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E-Mount (NEX) adapters

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Category: Equipment forums
Forum Name: Adapters and converters
Forum Description: Discussions for various adapters and converters
URL: https://www.dyxum.com/dforum/forum_posts.asp?TID=88155
Printed Date: 09 February 2025 at 05:50


Topic: E-Mount (NEX) adapters
Posted By: Bob J
Subject: E-Mount (NEX) adapters
Date Posted: 02 June 2012 at 16:21
Perversely, one of my main reasons for getting a NEX 7 was to use non-native lenses on it via adapters. In the brief time I've owned the camera I've acquired a number of adapters and thought it might be worth posting some information here about them, with the thought that others may also be considering experimenting.

A lot of these adapters are available on Ebay – I've included pictures below that should enable people to identify if a particular adapter is the same as one they are considering buying...

This is a work in progress - If other members have also used adapters and would like to write up their experience (good or bad) of these adapters or others, please post them in on this thread – that way we pass on our knowledge.

ALPHA-NEX adapters

LA EA1


This adapter is the original official Sony adapter to allow A-mount lenses to be used on NEX bodies. It seems to now be discontinued in the UK. It will allow the camera to recognise Minolta and Sony A-mount lenses and populate EXIF appropriately, but it will only AF with lenses that include their own motor (ie there is no slot-drive). SSM works better than SAM, but both are a little 'jittery' (although as it does not rely on phase-detection, it will still AF at very small maxium apertures – for instance a 70-300G with a x2 converter will still AF despite a max aperture of f11.0). Focus peaking is available with all lenses (SAM, SSM & Slot-drive).

As the adapter closes down the aperture as part of the exposure, you view at full aperture. This means you lose out on DoF preview (which cannot be assigned to a button) and that exposures at anything other than full aperture gain a slight extra delay.

Lenses and adapters that are not 'official' may not be recognized – My chipped m42 adapter does not get recognized in EXIF at all – but this is no great loss as there is no phase detect AF assist or Steady-shot inside to need the chip.

The adapter is very well made with no exposed workings and with the interior lined with a flock non-reflecting surface. The lens release button is high quality and the adapter is supplied with a detachable tripod mount – this add-on is quite neat and gets left on with my set-up.

Originally posted by pegelli pegelli wrote:

...where I use it most is to for M42 lenses by including a M42 to A-mount adapter. Only strange thing is that even if the M42 adapter is chipped it doesn't pass on any of the chip info to the NEX. It just shows the same as "no lens attached", i.e no focal length info and f 1,0.
For the rest no complaints, works like a charm this way.


Minolta (AF) - NEX


This is an adapter which allows you to mechanically stop down an Alpha-mount lens mounted to a NEX body. As it has no electrical connections, no AF is possible and no EXIF is recorded, but true DoF is previewed and manual focus is possible using focus peaking.

The adapter body is well machined, the tab to release the Alpha-mount lens is not the greatest bit of engineering ever, but is simple enough to perform the function without leading to problems. The ring to control the aperture is broad and knurled with 7 positive click-stops to allow intermediate aperture settings plus the ability to set the ring to the extremes to get wide open and fully closed. Note that the adapter is not calibrated and you can only guess at the approximate f-stop by setting a number and looking at the width of the aperture – however, for whatever value you set, the NEX will work out a suitable shutter speed.

Issues with this adapter start with the pin which actuates the aperture in the lens: the pin is formed by a long screw which is painted black over the threads; after a little use, this screw shows signs of the paint rubbing off in places – in effect this means that small particles of flaked-off paint will be roaming free in the space between the back of the lens and the (exposed) sensor.

Another problem with the actuator pin is that it is long enough to foul m42 adapters – this may mean that it won't work with lenses that don't need external aperture control (and so don't have a deep channel in that part of the mount).

The biggest problem is with the bayonet that fits onto the camera – while it looks well-contructed, it is phenomenally tight on the NEX 7 – so much so that I'm not planning on putting it on again for fear of creating undue wear on the camera mount.

All of which is a shame, because otherwise it might be a good (and cheaper) alternative to the official LA-EA1.

AF-NEX


This is another adapter which allows you to mechanically stop down an Alpha-mount lens mounted to a NEX body. As it has no electrical connections, no AF is possible and no EXIF is recorded, but true DoF is previewed and manual focus is possible using focus peaking.

The adapter body is well machined, the lens release is a bit strange looking but works fine in practice. The ring to control the aperture is knurled with two click-stop positions at either end of travel for closed and open (or as the engraving has it, 'Lock' and 'Open'); the open setting actually closes the aperture down very slightly, but not even as much as 1/3 of a stop – if you want fully open, the ring will sit at a position just after the click-stop. The diaphragm ring is smooth and dampened enough to stay in any intermediate position between open and fully closed. As with the other adapter I reviewed above you have to guess at the approximate f-stop by looking at the width of the aperture – however, for whatever value you set, the NEX will work out a suitable shutter speed.

Like the other third-party NEX adapter, the aperture actuator is slightly too long to fit either of my m42 adapters, but the pin itself is smooth and does not suffer from paint rubs.

Both the lens and camera bayonets fit well with no excess play. Quality is good, the only finish issues being the top of the bayonet latch pin and the red dot to orient the lens when mounting (see photo below). Neither of these causes any major issue.

All in all, this adapter was well worth 17GBP, particularly as even the cheapest LA-EA1, only seems to be available for around 5 times the price (if you can find it now that it has discontinued). This adapter doesn't give you EXIF, AF with SAM/SSM lenses, or the excellent add-on tripod mount of the LA-EA1, but is a very practical alternative for slot-drive AF lenses, particularly macros (where manual focus is more usual and on-screen DoF is a boon).

Originally posted by MiPr MiPr wrote:

3) Minolta AF (fourth photo on the main post) - borrowed from Bob (thanks!) just to see how it works and whether I would be comfy with it.

It's solid, it's smart, it works perfectly. The aperture "ring" works very well - it's pleasure to use, although without any f-stops marked so the aperture is a guess. I think that this solution is better to "step down when taking a shot" approach.

The aperture lever, opposite to how it is done on the camera body and on the lens, is not "flat" but just a small rod. This makes problems when trying to use some non-alpha stuff on this adapter, e.g. Alpha-M42 adapter does not work. I think this could be worked around by using a file on it (I mean - not on your adapter Bob ).

…one observation about using Minolta AF lenses: manual focusing is really cumbersome on some of them. I mean: the focus ring is not smooth - if you need to move it a tiny bit it becomes "jumpy", i.e. you have to apply some more force to move it and it jumps further than intended. This especially concerns second-gen Minolta lenses, e.g. 70-210/3.5-4.5 or 75-300/4.5-5.6. Comparing those lenses to their first-gen counterparts, e.g. beercan and big beercan there is a huge difference: first-gens are smooth and nice to operate ...

The other disadvantage is that it is not chipped. Not a huge problem but you will not know what lens was in use. Oh well, nothing is perfect.


Contax G - E mount adapters

Contax G Zeiss lenses have the complication of requiring an adapter to supply a means of focusing the lenses, which do not have a manual focus ring – all focusing on Contax G cameras was controlled by the camera body via the same sort of slot-type physical connection as found in the original A-mount. Note that diaphragm control is not a feature of these adapters as the Contax G Zeiss lenses all feature manual diaphragms.

KIPON C/G-NEX adapter and cheap look-alike CONTAX(G)-NEX



Kipon produce an adapter complete with a narrow in-built focusing ring, there are a number of copies/knock-offs that copy the design. The Kipon is shown left in the pictures, with the look-alike (at 1/3 of the price) on the right.



Note that the Kipon has a silver lens release button and that it also has a less coarse grip.

Both adapters work, allowing focus throughout the range and both fit quite well on both lenses and camera body. Each features a sprung driver blade which will be pushed back into the adapter if the slot on the lens does not line-up exactly on mounting. Both allow the adapter to be kept on the body while a different Contax G lens is fitted.

There are key quality differences between the two adapters, with the more expensive Kipon being far smoother in operation and having a far more comfortable grip. The comfortable grip is key with this style of adapter as it does take a fair amount of effort to turn the gearing of the the Contax lenses and the design of the lenses and the adapter means that the focusing ring must be narrow and close to the body of the camera. I think the smoothness of operation probably justifies the extra cost of the better-made Kipon version – however, the cheaper version might well provide a good platform for modification or enhancement.

Metabones CONTAX G - E mount



The Metabones Contax G adapters (seen above, back and front) take an alternative route to the Kipon-type adapters around the design constraints of the G lenses: their main feature is a much wider focusing ring which also extends much further forward than the one found on the Kipon. This provides far greater purchase for fingers.





There are however, disadvantages that go with this alternative design – one is that the lens lock switch is on the back of the mount, so the adapter would need to be removed from the camera before another lens can be mounted. The driver blade is not sprung, so a little more care needs to be taken to ensure that the coupling goes together properly when mounting: altogether not a quick-change adapter for those with more than one Contax G lens.   Another disadvantage is that the Metabones adapter is a bit more expensive than a genuine Kipon (so 4 times the price of the Kipon look-alike).

Build is impressive although fit of the lens onto the adapter onto my 28mm Biogon is tight (the 90 Sonnar is a very good fit). Metabones make much of the smoothness of the action of this adapter, I found mine a little too stiff so removed some of the helicoid grease which left it a little more free-running. The width and repositioning of the grip really helps with the perception of smoothness and all-in all I’d say it was worth the price to make those lovely G Zeiss lenses a little more usable on a digital body.

KONICA AR adapters
Konica - NEX


This is an adapter designed to allow the fitting of manual focus Konica Hexanon and other brand lenses using the Konica AR (Autoreflex) bayonet mount. As it has no electrical connections, no EXIF is recorded. The Konica AR bayonet used an unusually small film-to-flange distance for full frame meaning that these lenses were impossible to attach to any conventional APS-C (or full-frame) dSLR – hence they have been an 'untapped' resource.

The adapter itself is a black-anodized tube with a knurled ring. The lens release button is a reasonable size with a positive action. The adapter fits well on the NEX body, but the Hexanon lenses tend to fit with a bit of play: this does not make much of a practical difference in use, but does affect the esthetics of using the adapter a little.


LEICA 'M' adapters

Pixoo L(M)-NEX
Originally posted by pegelli pegelli wrote:


...well made and both the male and female mount are nice and smooth, and absolutely no play when locked in place. Since rangefinder lenses have a much shorter registration distance this adapter is much smaller. So my little Leica M 35/2.8 Summaron remains still small on a NEX. Not quite a pancake but very pocketable








M42 & M39 screw thread adapters
Originally posted by MiPr MiPr wrote:

M42 and M39 adapters - noname brand (some Chinese production),

...both adapters are very similar: black-coloured aluminum with an "inset" where you screw-in your lens. This inset is mounted to the adapter using three screws and after getting them a bit loose you can turn the inset around. This allows you to position the lens correctly (usually not a problem unless you want to use e.g. Zenitar 16/2.8 which has integrated lens hood).

