Coder Kit
An innovative design solution provides Leica M8 users with a simple method for
temporarily adding Leica's lens code to any M mount lens, allowing the Leica M8 to identify the lens type.
Leica, Cosina-Voigtlander, Zeiss, and other M mount lenses can be encoded with the M-Coder clip-on marking template, using the supplied marker pen. Choosing the lens code to use for a particular lens is a simple task using the D-Coder.
This encoding is temporary, and will not damage or permanently modify your lens in any way.
The entire encoding system is stored in a convenient case, and available from us as the Coder Kit.
Product details
To identify a lens, the Leica M8 lens sensor reads the lens code – a series of black dots in engraved wells. New Leica lenses are manufactured with these codes, and Leica in Solms, Germany, will permanently engrave and encode older lenses without codes – but only for lenses made by themselves.
Leica M8 owners have discovered that it is possible to use a minute amount of black ink to effectively encode an M-type lens. This temporary encoding can be unreliable, and obtaining the correct code difficult – but all this changes using the Coder Kit: the D-Coder gives you the correct code in seconds, and the M-Coder template, once clipped securely into place on the lens mount, allows you to transfer this code accurately to the lens.
Not all black inks are sensed reliably by the Leica M8, so included with the Coder Kit is a carefully chosen marker pen: the Zebra MO-120-MC-BK double-ended pen. As well as working reliably with the sensor, the ink is hard-wearing. The small tip is ideal for the M-Coder template, while the larger tip is suitable for increasing the size of the black mark on the M mount, if necessary. Remarkably, most M lenses can be encoded using the small tip only.
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Using the Coder Kit, you can encode your lenses at your own convenience with no need to send of your lens and await its return – and for minimal cost.
Another advantage of temporarily encoding your own lenses with the Coder Kit is the ability to experiment on your lens using codes from other lenses. This is particularly useful for non-Leica lenses such as those from Cosina-Voigtlander or Zeiss.
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The D-Coder gives you more than just the Leica lens codes: it also lists the production date and body color for Leica lenses. Further D-Coders are in development to assist with encoding Cosina-Voigtlander and Zeiss lenses.
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It should be noted that this method of encoding is temporary: the ink will wear off – how long this takes depends on how tight a lens mounts to a camera, and how often a lens is removed and replaced.
There are online reviews at echenique dot com and by Sean Reid (ReidReviews).