Macro for Leica M

ur 7artisans' 35mm Leica M-mount lens is a favorite when I want to keep a compact setup. It pairs perfectly with the rangefinder form factor of the X-E1. If I have any gripes, I do wish it had better performance on the close-focus range.

The closest I can focus with this lens is 807mm, which is quite a bit longer than I'd like, and with the magnification, it can hardly count as anything close to macro.

For the Fuji X system, one thing we have that can improve the minimum focusing distance is our Leica M to Fuji X adapter with a macro helicoid. It offers 6.3mm of extension, cutting that minimum focus distance to 192mm. It's an improvement, sure, but I wondered if this is as good as it gets (without adding a macro tube or bellows).

Leica's own Visoflex system came to mind. It was a system that shared physical mounts with its other systems (L39/LTM or the Leica M bayonet), but the flange focal distance is longer. If we used a standard Leica M lens on a Visoflex adapter, it's essentially an extension tube:

While we don't have a dedicated Visoflex M to Fuji adapter, we can use the Nikon F mount as an intermediary mount.

This combination puts the Leica M lens a whopping 40.71mm farther than it usually would be from the sensor, bringing down the focus to 55mm. If we compare it to the lens by itself, it's a vast improvement.

This is plenty close already, with barely any breathing room, and if we tried to add any more space between the lens and camera, we run the risk of getting to a point where the critical focus is achieved somewhere inside the physical lens.

With very few macro options for the Leica M mount, you have to think outside of the box, especially if the extension from our Leica M helicoid adapters don't cut it. Ironically, the solution came in a form that utilizes Leica's own history.