Everything is solid, mounts easily and generally I'm quite happy with them. Or better to say - I was happy because after today's walk I found a big surprise: namely the M42 adapter is way too short

Previously I have not noticed it because I was shooting close-up scenes with macro ext rings. But for today's walk I took Mir 1W (37/2.8) and I immediately noticed that the lens focuses at infinity when the scale shows ... 1.7m! So it was clear that the adapter is too short. At least good that this is this way and not opposite.

After returning home I took my caliper and performed some measurements. The flange for E-mount is 18mm so we have following:

           Alpha   M42   M39
Flange     44.5   45.46 28.8
Adapter    26.5   27.46 10.8
Measured   26.3   26.70 10.6
Difference 0.2    0.76   0.2


As you can see all three adapters are too short comparing to what they should be. In case of Bob's adapter and M39 it is not disastrous - only 0.2mm - but still there should be no difference. In case of my M42 the difference is quite pronounced and quite noticeable when focusing (remember - infinity at 1.7m!). Hopefully the construction of the M42 and M39 adapters allow to fix the issue quite easily by removing the inset and putting some separator under it.

Still, I believe that this is not a rocket science to produce a piece of metal pipe with the tolerance of 0.1mm so I'm astonished with such inaccuracy Please note: the M42 adapter for my A700 is done as it should be ...



MINOLTA SR (a.k.a MC or MD) adapters
MD - NEX


This is an adapter designed to allow the fitting of manual focus Minolta/Rokkor SR mount lenses (aka MC/MD). As it has no electrical connections, no EXIF is recorded. As SR mount lenses have a smaller film-to-flange distance than the Alpha mount, it was impossible to fit these lenses to previous dSLR bodies without use of an adapter containing a glass element which acted as a mild tele-converter.

The adapter itself is a black-anodized tube with a knurled ring. The lens release button is rather small and a little uncomfortable to use, but works with a positive action. The adapter fits well on the NEX body, and fit for SR-mount lenses is also good, but it is unacceptably tight on the a7 Mk 2 (which has an all metal bayonet).

K&F Concept 'Copper' MD - NEX


This adapter is designed to allow the fitting of manual focus Minolta Rokkor SR mount lenses (also known as MC mount or MD mount) to e-mount bodies. I got this adapter after buying the a7M2 and finding that the older MD-NEX adapter I had for the NEX-7 was rather uncomfortably tight on the a7 bayonet. This is K&F’s ‘Copper’ quality adapter, which has a separate chromed brass e-mount bayonet screwed into the back of the (substantial) anodised aluminium tube. The push button for lens release is nice and broad and the adapter is weighty enough to make you realise you have spent the extra £2 reasonably wisely. The SR bayonet on the front is only held on by three screws (similar to other ‘MD-NEX adapters), but the whole bayonet seems very secure. A nice step up on the quality of the unbranded MD-NEX adapter I was using before (see above).


Zhongyi Lens Turbo MD-NEX
Originally posted by gregk gregk wrote:

Hi all, there's been a lot of buzz about the Speedbooster and now the Chinese copy's offered in some new mounts. I recently acquired the Lens Turbo MD-NEX. Haven't had much time to play with it yet, but I am hoping this weekend I can get some sample images posted. My initial impression is that similar to a normal teleconverter, it will emphasize any defects in the lens, so if you saw a slight halo at f/1.4 with the lens normally, it will be worse when used with this adapter. Most of the lenses I've tried that are below f/2.8 need to be stopped down and are almost unusable wide open. Most of my MD lenses have a slight noticeable haloing with a non-optical adapter on my NEX's, so I don't know that its the adapters fault necessarily. Anyhow, you'll see what I mean when I get some samples posted. Not to say its a bad adapter - it actually is quite interesting to use, but will have to work within its limits.

In the meantime, here's a teaser pic on my 5n:



...I've been working on some sample shots with the Lens Turbo that I hope to have posted soon. Its raining, so they are boring indoor shots, I am not taking my old Rokkor glass out in the rain

As far as CA correction, I'm not seeing any difference with my Rokkor lenses between the RAW and JPG, perhaps it only activates in JPG only mode if it works at all with adapted lenses? If so, its not something I would use since I typically prefer shooting RAW. I would be interested in seeing some sample comparisons if you've been able to make this work woodrim.

Also, Tim asked about the length of the Lens Turbo adapter that I forgot to answer - yes it is significantly shorter. It looks like my standard adapter adds a hair over 25mm between the lens and camera, where the Lens Turbo adds only 20mm. It really is nice, especially when with the smaller Rokkors like the 45/2.

After spending several hours going back and forth between my adapters, the Lens Turbo is actually quite impressive. Here's a few observations:

-The adapter does give a slight green shift to the color tone, easily corrected with WB.

-I've also noticed it changes the lens distortion a bit, but this is mainly noticeable when shooting straight lines and comparing shots with or without the adapter.

-It does emphasize haloing as I had said before, but I think this is more a side effect of the extra stop you gain, it decreased DOF even more and on 1.4 or 1.2 lenses, this is enough to make the images too soft. Stop down to f/2 and its about the same as it would be with a normal adapter. So really the main thing you gain is the extra field of view. This could be handy especially with wider lenses.

-The adapter has a really nice fit and finish, it fits very snug to the lens and camera, unlike a lot of the regular adapters I've tried which tend to be a bit loose. It's an all metal body and looks sharp when installed on the camera.



EzFoto Tilt Minolta MD MC Lens
Originally posted by twm47099 twm47099 wrote:


I recently purchased a used NEX-7 body for use with my legacy lenses (primarily Minolta MF lenses), microscope, etc. While I was shopping for adapters, I found this:

"EzFoto Tilt Minolta MD MC Lens to Sony Alpha Nex E-mount Camera Adapter"

Since it sold for less than $60 on Amazon, and I have long wanted a tilt lens or adapter for my a-mount system, I felt that it was worth a shot. I bought it.

My primary goal was to use it with my close-up/macro equipment to increase the plane of focus to increase the apparent DOF.

I'll show some results below.

The way it works is that you focus on the subject of interest. Then you rotate the tilt ring to change the plane of focus. Then you adjust focus if necessary, set the aperture, and make the photo. The amount of tilt needed is actually smaller than I had expected.

One of the basic issues with the method is that it can be very difficult to see when the tilt is correct when using a 35mm and smaller format due to the small VF/LCD.

However, by using focus peaking on the NEX it is simple to see when you have the tilt the way you want.

For example in the first image below (grass) <check the dpreview link above for the images>, with no tilt you can see that the DOF was very small. (all shots were made using a Tokina 90mm macro lens with aperture wide open (f/2.5). The total DOF calculated to about 18 inches (9 in front, 9 in back).

In the VF using peaking, I could easily see a band of yellow moving across the field as I changed focus. The focus point was on the leaf near the center of the image.

Since I wanted the entire grassy area in sharp focus, I adjusted the tilt until the yellow band expanded to cover the entire image. Then I took the shot (image 2). If you examine the image using the loupe you can see that the grass is sharp from top to bottom of the frame (All photos are not cropped, and are in-camera jpgs, rotated and resized to be acceptable to dpreview gallery. No sharpening was done after resizing.)

The 3rd image is a close-up with no tilt. I hand held the camera in a kneeing position. The shallow DOF is obvious. The 4th image is the same shot but with tilt. The sharp area extends almost over the entire frame. However, there is a soft area in the lower right corner that is due to an issue I'll mention below. I forgot to correct for it.

As with anything there are pros and cons.

Pro:

  • Inexpensive

  • It works

Con:

  • It is not a shift lens (but that's not a con for what I wanted).

  • It has only 8 degrees of tilt, but I believe that the very expensive canon TS lens also has 8 degrees of tilt. From my tests so far that seems sufficient for me, but maybe as I use it more I will see some limitations.

  • The instructions are not all that clear and the operation is not all that straight forward.

  • The adapter rotates, but the spring loaded detents are stiff, and it is not obvious that the adapter can be rotated. In fact one reviewer on Amazon thought that it couldn't be rotated.

  • It's not the highest quality piece of kit I've found. Some examples:

    • The detents are not properly lined up with the horizontal or vertical axes of the image. That causes the plane of focus not to be parallel to the edges of the frame. With tilt so the peaking band is narrow you can see the band align obliquely to the image. That is what caused the soft corner in shot 4. My normal technique to compensate is to adjust every thing (focus, tilt, aperture) with the adapter in the detent. Then I rotate the adapter slightly (out of the detent) to properly align it, and shoot. Unfortunately, I was in a rush and forgot in shot 4. I would prefer no detents, but a thumb screw to lock it where desired.

    • The adapter is over greased. I don't keep it mounted to either lens or camera since I am concerned the grease will migrate on them. As I've used it more (and after keeping in wrapped in a cloth, I haven't found any new grease on it.

    • There is a tilt scale, but there is no index and the scale is backwards. No matter where you make an index, as you add tilt, the scale rotates in the direction of the highest number (8), so the scale would indicate lower values as you increase the angle. I also doubt it is calibrated which would prevent the user from setting things mathematically. But with focus peaking, I have not found that important.

It's obviously not perfect, but it works, and for the specialized applications where I'll use it, it's ok.


Nikon F adapters

Roxen Nikon F
Originally posted by bieomax bieomax wrote:

Well I've just picked up a Nikon F (is it?) to nex adaptor (non booster) from Roxsen off an auction site. it also has an helicoid focusing section built into it.

Quality is quite good and the mounts feel solid, the helicoid is smooth, it also has an extra ring for aperture adjustment. overall I'm happy with the adaptor and the price (£24)

the extra helicoid seems handy too as I'd guess it gives you an extra 10mm to play with which I think on the lens I have takes the min focus distance from about 50cm down to 20ish cm

the only slight thing is that the castellated ring which moves the helicoid section slightly interferes with the oem flash when mounted, but not much really at all, you get a small noise of it turning against the flash body.


OLYMPUS OM adapters

OM-NEX adapter


This is an adapter designed to allow the fitting of manual focus Olympus OM mount lenses. As it has no electrical connections, no EXIF is recorded. OM mount lenses have a larger film-to-flange distance than the Alpha mount, but not by much, so no commercial OM/Alpha adapters were widely available.

The adapter itself is a black-anodized tube with a knurled ring. There is no lens release button, as this is incorporated into the OM lenses themselves. A small tab inside the adapter holds the aperture acuator against its spring (OM mount lenses are open at rest and only normally close to the set f-stop when the actuator is triggered by the OM system camera during exposure). The adapter fits well on the NEX body, and fit for OM-mount lenses is also good.

KIPON OM-NEX
Originally posted by pegelli pegelli wrote:


...Slightly more expensive than the normal ones (~60 $) but it is very well made and has a tripod mount (which is why I chose it)







E-Mount extension tubes

Originally posted by pegelli pegelli wrote:

I found them for 7$ from a Chinese ebay seller and by adding 2$ shipping cost I had them in house 8 days after ordering. They have no electrical contacts, so don't work with native E-mount lenses, because the aperture stays at the smallest/closed value. However for all the manual lenses one might use this is of no concequence. The different pieces fit together with a screw mount. The shortest set-up is 15,5 mm when you screw together the male and female E-mounts. Then you can fit other pieces inbetween that have screw mount on both sides. The three that come with the set are 7, 14 and 28 mm. Mechanically they're OK, all metal (aluminum I think) but probably you want to be careful with the screw mounts between the pieces. A grain of sand or not mounting them exactly straight can probably ruin the threads quickly. However for this price I have no complaints. Both the male and female E-mounts are smooth and fit without any play. One last thing to mention is that the manufacturing of all the screw threads is not with tight tolerances with regard to ensuring your aperture notch and focus scale is at the top of the lens. Expect them to be all around at different places depending on which pieces you actually fit together.








