fgianni said:
Can you tell us who did the work, and the cost involved please?
I'll post more information about the conversion, and some pictures, as soon as I get a chance to take them. Meanwhile, here's a little basic info:
-- The person who did the work has a website at
http://www.eastcamtech.com/. His name is Mike, and he only does camera work part-time, so the time involved depends on his schedule.
-- To have the conversion done, you need to supply your lens and a screw-to-bayonet adapter. Mike recommends a Leitz-branded adapter, as he has noted the third-party brands aren't always to spec (something we've discussed here as well.) He can machine a third-party adapter to work, but there's an extra charge for that if it's necessary.
-- For converting an RF-coupled lens, the charge was $185. If you've got a "TV" lens with no rangefinder coupler, he can add a coupler at a slight extra charge (I don't remember exactly what it was.) Since my lens had an RF coupler, I don't know anything about how he handles the non-coupled lenses.
-- As part of the conversion, Mike removes the shiny four-pronged "lens protector" around the rear element (he said it interferes with the movement of the coupling arm on some M-mount cameras.) This leaves the rear element unprotected, so you have to be a bit careful handling the converted lens. However, I suspect that getting rid of this shiny ring also eliminates a possible source of flare!
-- As Mike himself wrote me, the real trick to this conversion isn't just fitting the adapter to the lens -- it's getting everything to work together. One problem area is the lens mount release; the lens is so fat that it blocks access to the bayonet latch pushbotton on the camera body. (One Internet vendor of converted lenses doesn't even try to address this; he suggested I carry a tongue depressor or popsicle stick to use when I want to remove the lens!?!)
Mike's solution is a bit more elegant: he uses the lens' original "winged" breech-lock ring as the release mechanism. He machines out a recess on the back of this ring and attaches a tab that presses on the bayonet latch on the body. He leaves one side of the ring free to flex just enough to release the latch. It seems secure, but only takes one hand to release and remove the lens.
This approach requires some custom fitting; Mike says that different Leica models require slightly different adjustments. He wasn't familiar with the R-D 1, so I had to send him mine for final fitting of the latch release.
[This is the one area so far that I have some reservations about the conversion. In Mike's approach, the tab presses directly on the bayonet latch, and I can see a slight bright mark from where it rubs on the latch as the lens is removed. If you like to keep your cameras in mint condition, you probably wouldn't like this.]
As I said, I'll post some pictures of the converted lens once I get a chance to shoot them.
