p.1 #1 · New Hawk’s Contax G to Leica M Conversion Kit?
I noticed that the Hawk’s Factory website store seems to have recently listed a new (“6th edition”) Contax G 28/35/45 to Leica M Helicoid Converter with full rangefinder coupling. It’s a do-it-yourself kit that includes the helicoid with rangefinder coupling, shims, and hardware needed to (reversibly!) adapt a Contax G lens to Leica M.
Unfortunately the photos are all missing, the item isn’t listed in their eBay store, the US based ebay sales agents that he lists don’t seem to exist, and I have yet to receive a response to the email inquiry I sent a couple weeks ago.
Has anyone else purchased one of thes (or anything else really) from the Hawk’s Factory website recently? Are they trustworthy? I would love to use one of my G45s on my Leica and Sony+Techart Pro, but I thought I’d better make sure I’m not going to get screwed somehow before dropping the hefty fee of $550.00 (assuming that’s in USD) for one of these.
p.1 #2 · New Hawk’s Contax G to Leica M Conversion Kit?
NateWeatherly wrote:
I noticed that the Hawk’s Factory website store seems to have recently listed a new (“6th edition”) Contax G 28/35/45 to Leica M Helicoid Converter with full rangefinder coupling. It’s a do-it-yourself kit that includes the helicoid with rangefinder coupling, shims, and hardware needed to (reversibly!) adapt a Contax G lens to Leica M.
Unfortunately the photos are all missing, the item isn’t listed in their eBay store, the US based ebay sales agents that he lists don’t seem to exist, and I have yet to receive a response to the email inquiry I sent a couple weeks ago.
Has anyone else purchased one of thes (or anything else really) from the Hawk’s Factory website recently? Are they trustworthy? I would love to use one of my G45s on my Leica and Sony+Techart Pro, but I thought I’d better make sure I’m not going to get screwed somehow before dropping the hefty fee of $550.00 (assuming that’s in USD) for one of these. ...Show more →
Missing photos, item not listed on eBay, US sales agent doesn't exist, no response to email inquiry... doesn't exactly inspire confidence, does it?
Forget Hawk's Factory. FM member sebboh converts G45 lenses to Leica M-mount using a Minolta MC 55mm f/1.7 lens body and helicoid. He converted a G45 for me and not only was dealing with Derek (sebboh) pleasant and easy but the final result was faultless. My converted G45 is a total delight to use. I cannot recommend his conversion service too highly.
p.1 #3 · New Hawk’s Contax G to Leica M Conversion Kit?
genji wrote:
Missing photos, item not listed on eBay, US sales agent doesn't exist, no response to email inquiry... doesn't exactly inspire confidence, does it?
Forget Hawk's Factory. FM member sebboh converts G45 lenses to Leica M-mount using a Minolta MC 55mm f/1.7 lens body and helicoid. He converted a G45 for me and not only was dealing with Derek (sebboh) pleasant and easy but the final result was faultless. My converted G45 is a total delight to use. I cannot recommend his conversion service too highly.
Nope! No confidence at all, haha. Sebboh’s mods (and photos!) do look great and I’ve considered going the G45 —> Minolta —> M route, but I shoot my Sony + Techart alongside my Leica M2 and really am really hoping for rangefinder coupling so I can use the lens with both cameras. I’ve seen the conversions from MS Optical, but the design is not appealing to me, with the declicked aperture and tiny focusing ring. I was looking at the Hawk’s Factory converters when they were on eBay, but they disappeared. I found them on his website and was mulling it over when I noticed that a new version was posted (with a higher price). I’m really hoping that it might be true, but not yet willing to just send him $550.
Do you have any photos of Derek’s conversion? What is the minimum focus distance? Is the procedure reversible if I wanted to use the lens for Contax G again?
p.1 #4 · New Hawk’s Contax G to Leica M Conversion Kit?
NateWeatherly wrote:
Do you have any photos of Derek’s conversion? What is the minimum focus distance? Is the procedure reversible if I wanted to use the lens for Contax G again?
Thanks!
all my contax g conversions except the 90mm are reversible. mfd is around 0.35m i believe (much closer with a helicoid adapter). it is possible to rangefinder couple the g45 after my conversion, but it requires a liveview capable rangefinder to calibrate.
p.1 #5 · New Hawk’s Contax G to Leica M Conversion Kit?
I bought a Hawks DIY kit to convert a G21. I had a bad experience.
