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 p.1 #18 · Discontinued? TTArtisan M-Z 6-Bit Adapter Ring | |
Long-time experience with the TTartisan M-Z 6bit adapter for Nikon Z.
I have owned it for several years and recently bought another copy, mostly using them on a Nikon Z6 with Kolari ultra-thin sensor glass conversion. I also have the Techart TZM-01 autofocus adapter, but for my use, the ability to record the used aperture is more important than having the wrong aperture in EXIF and autofocus.
Until recently, I have almost always just used the focal length selection dial on the M-Z 6bit adapter, because most lenses are or have been Voigtländers: 28mm Ultron II and Nokton, 50mm Nokton f/1.0 and f/1.2, 75mm f/1.5 Nokton, and recently the 90mm Apo-Ultron. However, since the lowest available focal length on the dial is 28mm, and I also have the Voigtländer 15mm f/4.5 III, I needed to encode that lens. I found out that the 16-21mm Tri-Elmar code tells IBIS and EXIF that it's a 16mm f/4 lens, so close enough. Having the 90mm Apo-Summicron-M, I have seen that the 6-bit encoding worked properly and has benefits over just using the dial.
One stand-out advantage having coded lenses on the TTartisan M-Z 6bit adapter is that you can select apertures above f/5.6, like f/8 or f/11. On non-coded lenses, the adapter won't let you go beyond f/5.6. This was the most important feature that made me decide to encode all my lenses. The other was to be able to distinguish my Nokton 50mm f/1.0 from similar spec'ed f/1.2 lens, and the 28mm Ultron II from the Thypoch Simera 28mm f/1.4 (while I had both).
After selling the Voigtländer 28mm Nokton and getting the Simera, I wanted to encode that as 28mm Summilux-M. It seemed I couldn't get the 6-bit code correctly, because the adapter didn't read the code. That made me buy the Akara Labs 6-bit encoder, but after applying the 28mm Summilux-M code on the Simera lens, I was still out of luck. Thinking about it, I thought I could try upgrading the firmware from V1.01 to V1.02. That made the difference. The adapter now correctly recognizes the lens as a 28mm f/1.4 Asph lens. Granted, it says "Summicron-M 28mm f/1.4 Asph" in EXIF instead of Summilux-M, but the focal length and max aperture are correctly communicated to the camera.
Encoding my 50mm f/1.2 Nokton still didn't read either, even after firmware update. In EXIF, the adapter continues to write "Leica M 50mm f/1.0". Apparently, the reissue of the 50mm f/1.2 Noctilux-M isn't in the TTartisan adapters database. Luckily, after encoding the Nokton 50mm f/1.0 as Noctilux-M f/1.0, that 6-bit code is correctly read, including lens name in EXIF. So, as it is, I can see that it's the Nokton f/1 lens when I used that one, and when using the Nokton 50mm f/1.2, the adapter will read as if there is no 6-bit code, indirectly telling me it's the f/1.2 lens. As a consequence, I can't record apertures in EXIF above f/5.6 with that lens. To me, that's not a huge deal, since I rarely or never stop down below f/5.6 with that lens.
In order to distinguish the 90mm Apo-Ultron from the Apo-Summicron-M, I chose the regular 90mm Summicron-M 6-bit code for the Voigtländer lens. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the lens name is also called "Apo-Summicron-M 90mm f/2 Asph" in the TTartisan adapter firmware, even though it's a totally different 6-bit code! Someone in the software team at TTartisan was sloppy there, so now I won't know which 90mm lens was used, at least not based on EXIF data.
When using the 90mm Apo-Summicron-M lens with the TTartisan M-Z 6bit adapter, there is unfortunately mechanical vignetting in the corners from the black-painted ring inside the adapter, which obviously has a too small opening when using a lens with relatively large rear lens element well away from the sensor. With focus at infinity, that extra darkening of the corners from the adapter is present all the way from f/2 to f/5.6.
It's a pity the TTartisan M-Z 6bit adapter is sold out, and I don't have high hopes for firmware updates for that reason.
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