A beautiful Leica-R Summicron 50/2 became part of my photographic gear, gifted by a person I respect and admire. Although the lens is a native Leica R one, I do not have this camera model, but I have plenty of Nikon ones. So, even before receiving it I knew I was going to convert the mounting ring to a Nikon F one. It has been done and with very good results.
By the serial number (3352885), this Summicron R 50/2 was manufactured in Canada, year 1985, with 2000 made. This here shows the features of this lens:
I purchased a Leitax mounting ring, from www.leitax.com, the model for 6 screws. Converting it was not exactly a walk in the park, but no nuclear physics either. All went well, and now the Summicron is mounted on one of my Nikons, a FM2 model. I chose this model because it is completely manual, no other modes. I believe this lens is suited to Nikon FM2.
That said, the conversion made the lens a bit awkward to use: because of the mechanics and what with the Nikon ring installed, the lens lost its ability to communicate the aperture to the camera. Simply put, the camera has no idea what aperture you’re using.
So I have to stop down meter the scene and then shoot at the desired aperture. More, from 5.6 onwards, the viewfinder dims so I cannot focus properly. Using this on any Nikon with aperture priority or P/S modes is impossible. No matter, stop down metering is something I learned years ago, and still do it occasionally with some of my Nikons and old pre-AI lenses.
Cannot wait to see this lens in action and what results I ‘ll get.