He supplies zero written documentation, instead supplying a link to a poorly shot video when this was queried. Mine did not achieve infinity focus when first converted. He wanted me to modify a component and only supplied a replacement when I protested. To me, he has an appalling customer service attitude for the price charged.
p.1 #6 · New Hawk’s Contax G to Leica M Conversion Kit?
lenticular11 wrote:
I bought a Hawks DIY kit to convert a G21. I had a bad experience.
He supplies zero written documentation, instead supplying a link to a poorly shot video when this was queried. Mine did not achieve infinity focus when first converted. He wanted me to modify a component and only supplied a replacement when I protested. To me, he has an appalling customer service attitude for the price charged.
p.1 #7 · New Hawk’s Contax G to Leica M Conversion Kit?
lenticular11 wrote:
I bought a Hawks DIY kit to convert a G21. I had a bad experience.
He supplies zero written documentation, instead supplying a link to a poorly shot video when this was queried. Mine did not achieve infinity focus when first converted. He wanted me to modify a component and only supplied a replacement when I protested. To me, he has an appalling customer service attitude for the price charged.
Thanks for your feedback! That’s really a bummer to hear I REALLY wanted this to work out!
Did you order that recently? Seems like he says on the website that the new version (Version 6) makes the conversion easier and he includes several shims for focus adjustment. Oh well. If it was $200 I might just take the risk but $550 is more than the lens costs and almost enough to just buy a ZM Planar 50mm. I would probably just do that if I didn’t have such an irrational preference for 45mm over 50mm
p.1 #8 · New Hawk’s Contax G to Leica M Conversion Kit?
I bought my kit about 2 years ago. It came with multiple shims but I had to have the replacement part supplied in order to achieve infinity focus.
I stupidly traded an LM converted G45 against a P645D. That conversion was done through an eBay dealer called 'jeiying-us' (?), however he no longer offers the same conversion service for about USD350 😔
p.1 #9 · New Hawk’s Contax G to Leica M Conversion Kit?
One of my concerns with going the Minolta MC Rokkor-PF 1.7/55 way is that I can't find any NOS ones, so I'm worried about introducing mould or similar through the helicoid reuse. They were/are cheap lenses, so I imagine they haven't been the best taken care of over their life.
I was planning on going the Hawke's Factory route for a G 21/28/45 set. Maybe I won't.
Jun 01, 2018 at 08:23 PM
imagesfromobjects Offline • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #10 · New Hawk’s Contax G to Leica M Conversion Kit?
Love it! What are you using for the g90?
Follow up question - are you still doing these? sebboh wrote:
all my contax g conversions except the 90mm are reversible. mfd is around 0.35m i believe (much closer with a helicoid adapter). it is possible to rangefinder couple the g45 after my conversion, but it requires a liveview capable rangefinder to calibrate.
p.1 #11 · New Hawk’s Contax G to Leica M Conversion Kit?
Sam_W wrote:
One of my concerns with going the Minolta MC Rokkor-PF 1.7/55 way is that I can't find any NOS ones, so I'm worried about introducing mould or similar through the helicoid reuse. They were/are cheap lenses, so I imagine they haven't been the best taken care of over their life.
I was planning on going the Hawke's Factory route for a G 21/28/45 set. Maybe I won't.
i don't want to alarm you, but fungus spores are all around you. if you can keep your lenses reasonably dry they won't be a problem (difficult living in the NW) even if you have an old fungus lens next to it. you can always take apart and sanitize the old lens body with windex, alcohol, or fire if you like before bringing the zeiss into it's presence.
imagesfromobjects wrote:
Love it! What are you using for the g90?
p.1 #14 · New Hawk’s Contax G to Leica M Conversion Kit?
NateWeatherly wrote:
Thanks for your feedback! That’s really a bummer to hear I REALLY wanted this to work out!
Did you order that recently? Seems like he says on the website that the new version (Version 6) makes the conversion easier and he includes several shims for focus adjustment. Oh well. If it was $200 I might just take the risk but $550 is more than the lens costs and almost enough to just buy a ZM Planar 50mm. I would probably just do that if I didn’t have such an irrational preference for 45mm over 50mm
I share your irrational preference for the 45mm FL, even going so far as buying a Tamron SP 45/1.8, which is a behemoth compared to the G45.
