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Leica and Voigtlander M lenses on Lumix S cameras!

K

kdt

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Mar 21, 2026
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Why has Sigma not made a Contemporary 28mm lens ??? Such a significant focal length that has been overlooked.
I have been struggling to find information about Lumix S1 and S1R II with Voigtlander and Leica M lenses. Very little information. The sensor stack has been addressed with Sony cameras but very little information with Lumix cameras. I find it crazy that there is no quality alterative to the 28mm Leica L and Sigma Art lenses. Both are Too heavy and Too Large. The Art unnecessarily fast.
I have many lenses from all the camera systems I have owned over the years that I have adapted with L adapters but I would love to have something lighter and smaller and preferably manual focus in a 28mm lens. I have the 45mm and 65mm Contemporary lenses which are good (The 65 is amazing) but prefer to use manual focus in many situations.
In frustration for want of a quality compact lens I purchased a 40mm f1.4 Nocton Classic VM along with a Light Lens Labs helicoid M to L adapter. Performance is not what I had hoped for on my S1. Fine for portraits but lacking resolution especially outside of center frame.. Really would like a 28mm f2.8 color Skopar II VM or an Ultron 28mm f2 II VM but am very gun shy about ordering one without trying it. B&H claim they are a good match but I am skeptical.... I have a new S1R II coming to replace a defective camera that I purchased recently so have not tried the 40mm VM on it. Don't know what to expect?
All those excellent M lenses ... Love my S1 even though its a beast. Small compact M lenses would be soo nice! Prefer to stay with the Lumix as opposed to the Leica SL
Any experience with M lenses on Lumix cameras that can be shared is appreciated.
Has anyone looked into modifying Lumix cameras with thinner sensor stacks like what has been done with Sony cameras?
 
xaviergut said:
Petapixel published this article like one year ago:

petapixel.com

Using M Lenses on a Panasonic Camera: Sacrifice, Sacrilege, or Sweet Spot?

Photographer Joel Wolfson did in-depth tests on using Leica M-mount lenses on a Panasonic camera to see whether the combo is worth doing.
petapixel.com petapixel.com
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link. It appears that each individual lens needs to be tested on the given camera body. The S1RII is the main question for me as it uses a new sensor. My reason for purchasing this camera was due to due the higher resolution sensor and also the size and weight. Having a small package usually means the camera gets carried more frequently for me.
 
kdt said:
Very interested to learn how the the 28mm color skopar VM will look.
Click to expand...
I saw examples with color scopar on a modified Sony A7 series camera on the Fred Miranda forum. Quite worthy.
 
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In Joel Wolfson's Peta Pixel article he writes: "A person that knows a lot about sensor stacks too is Brian Caldwell, the optical designer of the original Metabones Speedbooster". I have reached out for advice on the S1R II sensor stack.

Anyone with more information on S1R II compatibility with M lenses is appreciated.
 
sergun80 said:
I saw examples with color scopar on a modified Sony A7 series camera on the Fred Miranda forum. Quite worthy.
Click to expand...
I had read that Fred Miranda has modified his Sony camera with a thin sensor stack. The results look promising but probably expensive. Not to mention it would throw new camera warrantee out the window. Are you going to order the color Skopar? If so please let me know how it goes with the S9
 
Mr Leica had an example in one of his videos using the 35mm f2 Mandler 7 element which looked pretty good with S9 or S5 ? He did mention corner performance suffered slightly worse with the Lumix rather than M camera. This is another lens of interest to me along with the Light Lens Labs 8 element 35mm. Many years ago I had the Version 3 35mm Summicron M that I used with an M4. Wonderful lens on film! Again, how will it perform on a S1RII ?
 
kdt said:
I have many lenses from all the camera systems I have owned over the years that I have adapted with L adapters but I would love to have something lighter and smaller and preferably manual focus in a 28mm lens. I have the 45mm and 65mm Contemporary lenses which are good (The 65 is amazing) but prefer to use manual focus in many situations.
Click to expand...
There's a couple of 28mm manual lenses that I've really liked adapting on L-mount: The Konica Hexanon 28/3.5 (the 7-element version) and the Vivitar 28/2.5 (made by Kiron).

A couple of examples each:

54374223411_102c9554ea_b.jpg

20250308-SDIM3226 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Sigma fp, Hexanon 28/3.5

54691415753_dc8012a2fa_b.jpg

20250730-SDIM7350 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

54594040422_8d89b5cc03_b.jpg

20250531-SDIM6759 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

53422609727_6e122a5ca9_b.jpg

20231201-SDIM8386 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Vivitar (Kiron) 28/2.5

53527656928_f548fa911f_b.jpg

20240209-SDIM8939 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

53755839422_7473ca9406_b.jpg

20240518-SDIM0392 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

The Kiron is definitely larger than the Konica:


but it's still not too bad.
 
Travis Butler said:
There's a couple of 28mm manual lenses that I've really liked adapting on L-mount: The Konica Hexanon 28/3.5 (the 7-element version) and the Vivitar 28/2.5 (made by Kiron).

A couple of examples each:

View attachment 17025
20250308-SDIM3226 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Sigma fp, Hexanon 28/3.5

View attachment 17026
20250730-SDIM7350 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

View attachment 17027
20250531-SDIM6759 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

View attachment 17028
20231201-SDIM8386 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Vivitar (Kiron) 28/2.5

View attachment 17029
20240209-SDIM8939 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

View attachment 17030
20240518-SDIM0392 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

The Kiron is definitely larger than the Konica:

but it's still not too bad.
Click to expand...
Nice results !
I've had very good results with Minolta lenses: Two 28mm F3.5 MC's, a 28mm f2.8 MD and a 28mm f2 MC. Surprising that the 3.5's are the sharpest when stopped down to 8 or 11. They also have a great vintage look wide open. I bought the second 3.5 because it was mint and very inexpensive. It turned out to be not as sharp as the first until I disassembled it and found a loose element. The f2 has a much better close focus as there are floating elements and better wide aperture performance but its much larger and heavier. With the adapter all are a bit cumbersome. They all have their faults that can be used to creative advantage.
 
Babylonia said:
See my own test, about two years ago, trying a Voigtländer 35mm/F1.5 Nokton, with a Panasonic S1R

https://l-mount-forum.com/community/threads/voigtlander-28-2-0-ultron-asph-vm-mk2.389/#post-4032

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Click to expand...
Many thanks for the links! I wish I had read this forum before purchasing the Vogitlander. There are not many shops selling these lenses here in my area to check before purchase. I took a gamble even though I suspected it might not be optimal. Maybe an SL or digital M will be on my watch list

Still cannot understand why such a popular focal length as 28mm is not better represented in L mount.

My lobby has begun ...
 
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