Fujifilm M Mount Adapter For X Mount: Product Review

If you’ve read my article “Everything You Need To Know About Lens Mount Converters,” you know that there are dozens of ways you can now mix and match older lenses with modern digital cameras. Let’s take a look at one that’s near and dear to my street photographer’s heart.

Fujifilm M Mount Adapter for X Mount cameras, shown with the author’s Fujifilm X-Pro 1 and his 50-plus-years-old Leica 50mm f/2 collapsible Summicron lens.

I’ve been shooting with Leica M-Mount rangefinder cameras since the late 1970s, when I bought a Leica M3 and a 50mm f/2 collapsible Summicron lens. Over the years I added a 35mm Summaron and 28mm off-brand M-mount lens, and this was my street photography kit for the better part of three decades.

But my Leica system hasn’t seen much action recently, thanks to the rise of very capable compact digital cameras. I do miss focusing tabs, which helped me work much more quickly on the street. Leica lenses were known for The Tab. Fujifilm lenses, outstanding as they are, rely on “fly by wire” focus, which relies on a digital signal rather than mechanical focusing mechanism. For street shooters can be a disadvantage. And so, I’ve always been intrigued by the Fujifilm M Mount Adapter for X Mount cameras. I recently had the opportunity to use this adapter with my Leica M-mount lenses on my Fujifilm X-Pro 1. You can read my review of the X-Pro 1 here. (The adapter will work with any Fujifilm X-mount camera.)

Attaching the lens and adapter

Since I have one camera and multiple lenses, I simply mounted the Adapter on the X-Pro 1 body, which is as easy as mounting a regular lens. Then I attached the lens to the adapter, matching the red dots and turning until the click, just as I would mount a lens on my Leica M3. That’s it—ready to shoot!

Fujifilm X-Pro 1, Steampunked: Leica 50mm f/2 collapsible Summicron lens mounted via M- to X-mount adapter.

Aperture = f/0?

The first thing I noticed when I turned on the camera is that no matter what aperture the lens was set at, the in-camera readout said “F/0”. That’s because, as an all-mechanical lens, the 50mm Leica has no electronic chip that would send information to the camera telling it aperture information.

This is where the camera’s awesome hybrid viewfinder comes in handy. I switched to EVF mode and got the information I needed to get the correct exposure. By turning the aperture ring on the lens and/or the shutter speed dial on the camera, I can verify exposure by looking at the exposure meter readout on the left side of the screen. Also, the screen itself darkens and lightens, giving approximate feedback regarding exposure accuracy.

Another way to set exposure is to just adjust the aperture, and let the camera do the rest. In this case, I simply turned the shutter dial to “A” and let the camera choose the shutter speed, and set ISO to Auto. I could take manual control of either or both at any time!

Focus: It’s All About The Tab

Focus peaking, which is available when you update the X-Pro 1’s body, does not support non-chipped lenses. However, you can enlarge the center portion of the image by pressing the thumb dial towards the camera once or twice, focus, press again to compose, and shoot. I found this especially helpful when working with the 50mm lens, but when shooting with the 28mm I relied on my ability to use the tab and guestimate distance, just as I used to do with the M3.

Here’s how The Tab works: I know from years of experience that the position of The Tab tells the distance the lens is focused on. So, if 6:00 is 7 feet, then 7:00 is 10 feet and 8:00 is 30 feet, while 5:00 is 5 feet and 4:00 is 2.8 feet, etc. After much target practice, over the years I’ve gotten a good feel for camera to subject distance and when shooting at f/8 if I’m a little off, that’s OK, depth of field will take care of it. That’s how I shot with this setup, and it worked great.

The only thing I miss? The ability to confirm focus via the Leica M3’s image-match rangefinder system. But being able to see the 100% image on the EVF almost makes up for it.

Image quality

Overall, I was very pleased with the image quality and found minimal digital-related artifacts, and when shooting in RAW I can manually overcome fringing using tools provided by Lightroom, Photoshop, or newcomer Affinity. The big issue is getting focus right, and for that you will need to rely on the manual focus ring and either use the EVF image or guestimate distances. Also, image quality varies greatly depending on the condition of the lens you’re using. My 50mm f/2.5 collapsible is a tad foggy, giving images a look and feel that may not be technically perfect but may be attractive to those looking for an old-time look and feel. On the other hand, the 28mm lens that I tried (and got a 35mm equivalent angle of view) was nice and sharp, and the depth of field chart helped me maintain focus.

I took the combination out on the street, and thanks to the focus tabs it was almost like shooting with my old film Leica! Keep in mind that you’re using lenses meant for 35mm film and/or sensors on an APS sensor camera, so that 50mm captures the equivalent of a 75mm lens’s angle of view, while the 28mm effectively becomes a 35mm. Here’s a small sampling of what I got.

50mm:

28mm:

Conclusion and buying advice

If you own a Fuji X-mount camera and a bunch of M-mount lenses (or even one), the Fujifilm M-to-X mount converteris a useful tool, albeit with some limitations. At $199 it is a worthwhile investment because it gives you more options. It’s certainly cheaper than buying a digital Leica M-mount camera!