Adapters on the camera
Below is a picture of the first 4 of the above adapters on the NEX 7 with a 'standard' lens. These are from L-R, Sony 50/f1.4, Minolta Rokkor 45/f2.0, Olympus Zuiko 50/f1.8 and Konica Hexanon 40/f1.8.


The Rokkor 45 and the Hexanon 40 are quite shallow lenses, although as you can see, nothing is very shallow when perched atop an adapter :-)

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Replies:
Posted By: Alex H
Date Posted: 02 June 2012 at 21:16
Thank You, Bob, this is very helpful.

I am using several adapters on my NEX including M42 and EOS with tripod mounts. I must say the tripod mount on the EOS adapter gets loose under the weight of some not that heavy lenses. I even replaced the screws that attach the tripod mount to the adapter tube with better ones and still it gets very wobbly after few minutes of use. The tripod mount on M42 adapter is still strong, but who knows for how long.

I might be able to trace back who exactly did I get these adapters from from eBay, if it is of any help.

Alex

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Posted By: vitor
Date Posted: 02 June 2012 at 22:17
Hi Bob,
very interesting article I will probably add my experience with one adapter for the LTM/M-39 mount and Minolta SR mount.

FYI the Minolta MD 45/2 Rokkor is not a pancake lens even if people try to call it that. Minolta made the Minolta SR 45/2.8 Rokkor-TD that is a true pancake.

You can see the difference between the two lenses in the image bellow.


http://photo.net/sony-minolta-slr-system-forum/00VIyo" rel="nofollow - http://photo.net/sony-minolta-slr-system-forum/00VIyo

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Posted By: revdocjim
Date Posted: 02 June 2012 at 22:49
Thanks Bob. I might add photos of mine if I get around to it. I have the M39, M42, LA-EA2, Nikon, Pentax 110. The benefit of having the Nikon is that adapters for my medium format lenses (Pentax 645 and Mamiya 645) are most readily available in the Nikon version. I have yet to spring for any Bronica adapters but would love to get some. The problem is that each of my four Bronica cameras has a different mount!

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Posted By: pegelli
Date Posted: 03 June 2012 at 14:55
Great initiative Bob. For me also the attraction of the NEX is being a digital back for old lenses I have. However I'm also more and more appreciating just taking the NEX and kit zoom as a very small and portable package.

Let me add a few more titbits on adapters and other NEX/E-mount accesories.

First two which you have already covered:

LA-EA1, but where I use it most is to for M42 lenses by including a M42 to A-mount adapter. Only strange thing is that even if the M42 adapter is chipped it doesn't pass on any of the chip info to the NEX. It just shows the same as "no lens attached", i.e no focal length info and f 1,0.
For the rest no complaints, works like a charm this way.



Second a Olympus OM adapter, but mine is made by Kipon, slightly more expensive than the normal ones (~60 $) but it is very well made and has a tripod mount (which is why I chose it)






And now some more stuff:

First a Leica M to E-mount. The brand I have is Pixoo, well made and both the male and female mount are nice and smooth, and absolutely no play when locked in place. Since rangefinder lenses have a much shorter registration distance this adapter is much smaller. So my little Leica M 35/2.8 Summaron remains still small on a NEX. Not quite a pancake but very pocketable









The last contribution is about E-mount extension tubes. I found them for 7$ from a Chinese ebay seller and by adding 2$ shipping cost I had them in house 8 days after ordering. They have no electrical contacts, so don't work with native E-mount lenses, because the aperture stays at the smallest/closed value. However for all the manual lenses one might use this is of no concequence. The different pieces fit together with a screw mount. The shortest set-up is 15,5 mm when you screw together the male and female E-mounts. Then you can fit other pieces inbetween that have screw mount on both sides. The three that come with the set are 7, 14 and 28 mm. Mechanically they're OK, all metal (aluminum I think) but probably you want to be careful with the screw mounts between the pieces. A grain of sand or not mounting them exactly straight can probably ruin the threads quickly. However for this price I have no complaints. Both the male and female E-mounts are smooth and fit without any play. One last thing to mention is that the manufacturing of all the screw threads is not with tight tolerances with regard to ensuring your aperture notch and focus scale is at the top of the lens. Expect them to be all around at different places depending on which pieces you actually fit together.








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Posted By: groovyone
Date Posted: 04 June 2012 at 15:43
I also have that Pixco M adapter and am very happy with it. I have the Fotodiox MD/MC and it has been good so far with the 3 MD/MC lenses I use. I am not as confident in my Fotodiox F adapter since the 50/1.2 seems to focus fine but the 35/1.4 will not focus to infinity.

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A99|A900|A100IR|A7|Maxxum 7|Maxxum 5|Polaroid


Posted By: Jason Hermann
Date Posted: 06 June 2012 at 19:09
Excellent article!! Thanks for sharing everybody ;)

Jay

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www.SonyAlphaLab.com


Posted By: Bob J
Date Posted: 18 June 2012 at 14:56
AF-NEX adapter


This is another adapter which allows you to mechanically stop down an Alpha-mount lens mounted to a NEX body. As it has no electrical connections, no AF is possible and no EXIF is recorded, but true DoF is previewed and manual focus is possible using focus peaking.

The adapter body is well machined, the lens release is a bit strange looking but works fine in practice. The ring to control the aperture is knurled with two click-stop positions at either end of travel for closed and open (or as the engraving has it, 'Lock' and 'Open'); the open setting actually closes the aperture down very slightly, but not even as much as 1/3 of a stop – if you want fully open, the ring will sit at a position just after the click-stop. The diaphragm ring is smooth and dampened enough to stay in any intermediate position between open and fully closed. As with the other adapter I reviewed above you have to guess at the approximate f-stop by looking at the width of the aperture – however, for whatever value you set, the NEX will work out a suitable shutter speed.

Like the other third-party NEX adapter, the aperture actuator is slightly too long to fit either of my m42 adapters, but the pin itself is smooth and does not suffer from paint rubs.

Both the lens and camera bayonets fit well with no excess play. Quality is good, the only finish issues being the top of the bayonet latch pin and the red dot to orient the lens when mounting (see photo below). Neither of these causes any major issue.

All in all, this adapter was well worth 17GBP, particularly as even the cheapest LA-EA1, only seems to be available for around 5 times the price (if you can find it now that it has discontinued). This adapter doesn't give you EXIF, AF with SAM/SSM lenses, or the excellent add-on tripod mount of the LA-EA1, but is a very practical alternative for slot-drive AF lenses, particularly macros (where manual focus is more usual and on-screen DoF is a boon).

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RBJ ~ http://tinyurl.com/h7uhozk - Moderation on Dyxum


Posted By: robertsmx
Date Posted: 20 June 2012 at 17:12
Originally posted by pegelli pegelli wrote:


LA-EA1, but where I use it most is to for M42 lenses by including a M42 to A-mount adapter. Only strange thing is that even if the M42 adapter is chipped it doesn't pass on any of the chip info to the NEX. It just shows the same as "no lens attached", i.e no focal length info and f 1,0.

That hasn’t been an issue for me. Initially, I got an M42-NEX adapter and realized later that I could do without it, go M42-MA to LAEA1. That is how I use my M42 lenses on NEX-3, and get the EXIF. I do have a different issue, and this is with James Lao multi-exif M42-MA adapter (28mm, 85mm, 135mm and 300mm). The adapter works as advertised on A55, where I can toggle thru the focal lengths. However, when put on LA-EA1, I can’t toggle thru and end up with 28mm.

Now only if we got chipped adapters to NEX as well. I also have C-mount (no lens to use right now), and MD-NEX (currently Kiron 70-150/f4.0 which is about to be replaced with Vivitar Series I 70-210/f2.8-4.0 Komine version).

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A55|16-50mm SSM|18-250mm HSM|50mm 1.4|70mm 2.8 Macro|135mm 2.8 STF|200mm 2.8 HS||NEX-6|E 8mm 2.8|E 20mm 2.8|E 35mm 1.8|50mm 1.7 Planar|LA-EA2


Posted By: Bob J
Date Posted: 21 June 2012 at 12:05
Please note that I've updated the original posting to incorporate any specific reviews posted subsequently - Adapters are now grouped alphabetically, with Alpha first, followed by Konica, Leica, Minolta and Olympus... Wou;d be very interested to get further reviews/opinions on the adapters featured so far, and also n other adapters people might have for these or other mounts.

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RBJ ~ http://tinyurl.com/h7uhozk - Moderation on Dyxum


Posted By: Wētāpunga
Date Posted: 21 June 2012 at 23:15
Originally posted by Bob J Bob J wrote:

Please note that I've updated the original posting to incorporate any specific reviews posted subsequently - snip


Thanks- I'm finding this to be a useful resource.

I've only got two adapters at the moment (LA-EA1 & a MD-NEX) and really have little to add to your descriptions as yet.

While I appreciate that the LA-EA1 isn't as functional as the LA-EA2, it's compact & well-made. I'm now also of the opinion that most adapters do benefit from having a tripod-attachment option.

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α1, α7cii- Voigtländer 15/4.5, 110/2.5 M; Zeiss Loxia- 21/2.8, 35/2, 50/2 & 85/2.4, Zeiss Batis- 85/1.8 & 135/2.8; Sony 24-105/4 & 100-400/4.5-5.6; Sigma 70/2.8 M; Sony 135/2.8 STF


Posted By: woodrim
Date Posted: 20 July 2012 at 14:52
I'm a NEX newbie and have only just started to play with it. I have purchase four adapters so far from two different suppliers; rainbowimaging and big_is. I split between the two because I didn't want to buy all I need from one and have a problem, and one of them didn't have one type needed. The big_is are shipped from China and the rainbowimaging from NYC, although most certainly made in China. I prefer paying a few dollars more to have them shipped from NYC to arrive more quickly. I have received the rainbowimaging adapters for Minolta MD and Konica mounts and am pleased enough to purchase any future adapters from them. I have one very simple criterion for them - to fit snugly, and these do. The fit is secure on both the camera and lens side. Build quality seems good and since they don't do anything but join the two pieces of hardware, they're just fine for my needs. From my experience with M42 to A-mount adapters, infinity is always at question. The tricky thing about infinity is that while you can figure out if it goes past infinity, you might never know if it stops just short of perfect. In the case of these two adapters, and at least with the lenses I've trialed so far, focus goes past infinity. This is okay with me because I'd rather deal with that than have a lens compromised because the adapter stopped it just short. I'll report on the big_is when they arrive, but I suspect they are well known by now.

-------------
Regards,

woodrim


Posted By: Jocelynne
Date Posted: 20 July 2012 at 15:23
Thank you for this valuable information. I am considering the purchase of a NEX camera body. However, I require significant PRACTICAL information about details, specifications etc. This thread will be extremely helpful.

