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Akara Labs

Leica M Mount Lens Precision 6-Bit Encoder

Leica M Mount Lens Precision 6-Bit Encoder

Regular price £28.00 GBP
Regular price Sale price £28.00 GBP
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Taxes included.
Kit

Leica M Mount 6-Bit Encoder. The coder clips on to un-encoded lenses and allows quick and easy coding of any M mount lens.

Once the lens is encoded, your Leica camera will know which focal length lens it has mounted and record that information in to your photos (meta data) which will then be displayed in Lightroom and any other software allowing you to filter your photos by lens and focal length.

Your Leica will also apply various adjustments including vignetting, chromatic aberration and barrel distortion for cleaner JPG images and less post processing for RAW files.

Any other manufacturer lenses can also be coded to the closest Leica equivalent, generally improving the quality of your photos through the automatic corrections applied and the recording of meta data for lens length (28mm, 50mm etc).

For coding third party lenses, some experimentation may be required to find the closest and best match. We are actively working on a website to collect data from customers and the Leica community which will be launched in the coming weeks (around July 2024).

If you have a lens not listed in the table below, mounting your camera on a tripod and photographing a scene uncoded, then photographing the same scene with a few of the closest codes will allow you to compare and choose the best one for your particular setup. This should only take around 20 minutes for more than one lens due to it only taking around 20 seconds or so to clean a previous code off a lens and then re-coding it.

If you purchase the full kit, white and black pens are included along with the 6-bit coder, instructions and table of lenses and what to code them to. These pens are fully compatible with the Leica 6-bit sensor.

If you purchase the encoder on its own (instruction are also included) you will need at least a compatible black marker, many black markers do not work with the Leica 6-bit sensor. The recommend pen for use is the Black Uni-ball Super Ink Marker Pen 0.9. A white pen is usually not required but can help with successful coding for the M8 and M240.

A few lenses can have a screw where a 1-bit should be, filling this in with white allows you to then either leave it as white or place a black mark on top of it for successful coding.

Matt Osbourne, a professional model photographer reviewed version 1 of our encoder. See what he thought about it here:


A short introduction and tutorial can be found here:


Please see this excellent table below from lavidaleica.com (The original table was posted on Carsten Whimster's site (site no longer active) and with thanks to Sean Reid, Jan Dvorak, Dante Stella and others who had made it possible).

Thanks also goes out to many others in the Leica community who are providing valuable information that allow us all to code our lenses effectively.

