Digital Camera World Verdict
Adding autofocus to manual focus lenses sounds like dark magic, but that's exactly what the Megadap M2RF does: it brings "Leica magic" to Canon shooters, enabling Leica M lenses to be used on RF cameras with full Dual Pixel AF support. And it works amazingly well, albeit with a couple of caveats. It's not designed for fast action, and accordingly it can struggle to keep up with video, with results that can vary across different lenses. But if you've ever dreamed of marrying Leica's classic rangefinder rendering with Canon's mirrorless convenience and autofocus performance, the Megadap M2RF works brilliantly for genres like portraiture and street photography.
Pros
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Adds autofocus to manual lenses!
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Works with eye tracking and subject detection
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Reduces minimum focus distance
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Can be double-adapted for other lens mounts
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Full EXIF data
Cons
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Struggles with fast action and video
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Mileage can vary across different lenses
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Some complexities and caveats
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Clunky software
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The Megadap M2RF makes a tantalizing promise: to enable manual focus Leica M lenses, designed for rangefinders with their magical rendering, to be used on Canon RF cameras with full support for Dual Pixel Autofocus – including eye tracking and subject detection.
Well, it's tantalizing and it's also true: the Megadap M2RF transforms Leica's gorgeous rangefinder glass into autofocus EOS R optics. Something for which, as a Canon shooter, I'm doubly grateful, given how closed the RF mount is to full-frame AF lenses from other manufacturers.
I had a blast using ultra-refined M-mount lenses to capture images with their unique character on my Canon EOS R5, though there are definitely a few asterisks that potential buyers should be aware of.
Megadap M2RF: Price & availability
The Megadap M2RF adapter is available for pre-order now, priced $399 / £429 (Australian pricing to follow).
For comparison, Megadap currently produces two other cross-mount autofocus adapters: the Megadap ETZ21 Pro+ (Sony E to Nikon Z) for $249 / £259 and Megadap EFTZ21 (Canon EF to Nikon Z) for $299 / 299.
Megadap M2RF: Build & handling
The build quality on the Megadap M2RF is first class. This isn't one of those flimsy adapters you get on eBay; it's a reassuringly heavy, substantially constructed device, beautifully machined and with thick, solid gold-plated contacts.
It has a custom coreless motor, with dual-hall (using two magnetic sensors) and optical sensing, using an electronic helicoid driver system for steady and precise control of the attached lens.
All the controls are likewise exquisitely made, from the aperture switch to the AF / MF selection button to the lens release. This feels every inch a premium product, befitting the luxury Leica glass that will be mounted to it.
As I'll explain in the
I also want to shout out the front and back caps, which are so often an afterthought from third-party manufacturers. These are handsome-looking transparent caps, bearing the Megadap logo, and like the rest of the unit feel very premium.
Even so, while it's an impressively robust product, there is one key limitation to the lenses you can mount to the Megadap: how much they weigh.
While every make of M-mount glass is supported, whether it's made by Leica, Voigtländer, Zeiss or anyone else, it only plays nicely with lenses that are 500g or less – which means that bigger, heavier M glass won't be well suited, as they put too much strain on the mount and motor.
Megadap M2RF: Performance
Overall, the Megadap M2RF delivers pretty astonishing performance for specific genres of photography – or, perhaps more accurately, for a specific pace of photography.
For portraiture, still life, landscape, travel, street and everyday shooting – in other words, shooting at a fairly soft pace or with a gently moving subject – it's absolutely brilliant.
For example, the autofocus keeps up with people absolutely wonderfully during a portrait session. The eye tracking is particularly impressive, and it's also steady and reliable for head and full-body tracking when your subject moves around. Using the Megadap for the first time is really quite a magical experience.
However, other genres and paces of photography are definitely not well suited to what the Megadap does. If you're hoping to shoot fast action like sports or wildlife, that's not what this adapter is for. Nor are most forms of video, where multi-axis movement overwhelms the device.
More than just the capabilities of the device itself, though, it's important to understand that there is a lot expected of the user that may surprise someone expecting a plug-and-play, fully automatic experience.
The Megadap M2RF is a "push-pull" adapter that uses a helical drive to move the lens forward and backward in order to shift the plane of focus. As such, you must remember to turn the focus ring of your adapted lens to infinity or performance will be substantially impeded.
It's definitely something that takes some getting used to – and especially if you're somebody who whips your camera in and out of a bag, you need to be mindful of knocking the focus ring too far.
In addition, when mounting the lens, you need to synchronize its aperture value to your camera's by setting it to a specific aperture value – f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8 or f/4 – corresponding to the values on the aperture switch on the side of the adapter.
Again, if you don't do this then the performance will be significantly degraded. Getting your muscle memory used to these steps each time you use the adapter or switch lenses is crucial, otherwise you'll likely experience hunting or complete focus failure.
Obviously different lenses are going to have different focal length and aperture combinations, which is a further point to factor in.
The adapter comes with four factory presets (Leica Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 Asph, Leica Summicron-M 35mm f/2 Asph, Zeiss Biogon T* 25mm f/2.8 ZM and Voigtländer 50mm f/1.2 Nokton Aspherical II), but it can be customized for any four lenses via the Megadap M2RF Custom Tool.
While it's brilliant to be able to add your own lens data (which is then helpfully written to your EXIF), it's fair to say that Megadap's expertise is in optics and not software. The Custom Tool is certainly usable, but it's a bit clunky and doesn't have the same premium feel as the M2RF itself.
Megadap M2RF: Samples
Megadap M2RF: Verdict
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