Greatly appreciated.

JL


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Maxxum 450si, Sony A300, A700, A900 and a cubic meter of Alpha lenses


Posted By: Bob J
Date Posted: 29 July 2012 at 09:54
Just a bump to appeal for anyone to post their NEX adapter experiences or reviews here... the value of topics like this as a resource increases the wider the range of opinions we get.

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RBJ ~ http://tinyurl.com/h7uhozk - Moderation on Dyxum


Posted By: Wētāpunga
Date Posted: 29 July 2012 at 10:48
Originally posted by Bob J Bob J wrote:

Just a bump to appeal for anyone to post their NEX adapter experiences or reviews here... the value of topics like this as a resource increases the wider the range of opinions we get.


Well, in that vein I have an M42-NEX adapter that is a FOTGA brand.
Construction is as a solid black metal (aluminium) body.
The lens screws into the adapter easily and sites firmly with no play whatsoever.

The body mount is also very firm- in fact it can be a little tight attaching it to the actual body. Lining up the adapter to the body-mount of the NEX is made a little trickier by the absence of any guide-marks as to where to begin.

Once the adapter is attached it works perfectly well and has a reassuring solid feel.



Posted By: Steve Beswick
Date Posted: 17 August 2012 at 08:45
I have a Fotga MD-NEX adapter I purchased from ebay, linked below. It is just a bit on the snug side going onto the camera. Unfortunately, it is too snug where it meets the lens - not so much that it can't be used, but too snug to comfortably leave the adapter on the body while changing lenses. The lens release works, but you need to twist the lens a bit, then press the release, then twist it the rest of the way. I do like the style of the knurling on the adapter, and I especially like how it tapers towards the mount. All in all I do like this adapter, but if I continue to use more than one MD lens then I will probably get a separate adapter for each one.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/130743565460?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_2108wt_1399" rel="nofollow - http://www.ebay.com/itm/130743565460?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_2108wt_1399

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http://stevebeswick.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow - http://stevebeswick.blogspot.com


Posted By: joe1946
Date Posted: 27 September 2012 at 15:24
I purchased two PK-NEX adapters to use with my Pentax K-mount lenses with and without aperture ring for the new NEX-VG900 I have on pre-order.



Posted By: Rusty
Date Posted: 27 September 2012 at 15:44
Anyone have experience with an M42 adaptor ?

I mean M42 straight to NEX, not M42 to Alpha to NEX which has already been covered.

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a850 | MinO 35-70/4 | MinO 28-85 | MinO 100/2.8 Macro | Tamron 70-300USD
Fuji X-Pro1 | X-E2 | 10-24 | 18-55 | 55-200 | 35/1.4

http://www.flickr.com/photos/93494978@N06/ - Rusty's Photostream


Posted By: Bob J
Date Posted: 27 September 2012 at 17:36
Should be simple enough to do - no mechanics at all...

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RBJ ~ http://tinyurl.com/h7uhozk - Moderation on Dyxum


Posted By: Rusty
Date Posted: 27 September 2012 at 17:41
Just ordered one, should be here within a month or so (!)

I'll post my findings here


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a850 | MinO 35-70/4 | MinO 28-85 | MinO 100/2.8 Macro | Tamron 70-300USD
Fuji X-Pro1 | X-E2 | 10-24 | 18-55 | 55-200 | 35/1.4

http://www.flickr.com/photos/93494978@N06/ - Rusty's Photostream


Posted By: Bob J
Date Posted: 27 September 2012 at 18:35
Originally posted by Rusty Rusty wrote:

Just ordered one, should be here within a month or so (!)

I'll post my findings here


Great stuff!

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RBJ ~ http://tinyurl.com/h7uhozk - Moderation on Dyxum


Posted By: Jocelynne
Date Posted: 27 September 2012 at 19:35
Thank you, all, for this informative and helpful thread. The data and procedure discussions will be greatly helpful to me as I progress into the NEX line of bodies.

Respectfully,

JL


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Maxxum 450si, Sony A300, A700, A900 and a cubic meter of Alpha lenses


Posted By: Rusty
Date Posted: 27 September 2012 at 19:44
In the same vein as my previous query... has anyone given a try to unexpensive tilt-adaptors ?

such as http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Tilt-M42-Screw-Lens-Sony-E-Mount-Camera-Adapter-Ring-NEX-7-NEX-C3-NEX-5N-/390412432263?pt=US_Lens_Adapters_Mounts_Tubes&hash=item5ae664f387" rel="nofollow - this one

For 40$, I'm tempted to give it a go

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a850 | MinO 35-70/4 | MinO 28-85 | MinO 100/2.8 Macro | Tamron 70-300USD
Fuji X-Pro1 | X-E2 | 10-24 | 18-55 | 55-200 | 35/1.4

http://www.flickr.com/photos/93494978@N06/ - Rusty's Photostream


Posted By: sdm9465
Date Posted: 29 September 2012 at 21:17
Originally posted by joe1946 joe1946 wrote:

I purchased two PK-NEX adapters to use with my Pentax K-mount lenses with and without aperture ring for the new NEX-VG900 I have on pre-order.

Do those fit will on the lens side?  I bought a PK-NEX adapter on ebay and it fits tight to the camera but is quite sloppy on the lens side.  If so, where did you order these?

-------------
Steve

http://www.pbase.com/smeredith" rel="nofollow - www.pbase.com/smeredith


Posted By: revdocjim
Date Posted: 29 September 2012 at 21:42
Originally posted by Rusty Rusty wrote:

In the same vein as my previous query... has anyone given a try to unexpensive tilt-adaptors ?

such as http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Tilt-M42-Screw-Lens-Sony-E-Mount-Camera-Adapter-Ring-NEX-7-NEX-C3-NEX-5N-/390412432263?pt=US_Lens_Adapters_Mounts_Tubes&hash=item5ae664f387" rel="nofollow - this one

For 40$, I'm tempted to give it a go


That looks interesting. More or less like a lens baby. It might be hard to accurately control the amount of tilt depending on the design.

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http://revdocjim.smugmug.com/ - Gallery A7S, A7Rii, Batis 18/2.8, 25/2 Sony 35/2.8, 55/1.8, 90/2.8M, 24-105/4, Minolta 135STF, 200/2.8 http://goo.gl/vMcLcr - Blog


Posted By: neilt3
Date Posted: 29 September 2012 at 22:32
Originally posted by sdm9465 sdm9465 wrote:


Do those fit will on the lens side?  I bought a PK-NEX adapter on ebay and it fits tight to the camera but is quite sloppy on the lens side.  If so, where did you order these?


with most lens adapters , there is a (horizontal) slit in the metal of the bayonet mount . this is to be carefully opened up to make the lens fit a bit tighter and feel more secure.use the tip of a small screwdriver,carefully. only open it till you feel resistance when mounting the lens.don't over do it.

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see my photostream on flickr;
https://www.flickr.com/photos/neilt3/sets/ - http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilt3/
C & C welcome.


Posted By: joe1946
Date Posted: 30 September 2012 at 00:07
Originally posted by sdm9465 sdm9465 wrote:

Originally posted by joe1946 joe1946 wrote:

I purchased two PK-NEX adapters to use with my Pentax K-mount lenses with and without aperture ring for the new NEX-VG900 I have on pre-order.

Do those fit will on the lens side?  I bought a PK-NEX adapter on ebay and it fits tight to the camera but is quite sloppy on the lens side.  If so, where did you order these?

I purchased the two Fotodiox PK=NEX adapters from Amazon and I have the NEX-VG900 pre-ordered also on Amazon but it will not ship for another month or so.


Posted By: Steve-S
Date Posted: 01 October 2012 at 04:16

I've seen some suggestion that E-mount lenses may be incorporated into the Dyxum database (possibly a parallel one); has that happened? I don't see such a thing...

As has been noted, trying to include all adaptable lenses would be a massive (and likely inappropriate) endeavor.

However... might it be worth setting up something like the http://www.dyxum.com/gear/camera/index.asp" rel="nofollow - camera-body comparison page that shows the NEX-to-??? adapters. "Which adapter" looks to be a perennial issue for many NEX owners.

At the moment, I'm trying to help a friend who has some old Minolta SRmount lenses that she loved; not owning a NEX myself, I have a VERY limited knowlegebase in my own head... luckily, I have Dyxum to help me at times like these!


- Steve S.


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a77_SAL18-135_ZA135/1.8_Tam200-500_Tam180/3.5_Tam10-24_Min50/1.7


Posted By: Rogerjb
Date Posted: 04 October 2012 at 22:01
Just wondering if anyone has come out with and adapter that can communicate exif data (specifically "focal length") to the camera.
I see that Fuji sells their "M adapter" that lets the user pre-program up to 6 m-mount manual lenses into it so the exif data is captured.

-------------
Roger
http://www.intermon.com


Posted By: 4paul
Date Posted: 04 October 2012 at 23:15
There are three Sony A-mount lens to E-mount camera adapters which communicate.
LA-EA-1/2/3
There is a new Canon EOS lens to E-mount camera adapter which communicates.
manufactured by MetaBones, I think

As Far As I Know, that is all for intelligent off-the-shelf NEX adapters.

If you want to fix the EXIF data on your computer you're into:
ExifTool     http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/
PHATCH       photobatch.stani.be/documentation/
or linux / open source programs;
I think Photoshop, maybe Aperture as well.

If Sony is smart (cough cough) they will add an EXIF Writer function to the new cameras that will have customizable "Apps".

   :Paul


Posted By: Octupi
Date Posted: 05 October 2012 at 01:03
I believe there are only 2 Sony adapters, LA-EA1/2

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http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/introduction-to-off-camera-lighting_topic56637.html?KW=introduction" rel="nofollow - Intro to Off Cam Lighting


Posted By: neilt3
Date Posted: 05 October 2012 at 01:10
Originally posted by Octupi Octupi wrote:

I believe there are only 2 Sony adapters, LA-EA1/2


detail's of the LA-EA3 http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/09/12/Sony-NEX-VG900-full-frame-camcorder-and-VG-30-APS-C-model-and-18-200-power-zoom-lens" rel="nofollow - here
intended for the new full frame NEX E mount camcorder.

-------------
see my photostream on flickr;
https://www.flickr.com/photos/neilt3/sets/ - http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilt3/
C & C welcome.


Posted By: Howard_S
Date Posted: 05 October 2012 at 01:10
The LA-EA3 adapter is supplied with the new full-frame VG900 video camera; Sony say that the LA-EA3 adaptor 'lets photographers use full-frame A-mount DSLR lenses at their designated focal length'.

-------------
Howard Stanbury https://www.instagram.com/instadelusions/ - Instagram | http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbury/ - Flickr | http://stanbury.org/ - Web


Posted By: Rogerjb
Date Posted: 05 October 2012 at 04:05
Thanks for the responses. Actually my main interest is facilitating the use of M Mount manual rangefinder lenses on the nex system.

The Fuji M adapter allows the user to enter some information about up to 6 different "third party" purely manual lenses. The camera not only populates the exif file with the data but can actually automatically make in-camera lens corrections (although I believe that's only for jpg files).

