I understand that there is a sort of attachment to convert a R lens into a telescope. Would knowledgeable friends here be kind enough to advise if there is similar thing for the M lens so that when attached, the lens will become a telescope and where can I get one? Thanks and regards,

-- tom tong (tom.tong@ckh.com.hk), March 19, 2002

Answers

I'm pretty sure no such thing exists. All the thing does is allow you to view through the lens, with no further magnification. On a 180 R lens for example it is giving you approximately 4X magnification (a 4 power monocular, so to speak). On a 90mm M lens (probably the most common M telephoto in most peoples kit) it would not even be giving you a full 2X, and even with the 135 it would be about 2.5X. If you need the occcational closeup look at something and space is at a premium, Pentax (for example) makes a nice 7X monocular that is small, has good optics and is under $100.00 (much less than the Leica attachment for their R lenses).

-- Bob Todrick (bobtodrick@yahoo.com), March 20, 2002.

Tom; I have the same thing for my Nikon lenses-very handy. They are no longer in production but they are available for about $50 used and with a lens like a Nikon 105 f2.5 you get great terrestrial viewing as well as astronomical stuff with a good mount. To match that in a ready made scope with a similar aperture, you would have to pay more.

It would be worth it to get one and a Nikon 105 just for that. I use it with my 85 1.8 for wide field viewing of the sky- stuff like Messier objects AKA the Andromeda nebula/galaxy.

The advantages/differences one would see using a M lens would invariably be lost in the haze or ripples created by the air.

Cheers

-- RICHRRD ILOMAKI (richard.ilomaki@hotmail.com), March 21, 2002.

Tom. There was a device called by the Leitz code OSBLO that attached to the lens and converted it for telescopic viewing. It's a black plastic thing with a lens in it, and could only be used with certain lenses. I don't know which all lens, except that I know the 90/4.0 Elmar was suitable for use with the OSBLO. These things are not all that common, but you can buy one from a dealer for about $ 75-100, when you can find it.

-- Eliot (erosen@lij.edu), March 21, 2002.

Tom- The TO-R telescope ocular attachment (14 234) will convert R lenses to a monocular. My understanding is, that you get 1x power for each 12.5mm of focal length. That would make a Apo-Macro R 100mm lens an 8x monocular. Since there is a way to use M lenses on R cameras, with an adapter, I thought there might be a way to adapt 14 234 TO-Rs to M lenses, but two emails from Solms state that there presently is no way to adapt M lenses to monocular, as the Rs can be. I also would like such a device for M lenses.

-- Frank Horn (owlhoot45@hotmail.com), March 21, 2002.