Lens Name Black Chrome Code Picture Framelines Other Lenses
Tri-Elmar-M 16-18-21mm f/4 ASPH 11626 - 010000 ⬜⬛⬜⬜⬜⬜ 28/90 Voigtländer 15mm f/4.5
Super-Elmar-M 18mm f/3.8 ASPH 11649 - 110100 ⬛⬛⬜⬛⬜⬜ 50/75 Zeiss Distagon T* 4/18 ZM
Super-Elmar-M 21mm f/3.4 11145 - 110011 ⬛⬛⬜⬜⬛⬛ 28/90  
Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 11134 - 000001 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬛ 28/90 Konica M-Hexanon 21-35mm f/3.4-4.0 
Voigtländer 21mm f/1.8 Ultron
Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH 11135 11897 011000 ⬜⬛⬛⬜⬜⬜ 28/90 Voigtländer 21mm f/4 Color Skopar
Zeiss Biogon T* 2.8/21 ZM
Kobalux 21mm f/2.8
Summilux-M 21mm f/1.4 ASPH 11647 - 101111 ⬛⬜⬛⬛⬛⬛ 28/90  
Elmar-M 24mm f/3.8 ASPH 11648 - 110010 ⬛⬛⬜⬜⬛⬜ 24/35 or 35/135 Voigtländer 25mm f/4 Snapshot Skopar
Elmarit-M 24mm f/2.8 ASPH 11878 11898 011001 ⬜⬛⬛⬜⬜⬛ 24/35 or 35/135 Zeiss Biogon T* 2.8/25 ZM (with mount fix)
Summilux-M 24mm f/1.4 ASPH 11601 - 110000 ⬛⬛⬜⬜⬜⬜ 24/35 or 35/135  
Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50mm f/4 ASPH 11890
11625
11894 101010 ⬛⬜⬛⬜⬛⬜ 28/90, 24/35, 50/75  
Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 (III) 11804 - 000011 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬛⬛ 28/90  
Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 (IV) 11809 - 011011 ⬜⬛⬛⬜⬛⬛ 28/90  
Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 ASPH 11606 - 011100 ⬜⬛⬛⬛⬜⬜ 28/90 Zeiss Biogon T* 2.8/28 ZM
Konica M-Hexanon 28mm f/2.8
Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH 11604 - 011010 ⬜⬛⬛⬜⬛⬜ 28/90 Voigtländer 28mm f/1.9 Ultron
Voigtländer 28mm f/3.5 Color Skopar
Zeiss Biogon T* 2.8/25 ZM
Summarit-M 35mm f/2.5 11643 - 101011 ⬛⬜⬛⬜⬛⬛ 24/35 or 35/135 Voigtländer 35mm f/2.5 Color Skopar
Summicron-M 35mm f/2 (IV) 11310 11311 000110 ⬜⬜⬜⬛⬛⬜ 24/35 or 35/135 Zeiss Biogon T* 2/35 ZM
Minolta M-Rokkor 40mm f/2.0
Summicron-M 35mm f/2 ASPH 11879 11882 011110 ⬜⬛⬛⬛⬛⬜ 24/35 or 35/135 Voigtländer 35mm f/1.7 Ultron
Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH 11874 11883 011101 ⬜⬛⬛⬛⬜⬛ 24/35 or 35/135 Voigtländer 40mm f/1.4 Nokton
Elmar-M 50mm f/2.8 11831
(11824)
11823 100010 ⬛⬜⬜⬜⬛⬜ 50/75  
Summarit-M 50mm f/2.5 11644 - 101100 ⬛⬜⬛⬛⬜⬜ 50/75 Voigtländer 50mm f/2.5 Color Skopar
Summicron-M 50mm f/2 (III) 11817 - 010111 ⬜⬛⬜⬛⬛⬛ 50/75 Konica M-Hexanon 50mm f/2
Summicron-M 50mm f/2 (IV, V) 11819
11826
11825
11816
100001 ⬛⬜⬜⬜⬜⬛ 50/75 Zeiss Planar T* 2/50 ZM
APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 (VI) 11141 - 101001 ⬛⬜⬛⬜⬜⬛ 50/75  
Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 (II) 11868 11856 000101 ⬜⬜⬜⬛⬜⬛ 50/75  
Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH 11891 11892 100000 ⬛⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 50/75 Voigtländer 50mm f/1.5 Nokton
Zeiss C Sonnar T* 1.5/50 ZM
Noctilux-M 50mm f/1 11821
11822
- 011111 ⬜⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 50/75  
Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH 11602 - 110001 ⬛⬛⬜⬜⬜⬛ 50/75  
Summarit-M 75mm f/2.5 11645 - 101101 ⬛⬜⬛⬛⬜⬛ 50/75 Voigtländer 75mm f/2.5 Color Heliar
APO-Summicron-M 75mm f/2 ASPH 11637 - 100100 ⬛⬜⬜⬛⬜⬜ 50/75  
Summilux-M 75mm f/1.4 11810
11814
11815
- 100011 ⬛⬜⬜⬜⬛⬛ 50/75  
Macro-Elmar-M 90mm f/4 11633 11634 100111 ⬛⬜⬜⬛⬛⬛ 28/90  
Macro-Adapter-M 14409 - 101000 ⬛⬜⬛⬜⬜⬜ 28/90?  
Tele-Elmarit-M 90mm f/2.8 (II) 11800 - 000100 ⬜⬜⬜⬛⬜⬜ 28/90 Konica M-Hexanon 90mm f/2.8
Elmarit-M 90mm f/2.8 11807 11808 100110 ⬛⬜⬜⬛⬛⬜ 28/90  
Summarit-M 90mm f/2.5 11646 - 101110 ⬛⬜⬛⬛⬛⬜ 28/90  
Summicron-M 90mm f/2 (II) 11136 11137 000111 ⬜⬜⬜⬛⬛⬛ 28/90  
APO-Summicron-M 90mm f/2 ASPH 11884 11885 100101 ⬛⬜⬜⬛⬜⬛ 28/90  
Elmarit-M 135mm f/2.8 (I/II) 11829 - 001001 ⬜⬜⬛⬜⬜⬛ 28/90  
APO-Telyt-M 135mm f/3.4 11889 - 110101 ⬛⬛⬜⬛⬜⬛ 35/135  
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Customer Reviews

Based on 84 reviews
70%
(59)
12%
(10)
6%
(5)
4%
(3)
8%
(7)
a
aegnogg
Holes are too thin for provider markers

The holes are too thin for the provided markers, and did not work with my camera (M9 and M9M)

J
Jordi G
Too much taxes

I receive in spain and i had to pay 15more because of taxes. Total cost of the utility too much.

Thanks for you review. We mention on the checkout page that customers are responsible for their countries various import duty/tax which can vary a lot by destination. Unfortunately it's out of our control as we're a small business so it's not feasible for us to pre-pay the import duties/taxes etc with a courier service right now. Hopefully this is something that we may be able to achieve in the future as it would make ours and your lives easier.

We do appreciate that things can add up by the time shipping/customs and taxes etc are all factored in. It's something we would love to reduce as much as possible where we can.

H
Hans
Works perfectly and service is wonderful

When I finally received my m camera, I was superhappy to see that my m lenses were immediately recognised thanks to the Akara coding device. The coding is easy and done within a few seconds. I should like to mention that the owner of the company was very forthcoming when it turned out that taxes were added upon transit to the Netherlands from the UK and he immediately offered to reimburse these. Quite exceptional.

W
Walter Atiga
Excellent

Worked great on my 6 lenses

S
Simon Brauner
Recommend, but with one flaw.

Firstly, the first order I made didn't arrive because of some trouble with my DHL person. So I contacted Akara-Labs, and they sent a second unit to me right away. They knew of the problems with the German postal service. When it arrived, it worked perfectly, and I coded my lenses all at once. It was nice that the package contained a list with the corresponding Leica and Voigtländer or Zeiss lenses.
The one flaw I might have discovered for me is, that now that I have coded my lenses, the tool is mostly useless. I mean, I probably need to do it again in the future, but for now, it's just collecting dust on my desk.

But it's a well-made tool, and I would recommend it to everyone who wants to use its third-party lenses without having to change the lenses in the camera all the time.