I would like to at least know which lens was used on the nex for a particular shot so that I can apply the appropriate lens correction factors in post-processing of raw files.

Hopefully it's just a matter of time before somebody comes out with this.



-------------
Roger
http://www.intermon.com


Posted By: Jocelynne
Date Posted: 05 October 2012 at 04:46
I am a full time Alpha user. I am loathe to change to any other system. But I find the NEX design philosophy, which enables lenses of many manufacturers to be used successfully on NEX camera bodies, to be highly attractive.

If Sony developed a professional Alpha camera body which would incorporate the Alpha and the NEX lens interfaces, I would be an eager customer.

Can the A77 and A99 designs be foundations for this?

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Maxxum 450si, Sony A300, A700, A900 and a cubic meter of Alpha lenses


Posted By: Steve-S
Date Posted: 05 October 2012 at 07:26
Originally posted by Rogerjb Rogerjb wrote:

Just wondering if anyone has come out with and adapter that can communicate exif data (specifically "focal length") to the camera.
I see that Fuji sells their "M adapter" that lets the user pre-program up to 6 m-mount manual lenses into it so the exif data is captured.
The short answer is "no." There is NO adapter that lets a purely-mechanical lens communicate EXIF data, because such lenses are "dumb" (no electronics/EXIF chip) and don't HAVE any data -- they don't know themselves what their focal-length is!

As noted, some "chipped" adapters can be pre-programmed with EXIF data which they communicate to the camera as if it came from the lens. So far as I know, things like zoom lenses defeat these chipping methods, as the "dumb" lens has no way to let the adapter know when it zooms (changes focal length) nor does the adapter have any way to change its programming...

I haven't heard of any SR/MD/MC (Minolta manual-focus) to E (NEX) adapters which are chipped... but I'd love to know of any!


- Steve S.


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a77_SAL18-135_ZA135/1.8_Tam200-500_Tam180/3.5_Tam10-24_Min50/1.7


Posted By: Steve-S
Date Posted: 05 October 2012 at 07:36
Originally posted by Jocelynne Jocelynne wrote:

I am a full time Alpha user. I am loathe to change to any other system. But I find the NEX design philosophy, which enables lenses of many manufacturers to be used successfully on NEX camera bodies, to be highly attractive.

If Sony developed a professional Alpha camera body which would incorporate the Alpha and the NEX lens interfaces, I would be an eager customer.

Can the A77 and A99 designs be foundations for this?


A77 & A99 look like pure-Alphamount bodies. No sign of NEX or NEX-like functionality, in regards adapting other lensmounts (though the focus-peaking is nice!).

The "flange distance" (space from the lensmount to the plane of the sensor (or film)) is the critical point: for the Amount, it's a HUGE distance, and other mounts (needing equal or even lesser distance) adapt poorly. For the Emount, it's very short and most other lens-mounts need just a simple tube (with appropriate bayonet/screwmount/etc at each end of tube) of whatever lenght stretches the NEX's flange distance to that of the adapted lens" a tube can add distance, but nothing can create negative distance for the Amount. :-(

So far as I know, there've been occasional rumors of some sort of Amount/Emount hybrid camera, but nobody has been able to say what such a beastie would look like, or how it would be constructed... Sort of a NEX body, maybe, with a built-in/zooming adapter? But the differing bayonets just look like an overwhelming design-challenge for today's tech.


- Steve S.


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a77_SAL18-135_ZA135/1.8_Tam200-500_Tam180/3.5_Tam10-24_Min50/1.7


Posted By: Jocelynne
Date Posted: 05 October 2012 at 08:06
@Steve-S: Thanks for the info. I was just wishful thinking. I have an assortment of lenses which can be adapted to the NEX body with a NEX LA-EA type adapter.

I was wishing that, eventually, an adapter would be designed which would enable me to employ those lenses on my Alphas and which would provide the services available via the LA-EA type.

...OR an Alpha/NEX type body, some time in the future.

Oh well...

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Maxxum 450si, Sony A300, A700, A900 and a cubic meter of Alpha lenses


Posted By: Steve-S
Date Posted: 06 October 2012 at 04:43
@Jocelynne:
Any "smart" lens, with a chip that delivers EXIF data &c, can -- potentially -- give info (via a sufficiently-smart adapter) to the camera; Metabones, for example, has IIRC recently announced a Canon-EF-to-NEX-E "smart" adapter that supposedly gives not only full EXIF but full bi-directional functionality, including electronic aperture control, focus-distance info, focal-length of zooms, and the rest... Supposedly, the NEX acts like a Canon camera, so far as the lens is concerned!

The Alpha mount, however, has one of the longest flange-distances of any 35mm-film format camera. This means that most lenses (including Minolta's own manual-focus line) need glassed adapters to work; these inevitably act as mild teleconverters, reduce contrast, and otherwise have various negative impacts on many measures of final IQ.


-------------
a77_SAL18-135_ZA135/1.8_Tam200-500_Tam180/3.5_Tam10-24_Min50/1.7


Posted By: Jocelynne
Date Posted: 06 October 2012 at 13:40
@Steve-S: Thank you, Steve, for your most gracious responses. You are providing valuable help and assistance for me.

I owe you a goodie, or two, or three, or four....

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Maxxum 450si, Sony A300, A700, A900 and a cubic meter of Alpha lenses


Posted By: Steve-S
Date Posted: 06 October 2012 at 17:39
Originally posted by Jocelynne Jocelynne wrote:

I owe you a goodie, or two, or three, or four....
Just consider me as another part of Dyxum, or even of the Internet-at-large... when you find a situation where YOU know something that someone else wants help/info, just "pay it forward." Me? You don't owe me anything. I helped because I wanted to, because someone once helped me, because this is Dyxum and answering where I can helps ME to meet my own (vast) accumulated debt that I need to pay forward...


- Steve S.


-------------
a77_SAL18-135_ZA135/1.8_Tam200-500_Tam180/3.5_Tam10-24_Min50/1.7


Posted By: Jocelynne
Date Posted: 06 October 2012 at 19:20
@Steve-S: I always search for people who are better than I am. Your philosophy is the type which attracted me to dyxum, originally.   Dyxum is a beautiful repository of such attitude and thought. This spirit is essential for the survival of society. Some people call it "The Golden Rule" (do unto others as you would have them do unto you).

OK, I will "pay it forward" for the infinite number of goodies which I owe to you, which I owe to Dyxum and which I owe to the many wonderful others who have been gracious to me too.    

-------------
Maxxum 450si, Sony A300, A700, A900 and a cubic meter of Alpha lenses


Posted By: k9tales
Date Posted: 20 October 2012 at 18:29
I'm getting a NEX 5N from a Dyxum forum member and aside from using my A mounts and a CZ Jena DDR and Pentax 35mm f 1.8 I'm very interested in trying a Canon or Nikon lens on the NEX.
Can anyone be so kind as to recommend either for close up work or macro?
Or anything other than.
I know nothing of either Canon or Nikon, but have been very curious to try something different and now I could do that with the NEX.

If this is not the place to ask, I apologize and don't mind my query moved to another forum topic.

And I too appreciate the wealth of knowledge and willingness to share it with anyone and everyone on this great forum and sometimes beyond!

Thanks,
Lynn


-------------
Minolta 28-105mm RS|MD|AR|Tokina 500mm/8 |Tamron Adaptall|Lensbaby 3G|


Posted By: Steve-S
Date Posted: 20 October 2012 at 19:18
Originally posted by k9tales k9tales wrote:

I'm getting a NEX 5N from a Dyxum forum member and aside from using my A mounts and a CZ Jena DDR and Pentax 35mm f 1.8 I'm very interested in trying a Canon or Nikon lens on the NEX.
Can anyone be so kind as to recommend either for close up work or macro?
Or anything other than.
I know nothing of either Canon or Nikon, but have been very curious to try something different and now I could do that with the NEX.

If this is not the place to ask, I apologize and don't mind my query moved to another forum topic.

And I too appreciate the wealth of knowledge and willingness to share it with anyone and everyone on this great forum and sometimes beyond!

Thanks,
Lynn
Both C & N make fine lenses. So far as I know, they're more or less on-par for macro work (except for the 1x-5x ultra-macro from Canon). On the other hand, MinO and Sony (and Sigma and Tamron) have very fine macro's, too... in native Amount! Mostly, CaNikon don't seem to have any advantage here, that I've seen; others may be more-informed (well, some certainly are more-informed... But some may actually have better info on this topic than I do).

One thing (but this may just be my misunderstanding of what you wrote above): because the registration/flange distance is so short on the Emount, adapters (despite being simple mechanical tubes like a closeup tube) do NOT act as close-up adapters. For macro work, you still need a macro lens, or you need to stack a closeup tube in addition to your mount-to-mount adapter.

All that out of the way... at this point, I'd probably go with Canon, simply because Metabones' Canon-adapter is further along in development, and their Nikon adapter is apparently only planned, not yet in development (I think they're doing a Contax/Leica adapter before the Nikon...?). They seem to have the most-advanced adapters going, with full electronic functionality & control for EF lenses. You can start with a cheap-o pure-mechanical adapter if you like to go in for less money, and move up to the electronic-control ones when/if you decide it's a path you like. Or if your finances permit, jump straight in at the pricier end of the pool...


- Steve S.


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a77_SAL18-135_ZA135/1.8_Tam200-500_Tam180/3.5_Tam10-24_Min50/1.7


Posted By: waldo_posth
Date Posted: 20 October 2012 at 19:35
Originally posted by k9tales k9tales wrote:

I'm very interested in trying a Canon or Nikon lens on the NEX.
Can anyone be so kind as to recommend either for close up work or macro?
Or anything other than.
I know nothing of either Canon or Nikon, but have been very curious to try something different and now I could do that with the NEX.



I would second Steve-S as to the availability of high quality macro lenses in A-mount. But the NEX opens a whole new world of third party (macro) lenses which - because they are MF and have somehow strange mounts are quite forgotten; look under the following names for MF macro lenses: Elicar, Panagor, Vivitar, Soligor and last but not least the Tamron adaptall lenses. With peaking and the magnifying loupe they are a joy to use on the NEX.


There are lots of adapters out there for the NEX. The most important feature of an adapter IMO is its capability to have infinity focus. There are expensive, high quality adapters (e.g. Novoflex, Voigtlander, Metabones) which work fine; they are also quite a couple of lesser known, more affordable quality brands (I would only recommend KIPON adapters here, never had any problems with them - KIPON also produces a shift adapter for Nikon lenses and a tilt-adapter for a range of lenses, but unfortunately so far there is no combined T/S adapter for the NEX).


@Jocelynne
Let me just point to some other things concerning the Alpha system in connection with the NEX: There is quite a number of lens mounts you can adapt to an Alpha body: M42, Contax, Leica R, Voigtlander SLII (Nikon-Mount), Zeiss ZF (Nikon-Mount), Mamiya 645 (and all the lenses that can be adapted to the Mamiya 645 cameras). Via the LA-EA1/2/3 adapters you can mount them to a NEX camera as well. Most of them can be made "smart" by adding a chip that provides EXIF data (which also will enable in-body-stabilization for the lenses on Alpha bodies). Zoom lenses so far I have not seen as problematic - just program the max. focal length into the chip. This opens quite an interesting array of (MF) lenses (maybe you need another cubic meter of storage space!) for Alpha people.

