x-pro1 m-mount
While a number of third parties have produced Leica M-mount adapters for the X-Pro1, this June will see the first official version from the folks at Fujifilm. Set to ship in June with a $200 pricetag, the mount will give X-Pro1 shooters access to the incredible back catalog of M-mount lenses, both from Leica and other manufacturers.
So, what differentiates this $200 mount from the cheaperoptions? For one, you can bet the machining and quality is better, but the real difference is that this adapter is shot-through with electronics, allowing information to be sent from the lenses to the body. It's not clear if this will give any sort of digital control over them, but it will allow for correcting of lens aberrations. Here's what the press release has to say on the matter:
The camera side of the M-Mount Adapter features an array of electronic connections that automatically pass information to the FUJIFILM X-Pro1 body based on pre-registered lens profiles. With firmware version 1.10 or later, this information is transmitted by pressing the Function button on the side of the adapter, which allows users to access the M-Mount Adapter Settings menu on the rear LCD.
[...]
The FUJIFILM M-Mount Adapter provides ultimate control by allowing users to create and fine tune lens profiles through the X-Pro1's Mount Adapter Settings menu. This menu allows X-Pro1 users to profile up to six lenses. There are four pre-sets for 21mm, 24mm, 28mm and 35mm lenses, plus two optional settings for additional optics.
With the Fujifilm M-Mount Adapter attached, profiles can be user-defined, based on distortion, peripheral illumination and color shading corrections.
The question is if those features are worth the three-fold price increase over a knockoff version.