MISSION:

Snapshot Voyager is about my own personal photography journey. I am always looking to try something new, inquisitive as to how it works, and to the end results I might achieve.

Wednesday 31 October 2012

Hawk's Factory Adapter - the painful reality



My Hawk's factory adapter is really starting to drive me bananas.  I like the idea of this adapter (the ability to focus closer than the far off minimum focus distance of rangefinder lenses is awesome), and it can generate some good images, but it is now becoming a pain in the butt.  There are three things that are now driving me up the wall.

Firstly, as I mentioned in a previous post, the helicoid has a bit of play.

Secondly, there is no lock on the standard position, so when focusing with a lens that has slightly stiffer focus than normal, it starts to adjust the helicoid.  Very annoying.

Thirdly, and by far the most annoying is that the tolerances on the M mount are a little off, and now my LTM to M adapter is jammed on.  As it is a thin adapter, it is very difficult to move.  No matter what I did, it wouldn't budge (and yes I released the lens lock first).

Given I paid $140 used for it, I am pretty ticked off about this purchase.

Sony NEX 5n with Voigtlander 15mm f4.5 Super Wide Heliar and Hawks Factory NEX to M mount adapter

2 comments:

  1. Looks like it's not easy to make a helicoid that has no play. I have had three brand new helicoids and all of them have some degree of play.

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  2. Actually I think a properly machined helicoid adapter with very tight tolerances would actually be quite expensive - probably $200-$300. However lens manufacturers get this right with zoom lenses all the time, so it cant be too hard.

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