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"Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long." (Walker Evans)    http://www.flickr.com/photos/waldo_posth/ - http://www.flickr.com/photos/waldo_posth/


Posted By: darosa
Date Posted: 08 February 2013 at 22:55
I just received my (very cheap) Big-is adapter Konica AR > NEX, and I'm not happy with it. Like the one Bob reviewed in the OP, the Konica lens fits with a (fair) bit of play on this adapter too.

Can anyone recommend an adapter on which the Konica lens fits without play?

Thanks!

I will try to review some of my adapters too here!


Posted By: Bob J
Date Posted: 01 March 2013 at 09:58
The metal used in some of these cheap adapters is quite soft - I firmed up my Konica AR adapter by putting a slight kink in the adapter flanges with a screwdriver..

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RBJ ~ http://tinyurl.com/h7uhozk - Moderation on Dyxum


Posted By: darosa
Date Posted: 01 March 2013 at 14:09
I put a thick rubber band between the Konica AR adapter and the lens (there was enough room ); problem solved.


Posted By: gouldina
Date Posted: 01 March 2013 at 14:16
Originally posted by waldo_posth waldo_posth wrote:

@Jocelynne
Let me just point to some other things concerning the Alpha system in connection with the NEX: There is quite a number of lens mounts you can adapt to an Alpha body: M42, Contax, Leica R, Voigtlander SLII (Nikon-Mount), Zeiss ZF (Nikon-Mount), Mamiya 645 (and all the lenses that can be adapted to the Mamiya 645 cameras). Via the LA-EA1/2/3 adapters you can mount them to a NEX camera as well. Most of them can be made "smart" by adding a chip that provides EXIF data (which also will enable in-body-stabilization for the lenses on Alpha bodies). Zoom lenses so far I have not seen as problematic - just program the max. focal length into the chip. This opens quite an interesting array of (MF) lenses (maybe you need another cubic meter of storage space!) for Alpha people.


What are the Mamiya lenses like? Anyone have any info on this?


Posted By: Debra
Date Posted: 11 March 2013 at 12:05
I am about to order a 5R wish it was a 5N 2nd hand lol..

I have looked at these adaptors and looked on ebay and amazon

I know its normally you get what you pay for.. the leica m can be very cheap, then about 22 pounds then 65 pounds..

I dont really want to pay 22 pounds at the moment.. so not sure what to do..

And for minolta lens.. I cant afford a sony auto focus.. and again many prices..

What adaptors have people bought for minolta.. has anyone bought a cheap manual one or paid more from third party..

Debra


Posted By: IanL
Date Posted: 11 March 2013 at 14:12
Originally posted by Debra Debra wrote:


What adaptors have people bought for minolta.. has anyone bought a cheap manual one or paid more from third party..


I bought a cheap manual one - it had two issues:

1. The aperture actuator did not work with all lenses. Fixed by turning the screw at the end of the actuator to adjust the length.

2. Did not allow close focus, because the distance between the flanges was slightly small. Fixed by making a thin "gasket" under the A-mount flange. It still supports infinity focus.



-------------
Ian


Posted By: MichaelMeyer
Date Posted: 12 March 2013 at 03:04
I'm not sure if anyone has seen this yet, but Kipon has begun selling a pro tilt/shift adapter for NEX. The adapter is essentially a scaled down copy of the Mirex adapter. I bought a copy via *bay. The purchase was fairly painless, though I had to send the first adapter I received back because it did not fit properly.

I put a small first look up on my http://www.michaelmeyerphoto.com/daily_up/ - blog . Once I've done some more work with it I'll do a follow up.

Thought some here might find this interesting.

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http://www.michaelmeyerphoto.com - http://www.michaelmeyerphoto.com


Posted By: terryg
Date Posted: 12 March 2013 at 03:29
Originally posted by gouldina gouldina wrote:


What are the Mamiya lenses like? Anyone have any info on this?

Hi,

There is some discussion here on the Mamiya 645 lenses:
http://www.dyxum.com/DFORUM/mamiya-645-lenses-on-the-sony_topic96296_page1.html - Mamiya 645 lenses on the Sony

All the best,
Terry


Posted By: Pete Ganzel
Date Posted: 12 March 2013 at 03:43
Originally posted by MichaelMeyer MichaelMeyer wrote:

I'm not sure if anyone has seen this yet, but Kipon has begun selling a pro tilt/shift adapter for NEX. The adapter is essentially a scaled down copy of the Mirex adapter. I bought a copy via *bay. The purchase was fairly painless, though I had to send the first adapter I received back because it did not fit properly.

I put a small first look up on my http://www.michaelmeyerphoto.com/daily_up/ - blog . Once I've done some more work with it I'll do a follow up.

Thought some here might find this interesting.


Mike:

Interesting indeed.

Looks like an exact copy except for the removable rear plate and smaller front opening. How's the coverage with the Nikon lens?

Pete


Posted By: MichaelMeyer
Date Posted: 12 March 2013 at 12:59
Pete-
I haven't done any formal testing, but anecdotally, after shooting a couple of client jobs, it looks to me like the coverage of the 35mm lenses covers the full APS-C sensor even at the full 15mm shift, thought it probably gets soft past 10mm of shift.

I've shot a lot with the 55mm Micro Nikkor with a standard adapter and now this T/S adapter and it performs beautifully on the NEX-7.

I'm more concerned how wide lenses will behave on it.

-m

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http://www.michaelmeyerphoto.com - http://www.michaelmeyerphoto.com


Posted By: cvicisso
Date Posted: 26 March 2013 at 19:29
As I've mentioned in another thread in the Camera forum, I'm 'building' (more like disecting) a FULL-SPECTRUM NEX body (removing the IR filter on the sensor). Many have done this, and have offered some outstanding advice. The body that the surgery will be performed on will likely be a NEX-3 (price!) or a NEX-5N (features!). I don't have the extra body yet.

One of the major advantages to building a full-spectrum NEX (as opposed to another brand) is - like has been mentioned here - the plethora of lenses available via adapter. There's another big advantage (credit goes to Alex H) which leads me to my question...

Which of these adapters will allow (read: are 'deep enough') to fit a ~49-52mm filter with some sort of gasket rig to seal the light and make tight. That's right - I want to fit a filter INSIDE the adapter. This will allow ONE FILTER to be used on a range of glass (using the same adapter of course).

My interest is mainly ultra-wide angle IR photography (for now), so please feel free to make recomendations as to which lens/adapter/filter combinations will work best. I'm leaning towards an Alpha-NEX adapter because that will allow me to also use the lenses on my 'normal' NEX-6 (with my LA-EA2) adapter and retain full AF/aperture/EXIF functionality.

The LA-EA2 that I have is CERTAINLY not a contender for jamming a filter into it! The SLT 'stuff' takes up way too much room. But what about the 'dumb' Alpha-NEX adapters mentioned early in the post? It looks like they have an inner ring/baffle of some sort - which I think would aid in stabilizing the filter (with tape/gasket too).

Anyone use a PEN-F-to-NEX adapter? It's pretty thin - not sure a filter would fit. The Leica M-NEX is clearly too thin (and I don't have any Leica glass anyway!).

Long post - sorry. I'll stop here. Thanks in advance.

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NEX-6 | NEX-3 | E PZ 16-50 | 16/2.8 | VCL-ECU1 | VCL-ECF1 | LA-EA2 | | Maxxum 7 | 50/1.7 | 70-210/4 Beercan |


Posted By: ryansholl
Date Posted: 26 March 2013 at 19:44
I have done exactly that in creating an adapter with a filter mount inside. Built mine to take 1.25" astronomical filters.

With the lens that I have (Samyang 14) it will not allow focus at infinity (on my nex7 with hot filter intact). Are you planning on not removing the shims under the sensor when you remove the IR filter to take care of the rear element to sensor distance issue? Take note that this may not allow infinity focus without a filter in place.


Posted By: Alex H
Date Posted: 26 March 2013 at 19:46
Originally posted by ryansholl ryansholl wrote:

I have done exactly that in creating an adapter with a filter mount inside. Built mine to take 1.25" astronomical filters.

With the lens that I have (Samyang 14) it will not allow focus at infinity (on my nex7 with hot filter intact). Are you planning on not removing the shims under the sensor when you remove the IR filter to take care of the rear element to sensor distance issue? Take note that this may not allow infinity focus without a filter in place.


Putting thick IR filter inside the adapter in my experience compensates enough for the absence of ICF in the NEX.

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http://www.holovachov.com/fluorescence - Ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence photography - A7, A77, NEX6, NEX6-FS - http://www.holovachov.com - Gallery


Posted By: ryansholl
Date Posted: 26 March 2013 at 19:58
Thanks for that note Alex. With or without the sensor shims?



Posted By: Alex H
Date Posted: 27 March 2013 at 10:39
I seem to have missed Your comment, Ryan.

If I remember correctly, NEX-5N sensor does not have any shims.At least I can not find any shims on my pictures http://www.holovachov.com/p429116228 - NEX-5N disassembly . Unlike in DSLR, having main sensor autofocus negates the need to calibrate exact sensor position. All You need is to have lenses that will focus past infinity. For example, Sony NEX mount 16mm lens will focus to infinity even on the camera without ICF.


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http://www.holovachov.com/fluorescence - Ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence photography - A7, A77, NEX6, NEX6-FS - http://www.holovachov.com - Gallery


Posted By: cvicisso
Date Posted: 27 March 2013 at 10:57
Originally posted by ryansholl ryansholl wrote:

I have done exactly that in creating an adapter with a filter mount inside. Built mine to take 1.25" astronomical filters.

With the lens that I have (Samyang 14) it will not allow focus at infinity (on my nex7 with hot filter intact). Are you planning on not removing the shims under the sensor when you remove the IR filter to take care of the rear element to sensor distance issue? Take note that this may not allow infinity focus without a filter in place.

Ryan - thanks. When I started on this quest, I originally had the same question, as other IR-photography related sites mentioned that the filter must be replaced with a piece of [appropriate] clear glass in order to account for new sensor-to-rear-element distance. Alex H and others seem to have pulled it off without this [difficult] step and it still seems to work. Which gave me hope! But I understand where you're coming from...

It seems (from your post) that a change in the diffraction properties of the medium (ie. light traveling through glass/filter instead of air) will affect the focal distance between the rear element of the lens and the sensor. This makes perfect sense. I assume you've already tried this, but does your Samyang lens allow [manually] focusing BEYOND (past) infinity? I'm wondering if this might allow for the correct readjustment of the focal distance change made by insertion of the filter element.    

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NEX-6 | NEX-3 | E PZ 16-50 | 16/2.8 | VCL-ECU1 | VCL-ECF1 | LA-EA2 | | Maxxum 7 | 50/1.7 | 70-210/4 Beercan |


Posted By: cvicisso
Date Posted: 27 March 2013 at 11:11
Originally posted by Alex H Alex H wrote:

All You need is to have lenses that will focus past infinity. For example, Sony NEX mount 16mm lens will focus to infinity even on the camera without ICF.

