Fujifilm’s M Mount Adapter or an eBay Adapter?

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For a total of about $12 including shipping you can start shooting Leica M mount lenses on your Fuji X Mount cameras. Not bad compared to Fuji’s $200 mount.

I’ve used several adapters for different mounts in the past, some OEM and some cheap alternatives.

Fujifilm offers an extensive list of compatible M mount lenses from Leica, Voigtlander, Carl Zeiss and Ricoh that can be found here. In addition to this, Fujifilm have included a handy template to be used on your lens to check its width and depth (the amount that extends into the camera body toward the sensor).

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Fuji include this guide to check the width and depth of legacy lenses when using them on an X Mount body.

In the brief time I’ve spent with the Fotasy LM-FX adapter I have to say the fit and finish is very good, especially considering it is roughly 5% of the price of Fuji, but there are a couple things to consider before jumping on this $12 adapter.

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$200 gets you a much nicer looking box too.

Most importantly, the Fuji M Mount adapter has an electronic connection with the body allowing a certain amount of EXIF data to be collected, not much, but it is handy when going through your library in Lightroom. The Fuji M Mount adapter also has a shortcut button placed conveniently on the side of the mount that takes you directly to the menu for choosing the focal length. I’ve found this one of the biggest benefits of the Fuji adapter. If you use the Fotasy LM-FX adapter this is still accessible by pressing the ‘Menu’ button on the body and digging through a few options, not a big deal really. You have to decide if it’s worth paying for the convenience allowed by the Fuji adapter.

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The all important connecting points on the Fuji adaptor allow you to get limited EXIF data from shooting an M Mount lens.

Fit wise, they feel the same when clicking them into place on the camera body. Adding a lens to the adapter felt the same on both, but removing the lens was a little different. The Fuji adapter was smooth and accurate when releasing a lens, but the Fotasy had some resistance and felt a little clunky. Again, is it worth paying for this inconvenience?

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As expected, the Fuji has a little more heft and is slightly better built.

Finally, and most importantly, they both performed exactly the same when shooting. Both adapters felt secure, both of them had tight tolerances and the images coming from each adapter were indistinguishable from one another.

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In use, both adapters work the same. Here the Fotasy adapter was used with a Leica 75mm Summarit. Focus was on the “C” in Cinelli.
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Here the focus was on the small plastic brake adjuster just to the left-of-center.

5 thoughts on “Fujifilm’s M Mount Adapter or an eBay Adapter?

  1. Buy cheap, buy twice… Why stick a piece of cheap metal in the optical path between your $1500 camera and $5000 lens? It’s false economy.

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    1. Thanks for the prompt and courteous reply, Steve. Over the years like many of us I’ve experimented with cheap adapters off eBay as well as OEM and decent third party like Novoflex. There’s no doubt you get what you pay for, and what you are paying for is, as much as anything, quality control and the quality of the tooling used to make the part. I’ve had “cheapo” adapters that have bound, rattled, even drooped… And one with bonus swarf inside. Sent them all back. If you pay thousands or even hundreds for your cameras and lenses why on earth scrimp on this bit? Would you put cheap tyres on your car…? ;0)

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  2. Although I am sure that the Fujifilm branded M mount adaptor is well engineered and well built, just like their other products, I don’t own one and have no intention of buying one. I do have several third party adaptors bought on eBay for a fraction of the price of the Fujifilm adaptor. I have adaptors for M mount, M39, M42, F mount, and MD mount. With a combination of adaptors I can also adapt Contax/Kiev lenses, Exakta lenses, and (bizarrely) Mamiya 645 lenses to my X mount bodies. All of my adaptors are solid, reliable, accurate, and smooth in operation.

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