[camera club] Cosina VM Micro Four-Thirds adapter

The Micro Four-Thirds system intrigues me. It's ability to accept M-mount lenses made by Leica, Zeiss and Voigtlander via an adapter gives it great promise for any photographer with a legacy of M-mount glass and wanting a compact digital answer to the 35mm rangefinder (at a significantly lower price than the Leica M8 and Epson RD1).

By listening to customers, seeing great versatility and potential, Cosina-Voigtlander has added a VM Micro Four-Thirds adapter to its accessory range, read first at DPReview.

I currently own a Voigtlander Bessa R2a rangefinder in the battleship grey. With this I use the discontinued VC 28mm/f3.5 Color-Skopar (a tiny lens) and a VC 35mm/f1.4 Nokton Classic SC (the SC being the single-coat version). For more detailed information on these lenses see CameraQuest. Whilst I love my R2a, I find the rangefinder focusing mechanism lacking in the sort of precision I am used to when compared with my SLR. With this in mind Micro Four-Thirds could be the digi-answer to my problems, as demonstrated by Yoshinori Kikuchi's Flickr images of the Lumix G1.

There are obvious limitations with the adapter having mechnical contacts only. There is no light-meter/readings, manual-focusing (not a huge one for me) and issues around the use of electronic-viewfinders in cameras (such as the Lumix G1). Nonetheless, the system does have me excited for it potential compactness and versility with lenses...especially with prototypes such as the Olympus answer to the system.

Will keep you posted on any of my decisions...

Keep truckin'