It looks like you hit send while I was still typing!

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NEX-6 | NEX-3 | E PZ 16-50 | 16/2.8 | VCL-ECU1 | VCL-ECF1 | LA-EA2 | | Maxxum 7 | 50/1.7 | 70-210/4 Beercan |


Posted By: Bob J
Date Posted: 31 March 2013 at 21:59
Does anyone have any recommendation for a Contax G to NEX adapter?

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RBJ ~ http://tinyurl.com/h7uhozk - Moderation on Dyxum


Posted By: Alain
Date Posted: 13 April 2013 at 18:45
Originally posted by MichaelMeyer MichaelMeyer wrote:

I'm not sure if anyone has seen this yet, but Kipon has begun selling a pro tilt/shift adapter for NEX. The adapter is essentially a scaled down copy of the Mirex adapter. I bought a copy via *bay. The purchase was fairly painless, though I had to send the first adapter I received back because it did not fit properly.

I put a small first look up on my http://www.michaelmeyerphoto.com/daily_up/ - blog . Once I've done some more work with it I'll do a follow up.

Thought some here might find this interesting.


Am I correct that it's price is approx. $360?


Posted By: MichaelMeyer
Date Posted: 13 April 2013 at 18:49
Yes, the cost was roughly $360. I don't remember off the top of my head if that included shipping or not.


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http://www.michaelmeyerphoto.com - http://www.michaelmeyerphoto.com


Posted By: Alain
Date Posted: 13 April 2013 at 19:06
Originally posted by MichaelMeyer MichaelMeyer wrote:

Yes, the cost was roughly $360. I don't remember off the top of my head if that included shipping or not.

Thanks


Posted By: pegelli
Date Posted: 13 April 2013 at 20:35
Originally posted by Bob J Bob J wrote:

Does anyone have any recommendation for a Contax G to NEX adapter?
I don't have any recommendations since I don't use one.

But I stumbled on http://www.getdpi.com/forum/sony/42787-contax-e-mount-af-adapter.html - this thread in GetDPI who even talks about an AF capable adapter. Reading through it should be available now.

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You can see the April Foolishness 2023 exhibition https://www.dyxum.com/dforum/april-foolishness-2023-the-exhibition_topic142439.html - here Another great show of the talent we have on Dyxum


Posted By: oldman
Date Posted: 25 April 2013 at 06:47
Originally posted by Bob J Bob J wrote:

Does anyone have any recommendation for a Contax G to NEX adapter?


I have four adapters.

One is a generic ebay noname adapter and the other three are all Fotodiox adapters. These have a little better build quality but all of them are less than "silky" and have rough spots. I find myself getting near critical focus and twisting the focus ring back and forth a half inch to loosen it up at the critical point. This probably sounds worse than it is but when you are used to smooth silky well dampened motion this is more like grinding meat. It is worth it for the lenses.

-------------
Sony A7s A7r Mod
Zeiss, Leica, Canon, Voigtlander lenses


Posted By: MiPr
Date Posted: 23 May 2013 at 21:38
OK, quick info about adapters I have:

1) M42 adapter - noname brand (some Chinese production),
2) M39 one - same as above,
3) Minolta AF (fourth photo on the main post) - borrowed from Bob (thanks!) just to see how it works and whether I would be comfy with it.

So, let me start with the #3 - it's solid, it's smart, it works perfectly. The aperture "ring" works very well - it's pleasure to use, although without any f-stops marked so the aperture is a guess. I think that this solution is better to "step down when taking a shot" approach.

The aperture lever, opposite to how it is done on the camera body and on the lens, is not "flat" but just a small rod. This makes problems when trying to use some non-alpha stuff on this adapter, e.g. Alpha-M42 adapter does not work. I think this could be worked around by using a file on it (I mean - not on your adapter Bob ).

The other disadvantage is that it is not chipped. Not a huge problem but you will not know what lens was in use. Oh well, nothing is perfect.


As for the #1 and #2 - both adapters are very similar: black-coloured aluminum with an "inset" where you screw-in your lens. This inset is mounted to the adapter using three screws and after getting them a bit loose you can turn the inset around. This allows you to position the lens correctly (usually not a problem unless you want to use e.g. Zenitar 16/2.8 which has integrated lens hood).

Everything is solid, mounts easily and generally I'm quite happy with them. Or better to say - I was happy because after today's walk I found a big surprise: namely the M42 adapter is way too short

Previously I have not noticed it because I was shooting close-up scenes with macro ext rings. But for today's walk I took Mir 1W (37/2.8) and I immediately noticed that the lens focuses at infinity when the scale shows ... 1.7m! So it was clear that the adapter is too short. At least good that this is this way and not opposite.

After returning home I took my caliper and performed some measurements. The flange for E-mount is 18mm so we have following:

           Alpha   M42   M39
Flange     44.5   45.46 28.8
Adapter    26.5   27.46 10.8
Measured   26.3   26.70 10.6
Difference 0.2    0.76   0.2


As you can see all three adapters are too short comparing to what they should be. In case of Bob's adapter and M39 it is not disastrous - only 0.2mm - but still there should be no difference. In case of my M42 the difference is quite pronounced and quite noticeable when focusing (remember - infinity at 1.7m!). Hopefully the construction of the M42 and M39 adapters allow to fix the issue quite easily by removing the inset and putting some separator under it.

Still, I believe that this is not a rocket science to produce a piece of metal pipe with the tolerance of 0.1mm so I'm astonished with such inaccuracy Please note: the M42 adapter for my A700 is done as it should be ...

p.s.
No, my caliper was not Chinese


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I'm noise-blind. And noise-about-noise-deaf too ... |   BTW, topic87334.html - Dyxum Weekly Exhibitions don't grow on trees ...


Posted By: MiPr
Date Posted: 23 May 2013 at 21:45
Ahh, I've forgotten to add one observation about using Minolta AF lenses: manual focusing is really cumbersome on some of them. I mean: the focus ring is not smooth - if you need to move it a tiny bit it becomes "jumpy", i.e. you have to apply some more force to move it and it jumps further than intended. This especially concerns second-gen Minolta lenses, e.g. 70-210/3.5-4.5 or 75-300/4.5-5.6. Comparing those lenses to their first-gen counterparts, e.g. beercan and big beercan there is a huge difference: first-gens are smooth and nice to operate ...


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I'm noise-blind. And noise-about-noise-deaf too ... |   BTW, topic87334.html - Dyxum Weekly Exhibitions don't grow on trees ...


Posted By: woodrim
Date Posted: 23 May 2013 at 22:16
I have some P6 lenses that currently have adapters for Sony A and I'm wondering if I should purchase an A/AF to NEX adapter or just find a P6 to NEX. The former would be cheaper and easier when switching from SLR to NEX and back.

-------------
Regards,

woodrim


Posted By: sybersitizen
Date Posted: 23 May 2013 at 22:34
Oops - never mind.


Posted By: woodrim
Date Posted: 23 May 2013 at 23:01
Originally posted by sybersitizen sybersitizen wrote:

Oops - never mind.





I went with this.... hope it works with my simple dumb adapters.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/330751401496?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 - Adapter

-------------
Regards,

woodrim


Posted By: sybersitizen
Date Posted: 23 May 2013 at 23:06
Following my oops moment, I saw that same adapter, as opposed to http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pentacon-6-Kiev-60-lens-to-Sony-E-mount-adapter-NEX-5-3-/110712896861#ht_3193wt_941 - this one . Thus I'd say the analysis in your first post is probably correct (if you don't need that strong-looking tripod mount).


Posted By: woodrim
Date Posted: 23 May 2013 at 23:55
I don't like the idea of double adapter, but in this case it is easier (hopefully) and cheaper. And I go with that seller because they sell from here in the US, so I expect to have it sooner.

-------------
Regards,

woodrim


Posted By: IanL
Date Posted: 24 May 2013 at 09:19
Originally posted by woodrim woodrim wrote:

I went with this.... hope it works with my simple dumb adapters.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/330751401496?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 - Adapter


That looks like the one I bought. It turned out to be a little too short, so I put a shim (cut from a yoghurt pot lid!) under the mount plate, to restore the close-up focus. It still focuses at infinity.

The other issue I had with it was that the projection from the aperture actuator was too long to allow some lenses to fit. It turned out the projection is a screw, and can be adjusted.

-------------
Ian


Posted By: MiPr
Date Posted: 24 May 2013 at 10:14
Originally posted by IanL IanL wrote:

That looks like the one I bought. It turned out to be a little too short, so I put a shim (cut from a yoghurt pot lid!) under the mount plate, to restore the close-up focus. It still focuses at infinity.

That's exactly what I found: please see my post at the bottom of the previous page. Strictly speaking, in my case the adapter was 0.2mm too short. It may sound as very little but it can have quite pronounced effect on the focusing. Still, as I wrote, it is better this way around because you are able to focus on infinity loosing some short distance focusing. Besides, as you noted it is relatively easy to fix the problem adding a shim.


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I'm noise-blind. And noise-about-noise-deaf too ... |   BTW, topic87334.html - Dyxum Weekly Exhibitions don't grow on trees ...


Posted By: woodrim
Date Posted: 24 May 2013 at 15:19
Originally posted by IanL IanL wrote:

That looks like the one I bought. It turned out to be a little too short, so I put a shim (cut from a yoghurt pot lid!) under the mount plate, to restore the close-up focus. It still focuses at infinity.

The other issue I had with it was that the projection from the aperture actuator was too long to allow some lenses to fit. It turned out the projection is a screw, and can be adjusted.


Thank you. I prefer going past infinity because otherwise I do not trust that they would have it stop perfectly and not just a tad short. The only way you can know that you hit infinity is to go past and come back. I notice on some of my lenses that a very tiny amount of turn can make a difference.

What impact does .2mm have on short focus? Only to change MFD, right? By how much?

-------------
Regards,

woodrim


Posted By: IanL
Date Posted: 24 May 2013 at 17:43
Originally posted by woodrim woodrim wrote:


What impact does .2mm have on short focus? Only to change MFD, right? By how much?


It would be dependent on the lens, but, with the Minolta 100mm 2.8 macro, I seem to remember about 18 inches, which is considerable.

-------------
Ian


Posted By: MiPr
Date Posted: 25 May 2013 at 15:23
Originally posted by woodrim woodrim wrote:

What impact does .2mm have on short focus? Only to change MFD, right? By how much?

Well, I have not checked the short end carefully but depending on the "purpose" of the lens it could be quite significant: I think that macro lenses would be affected more ...


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I'm noise-blind. And noise-about-noise-deaf too ... |   BTW, topic87334.html - Dyxum Weekly Exhibitions don't grow on trees ...


Posted By: MiPr
Date Posted: 25 May 2013 at 15:40
I've just checked my Tammy 90/2.8 mounted on this Minolta AF - NEX adapter which seems to be too short and it turned out that ... it works OK, i.e. the shortest focusing distance is about 29cm and about the same I measured on NEX. So 0.2mm seems to be insignificant WIth the M42 adapter however I confirm that the difference was quite pronounced and I managed to work-around the problem by putting a shim under the adapter inset.


