at least you can blame yourself if photos are not in focus, instead of smashing adapter against the wall :) comments like ''this is sexy combo'' doesn't sound convincing as it is tool for taking pictures.. not some lingerie from sexshop
Yeah, I wouldn’t buy it to use with larger lenses like that specifically and especially not for video.
I’ll just wait a decade until the Zf goes down in price lmao
And of course I just sold my zf lol
Commenting
There we go :)
Fotodiox ProPronto night and day better and has all brass M mount.
has that giant base underneath though, yeah?
Easy Nikon fan base will thumbs down your channel hard. 😂.
Oh they have. The first ZF video was my most hated on video in years. Probably had to block 10 people for just dumb personal attacks that have nothing to do with the camera.
But why? Its a good video nonetheless
The question is, do you really WANT autofocus?
Yes, I do.