Contax G to M

[dreilly]

I have a 45/2 converted through the auspices of digitalintrigue. It took a long time for sure, but its a great lens. I got a zeiss 25/2.8 at the same time, and that lens teds to be on my camera the most, though i am thinking of getting a cle to shoot these with film again. The ricoh gxr is such a good digital camera, but it has no romance. No other way to say it.

I do want to say that I saw the correspondence back and forth between robert and the workshop doing the conversions, and robert has been on top of it and very proactive throughout the process....he goes above and beyond. The shop just takes a long time.

I should post some images of and by the lens. N

 

[splitimageview]

Thanks for the kind words, Doug. 🙂

Unfortunately every time this thread gets more posts I get more emails. Until production turnaround is reasonable (which may be never) no new orders will be accepted. Sorry about this, but it is not good for me, nor the lens owner, to have 50 emails back and forth over the next few months asking for status updates, with no firm ETA. 🙁 Thanks for your understanding.

Who is going to send a lens to the eBay seller?

 

[raid]

Not me. You would have to first see a review by a buyer.

 

[splitimageview]

The ebay conversion may be ok for a mirrorless camera, in which case there is no point to RF coupling at all. But personally for RF coupled M lenses, unless it's a specialty vintage LTM lens that focuses to 1m, I'll always choose a lens that focuses to 0.7m. And a DOF scale on an M lens is de rigueur, but not so much on mirrorless.

 

[sepiareverb]

robert has been on top of it and very proactive throughout the process....he goes above and beyond. The shop just takes a long time.

+1 from me.

I can only imagine the PITA it must have been dealing with a batch of these conversions Robert, thank you again.

 

[scho]

The ebay conversion may be ok for a mirrorless camera, in which case there is no point to RF coupling at all. But personally for RF coupled M lenses, unless it's a specialty vintage LTM lens that focuses to 1m, I'll always choose a lens that focuses to 0.7m. And a DOF scale on an M lens is de rigueur, but not so much on mirrorless.

I have two 45s (silver and black) so I went ahead and sent him the silver one for conversion. Very quick turnaround (just got it back three days after he received it). Focusing is smooth, but would be better with a tab or better focus ring grip. Infinity OK and seems to focus closer than 1 m (haven't measued yet). Picture below on the M-E and a couple of sample snaps taken around the house.

 

[splitimageview]

Carl, no issue focusing with the focus ring so close to the body? I emailed the seller, he says he can't do focus scales but may be able to offer closer focus after he buys a new M early next year. He will also convert without any RF coupling for $50 less...ideal for NEX, Fuji, etc.

 

[AndySig]

Thanks for the kind words, Doug. 🙂

Unfortunately every time this thread gets more posts I get more emails. Until production turnaround is reasonable (which may be never) no new orders will be accepted. Sorry about this, but it is not good for me, nor the lens owner, to have 50 emails back and forth over the next few months asking for status updates, with no firm ETA. 🙁 Thanks for your understanding.

Who is going to send a lens to the eBay seller?

That's fair enough but is there any chance of you working a list system, so people can put down a marker, get in the queue and when the time is right they can be informed that they can exercise their option or get off the list?

 

[scho]

Carl, no issue focusing with the focus ring so close to the body? I emailed the seller, he says he can't do focus scales but may be able to offer closer focus after he buys a new M early next year. He will also convert without any RF coupling for $50 less...ideal for NEX, Fuji, etc.

Thanks for the info Robert. The focus ring is just wide enough to allow me to grip it with thumb and index finger. I was unable to focus using my thumb only (really needs a tab). Might be difficult for people with larger hands. Takes awhile to adjust focusing procedure with this lens. I'm quite certain that this lens can focus to less than 1 meter, but I'll check for sure today.

 

[splitimageview]

Thanks Carl. Let me know what you find...the seller told me he is officially calling it 1m but he says it's probably more like 0.85m close focus, coupled; and closer than that, uncoupled.

 

[splitimageview]

That's fair enough but is there any chance of you working a list system, so people can put down a marker, get in the queue and when the time is right they can be informed that they can exercise their option or get off the list?

Unfortunately, I really don't want to spend any time managing such a list unless there is some possibility of getting compensated eventually for the time incurred. At this point it is doubtful I'll continue this. I just want to get the customers already in the queue taken care of. All the customers who have received lenses are extremely happy with the build quality and ergonomics, the only issue is the extreme turnaround time.

 

[scho]

Thanks Carl. Let me know what you find...the seller told me he is officially calling it 1m but he says it's probably more like 0.85m close focus, coupled; and closer than that, uncoupled.

Robert, I measured about 0.73 m from a wall to sensor plane at close focus stop. This shot was at the min focus distance at f/2.8, focus on tip of lower petal on left.

 

[splitimageview]

Robert, I measured about 0.73 m from a wall to sensor plane at close focus stop. This shot was at the min focus distance at f/2.8, focus on tip of lower petal on left.

There is a close focus stop? Or is it the point where the RF patch is no longer coupled?

 

[scho]

There is a close focus stop? Or is it the point where the RF patch is no longer coupled?

There is a hard close focus stop, just like infinity.

 

[splitimageview]

Interesting. In his prior ebay listings he says he leaves it uncoupled from 3ft to 1ft...

 

[sjgslack]

Helecoid

Helecoid

I know this is an old thread... but hey --

I was thinking of getting my 28 and 90 converted, but having contacted the chap on ebay in California who does it for $300 I have found out that rather than coupling to the original screw drive, he leaves the lens at infinity and simply has a helecoid system for focusing...

This rather put me off.

But it got me thinking -- rather than the rather crunchy feeling adapters for NEX that I put up with, one might be better off with a helecoid system there too.

Does anyone know of a NEX adapter that uses this method instead of the screw drive? Google turned up nothing for me, but somebody may know something...?

S

 

[splitimageview]

There are no NEX adapters that do this. It requires modification of the lens.

All adapters use the screw drive.

 

[romi.gilles]

follow-up

follow-up

so, all other threads from other forums all seem to lead back to this thread on this forum site. since it's still unclear to me, has a DIY kit ever surfaced for this Contax G-to-Leica M conversion?

 

[kbg32]

so, all other threads from other forums all seem to lead back to this thread on this forum site. since it's still unclear to me, has a DIY kit ever surfaced for this Contax G-to-Leica M conversion?

No, not to my knowledge.

 

[romi.gilles]

No, not to my knowledge.

thank you.

is Dirk on here? I sent an inquiry over at Japan Exposures about the G to M mount conversion. he answered most of my questions and wanted to know if I wanted to continue. I responded a couple of times saying I wanted to continue with one of my lenses but haven't gotten any replies after that. I don't see anything in my Spam folder, but was wondering if maybe my emails were going to his Spam folder.

Dirk, if you're here, let me know how we can proceed. thanks!