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I'm noise-blind. And noise-about-noise-deaf too ... |   BTW, topic87334.html - Dyxum Weekly Exhibitions don't grow on trees ...


Posted By: gregk
Date Posted: 30 May 2013 at 12:34
Hi all, there's been a lot of buzz about the Speedbooster and now the Chinese copy's offered in some new mounts. I recently acquired the Lens Turbo MD-NEX. Haven't had much time to play with it yet, but I am hoping this weekend I can get some sample images posted. My initial impression is that similar to a normal teleconverter, it will emphasize any defects in the lens, so if you saw a slight halo at f/1.4 with the lens normally, it will be worse when used with this adapter. Most of the lenses I've tried that are below f/2.8 need to be stopped down and are almost unusable wide open. Most of my MD lenses have a slight noticeable haloing with a non-optical adapter on my NEX's, so I don't know that its the adapters fault necessarily. Anyhow, you'll see what I mean when I get some samples posted. Not to say its a bad adapter - it actually is quite interesting to use, but will have to work within its limits.

In the meantime, here's a teaser pic on my 5n:



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http://www.flickr.com/gkemp


Posted By: tigertimb
Date Posted: 30 May 2013 at 12:42
Thanks Greg; that was the report I was waiting for as I'd been considering the MD adaptor and you've tackled the issue I was concerned about.

But I'd want it to work with lenses wide open and specifically the 58mm f1.2, so it's useful to know that it won't help in that case

P.S. Looks shorter than the normal MD adaptors which would be nice: do you have a normal one to compare the lengths?

-------------
Tim
If you appreciate comments on your photos, how about returning the favour to others . . .


Posted By: woodrim
Date Posted: 30 May 2013 at 14:50
This may be old news for you, but I've found that my NEX-5N with CA control turned on does an amazing job of removing the halo and virtually all CA. This may be a compromise for those that only use raw. I have a fast lens that was unusable at full aperture in all but dimly lighted applications, but is now fully usable and even tack sharp at fully open.

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Regards,

woodrim


Posted By: gregk
Date Posted: 31 May 2013 at 12:47
I didn't know the CA correction could remove halo's. I will play around with this when I do my test shots. I mainly shoot raw, but I can shoot raw + jpg for comparison. I can also throw them in Lightroom and see what its correction tools could do for the halos. If it could be corrected, it would be really great.

Thanks,
Greg

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http://www.flickr.com/gkemp


Posted By: k9tales
Date Posted: 31 May 2013 at 20:25
What CA control? In the NEX 5N?
I must have missed something.
Lynn

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Minolta 28-105mm RS|MD|AR|Tokina 500mm/8 |Tamron Adaptall|Lensbaby 3G|


Posted By: IanL
Date Posted: 31 May 2013 at 21:07
Menu/Setup/Lens Comp.: Chro. Aber. AUTO

I understand from Gary Friedman's book that it uses stored data for lenses it recognises (i.e. Sony E-mount lenses). For lenses not in the database, it is implied that it does nothing.

The Sony Manual says "Compensates for the distortion of the screen, caused by certain lens characteristics.• This item is available only with an E-mount lens." That does suggest that adapted lenses are excluded.

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Ian


Posted By: woodrim
Date Posted: 31 May 2013 at 21:17
Well, do you get CA in jpeg mode? I have lenses that were notorious for CA and it is now absent except in extreme situations. This may be an indictment of my processing skills, but I cannot make a raw picture as good as what the NEX gives me in jpeg.

Go to Menu;
Set Up;
Lens Comp: Chro. Aber. - set to auto

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Regards,

woodrim


Posted By: woodrim
Date Posted: 31 May 2013 at 21:19
You slipped in before me, IanL. The lenses I use are old MF adapted.

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Regards,

woodrim


Posted By: IanL
Date Posted: 31 May 2013 at 21:24
Originally posted by woodrim woodrim wrote:

You slipped in before me, IanL. The lenses I use are old MF adapted.


Could you perhaps stage a trial - two exposures - one with, one without?

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Ian


Posted By: gregk
Date Posted: 31 May 2013 at 22:25
Hi all, I've been working on some sample shots with the Lens Turbo that I hope to have posted soon. Its raining, so they are boring indoor shots, I am not taking my old Rokkor glass out in the rain

As far as CA correction, I'm not seeing any difference with my Rokkor lenses between the RAW and JPG, perhaps it only activates in JPG only mode if it works at all with adapted lenses? If so, its not something I would use since I typically prefer shooting RAW. I would be interested in seeing some sample comparisons if you've been able to make this work woodrim.

Also, Tim asked about the length of the Lens Turbo adapter that I forgot to answer - yes it is significantly shorter. It looks like my standard adapter adds a hair over 25mm between the lens and camera, where the Lens Turbo adds only 20mm. It really is nice, especially when with the smaller Rokkors like the 45/2.

After spending several hours going back and forth between my adapters, the Lens Turbo is actually quite impressive. Here's a few observations:

-The adapter does give a slight green shift to the color tone, easily corrected with WB.

-I've also noticed it changes the lens distortion a bit, but this is mainly noticeable when shooting straight lines and comparing shots with or without the adapter.

-It does emphasize haloing as I had said before, but I think this is more a side effect of the extra stop you gain, it decreased DOF even more and on 1.4 or 1.2 lenses, this is enough to make the images too soft. Stop down to f/2 and its about the same as it would be with a normal adapter. So really the main thing you gain is the extra field of view. This could be handy especially with wider lenses.

-The adapter has a really nice fit and finish, it fits very snug to the lens and camera, unlike a lot of the regular adapters I've tried which tend to be a bit loose. It's an all metal body and looks sharp when installed on the camera.

Hope to have my sample shots posted a bit later this evening. One side note, I recently acquired an Eye-Fi Pro card and set it up to copy images to my computer. It's really awesome walking around the house and shooting things and a few seconds later both the RAW and JPG are ready to view on my PC. This will make a great backup solution on the go once I find the right tablet that suits my needs.

Greg

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http://www.flickr.com/gkemp


Posted By: gregk
Date Posted: 31 May 2013 at 22:44
I also meant to add, others have reported a blue bright spot in the center of their images with this adapter in other mounts. I have seen this only under the most extreme shot with a strong light source facing the lens. I think there is a very faint spot on normal shots, but it could just be me looking for it.

Greg

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http://www.flickr.com/gkemp


Posted By: al
Date Posted: 01 June 2013 at 00:04
Originally posted by gregk gregk wrote:

I also meant to add, others have reported a blue bright spot in the center of their images with this adapter in other mounts. I have seen this only under the most extreme shot with a strong light source facing the lens. I think there is a very faint spot on normal shots, but it could just be me looking for it.

Greg
This sounds like sensor reflection.


Posted By: gregk
Date Posted: 01 June 2013 at 13:04
Hi Al, not sure whats causing it, but I know that other users with the Mitakon adapters have reported it. So far it doesn't seem to be a major issue with the MD-NEX version, which is a good thing.

On another note, I did get a few samples posted yesterday, taken with my 50 1.4 MC Rokkor-X PG and 50 1.2 MD lenses. The shots I posted were all taken wide open with the MD-NEX adapter. http://www.flickr.com/photos/gkemp/sets/72157633843267692/ - Mitakon MD-NEX tests on Flickr

I have a plethora of MD lenses (hence the reason I wanted this adapter so badly), its tough to decide which ones to post pics with.

I'll see if I can get some more shots posted today.

Greg

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http://www.flickr.com/gkemp


Posted By: tigertimb
Date Posted: 01 June 2013 at 15:26
Thanks for the further tests Greg, I can see the slight green shift and agree that wouldn't be a major problem and great to see the reduced thickness of the adaptor.

And with my very minimal understanding of lenses, I'd guess the extra haloing is a natural part of now simulating the DOF of FF ?

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Tim
If you appreciate comments on your photos, how about returning the favour to others . . .


Posted By: woodrim
Date Posted: 02 June 2013 at 21:49
I come back to you all with my tail between my legs. I did some tests this weekend which seem to disprove my assertion that the NEX CA setting works with my manual focus lenses. I bought my camera slightly used and when I saw how well it handled my lenses and the near total absence of CA, I looked through the options menu selections and saw CA control turned on (auto), so made the silly assumption that was responsible for the superb performance. In fact, it is just the performance of the NEX-5N sensor versus my A200 that made the difference.

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Regards,

woodrim


Posted By: Ozoger
Date Posted: 04 June 2013 at 11:41
Hi everyone!

I too have followed the cheap 35mm dream of the lens turbo, it hasn't arrived yet, but I've ordered a canon fd version as I have some old glass that I use for the NEX. I do however have a stash of alpha lenses that I want to use on the lens turbo, so I'm looking for an Alpha -> Canon FD mount adapter (not the other way around)

Has anyone heard, or seen, or know where I can get one?? My search skills are faltering on this one....

Cheers, loving the lens turbo pics btw...

Fran.//

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A700/NEX-5/8mm Samyang/20-40 f2.8 sigma/50 f1.4/100 f2.8 macro RS/70-210 f4/600 f8 sigma/Slingshot100 http://www.flickr.com/photos/24016745@N07/ - flicker:ozoger


Posted By: gregk
Date Posted: 04 June 2013 at 12:00
I can't imagine anyone has made an Alpha -> Canon FD adapter. Most adapters are for using vintage or modern lenses on modern mounts they weren't made for. I've not seen any that let you adapt to out of production mounts. If anything, it would likely use an optic element to adapt the lens. In my experience the optics used aren't very good and degrade quality significantly. Also, if I remember right, they work with APSC only because the element is too small diameter. I've tried both MD->A and Nikon->A adapters and was unimpressed with the quality. So your best bet would be to use one of the many A-mount to NEX adapters (Sony's are the best) or wait for a Lens Turbo / Speed Booster.

Greg

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http://www.flickr.com/gkemp


Posted By: Steve-S
Date Posted: 04 June 2013 at 14:41
+1 on gregk's remarks.
Canon FD used a shorter flange distance than Alpha does (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flange_focal_distance - Wikipedia on the subject), so any adapter would either:
(a) need glass (degrading IQ and acting as a teleconverter)
or
(b) loose infinity-focus.

- Steve S.


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a77_SAL18-135_ZA135/1.8_Tam200-500_Tam180/3.5_Tam10-24_Min50/1.7


Posted By: Ozoger
Date Posted: 04 June 2013 at 15:07
Thanks for the responses, Right now I'm using a Jupiter 9 with an M42 Flange distance and an M39 thread with two converters (an m42 -> canon fd, + a 3mm thread reducer) onto a Canon FD ->E mount adapter and am very happy with it (infinity focus and no optics)...

So, I figured that seeing as M42 and alpha have similar flange distance I could perhaps do the same with my alpha lenses and not have to buy another Lens Turbo (200US) and instead a ~10US adapter...

Is my logic faulty?

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A700/NEX-5/8mm Samyang/20-40 f2.8 sigma/50 f1.4/100 f2.8 macro RS/70-210 f4/600 f8 sigma/Slingshot100 http://www.flickr.com/photos/24016745@N07/ - flicker:ozoger



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