[Leica] M lenses on CL

[rardinge@KUHUB.CC.UKANS.EDU]

A question for CL users/owners.  For an upcoming extended trip to central
Asia I will be taking two camera sets, one with 35mm SLRs and the other
with a Leica M.  My Leica set is a new M6, new 50/2 Summicron, recent (but
not asph) 35/2 Summicron and a older 90/2.8 Canadian Tele-elmarit.  I also
have an older Leitz Minolta CL with the Minolta 40/2 and the German Minolta
90/4.  The CL has been CLA'ed about 3 times in the 20 years I've had it.
Seems to work fine.  I would be bringing it along as a backup camera and
was hoping to leave the 90/4 and if possible the 40/2 home (to save
weight/bulk - it all adds up).  Last night I was interchanging lenses and
noticed that the 35/2 would not easily mount on the CL (this was the first
time I tried it).  The lens would not turn to the "click" stop with usual
force (I did not want to try "unusual" force). The 50/2 and 90/2.8 mounted
easily and appeared to focus properly.  The 90/4 and the 90/2.8 are very
similar in size and I think I can leave the 90/4 home. I guess I will take
the 40/2.

My questions are:

1. Should I expect any problems with focusing the 50/2 and the 90/2.8 on
the CL.  I would probably need to keep the 90/2.8 stopped down a stop to
cover for the shorter rangefinder base.  The focusing cams on the two CL
lenses are angled much more than the cams on the M lenses and I don't know
if this makes any difference.  I know the "official" statement from Leica
(at least Leica USA, when I called a few months ago) was that CL lenses "do
not focus accurately" on an M body and that this is not the experience of
many users. I wondered if there was any focusing problems with M lenses on
a CL

2. I am surprised that I cannot mount the 35/2 with usual effort.  Since
the Leica will be used primarily for B&W I can tolerate "guessing" at the
frame line (guessing at 35mm from the 40mm lines) which I would need to do
to use the 35 on the CL but I don't want to break or jam anything,
especially while traveling. Any thoughts on CL mounting compatibility with
M lenses? (besides the warnings of meter damage by some retrofocusing wide
angles and collapsable normal lenses).

Thanks for your help.

Robert

Robert H. Ardinger, Jr., M.D.