There is one thing that can be said in favour of the Hawks DIY kit: you're not sending him the lens to be converted. A year ago in the Frankenlens thread, FM member realVivek reported:
"I have 3 lenses with the famous Hawk Peng for the past 5 years (that is not a typo!). every month, when I inquire, he says, the next week it will be finished! I have requested repeatedly to forget any conversions and just send my stuff back.
"I am thinking of making a visit to Taiwan to take back my lenses!"
p.1 #15 · New Hawk’s Contax G to Leica M Conversion Kit?
Wow, that’s god awful... I’d occasionally considered buying the adapters, but I think I’ll pretty well write that off...
genji wrote:
I share your irrational preference for the 45mm FL, even going so far as buying a Tamron SP 45/1.8, which is a behemoth compared to the G45.
There is one thing that can be said in favour of the Hawks DIY kit: you're not sending him the lens to be converted. A year ago in the Frankenlens thread, FM member realVivek reported:
"I have 3 lenses with the famous Hawk Peng for the past 5 years (that is not a typo!). every month, when I inquire, he says, the next week it will be finished! I have requested repeatedly to forget any conversions and just send my stuff back.
"I am thinking of making a visit to Taiwan to take back my lenses!"...Show more →
p.1 #16 · New Hawk’s Contax G to Leica M Conversion Kit?
sebboh wrote:
i don't want to alarm you, but fungus spores are all around you. if you can keep your lenses reasonably dry they won't be a problem (difficult living in the NW) even if you have an old fungus lens next to it. you can always take apart and sanitize the old lens body with windex, alcohol, or fire if you like before bringing the zeiss into it's presence.
All your conversions look really professional - great work!
I am interested in converting a G90 to E-mount myself. Do you have any photos/tips on the process you could share?
p.1 #17 · New Hawk’s Contax G to Leica M Conversion Kit?
bikeinbits wrote:
All your conversions look really professional - great work!
I am interested in converting a G90 to E-mount myself. Do you have any photos/tips on the process you could share?
thanks!
my g90 conversion is the most half-assed one and the only one i'm not currently doing for people.
a few other people have been asking so i'll try to outline the process a bit. the description i had posted previously seems to be archived out of existence.
i did not make any real effort to document the conversion as i did it unfortunately, so i just have random pictures from late in the process.
the g90 can be disassembled in the same way as the g28, which is still visible from the archives here. the g90 conversion i did requires more disassembly though – after you actually remove the helicoid stop and take the front half of the helicoid out along with the aperture ring assembly and optical block.
the front part of the g90 helicoid fits pretty snuggly inside the zooan helicoid and i drilled and tapped positions for set screws on the zooan to hold the front part of the g90 helicoid in position: http://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1670/25312836842_7462a3705c_o.jpg
next i put this piece from the g90 (sorry i don't have images of how this originally looked or attached to the g90) on top to hold the aperture ring in place (but first the legs circled in green need to be filed down to the appropriate length): http://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1499/25338203451_8d871bd6ac_b.jpg
which i believe will allow infinity focus with an m-mount as well as avoiding rotation of the aperture ring during focus. it looks like that conversion will require some custom made parts though...
Jun 11, 2018 at 12:35 AM
imagesfromobjects Offline • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #18 · New Hawk’s Contax G to Leica M Conversion Kit?
Holy moly, you ROCK, man!
I've got some reading to do, but this project is one I'd like to attempt. Ideally, I'm looking to use a Super Takumar 135/3.5 (which I mentioned via PM) as a host for the optics, but I need to sort out the logistics to see if it's even possible or a silly amount of effort. Or if there's a better candidate out there anyone can think of, please throw some ideas out. I mention that one because I have it on-hand, but never use it. Mechanically, it's like butter.
p.1 #19 · New Hawk’s Contax G to Leica M Conversion Kit?
Thanks sebboh - that is really helpful.
I still think your G90 conversion looks better than the commercial adapters you can get - they really do look half-arsed!
I am planing to acquire and convert a 3 lens Contax G setup: 28, 45 and 90. I will post how I get on.
Thanks again, Howard.
p.1 #20 · New Hawk’s Contax G to Leica M Conversion Kit?
bikeinbits wrote:
Thanks sebboh - that is really helpful.
I still think your G90 conversion looks better than the commercial adapters you can get - they really do look half-arsed!
I am planing to acquire and convert a 3 lens Contax G setup: 28, 45 and 90. I will post how I get on.
Thanks again, Howard.
thanks, let me recommend you do the g21 as well – its pretty awesome!
I REALLY wanted this to work out! 