Sony LA-EA5 Adapter $250 October

BTW, I finally managed to get LA-EA 5 shipped to Israel and I received it 2 days ago!

I was surprised how the combo of a7RIV + LA-EA5 + CZ 135/1.8 (and also 85/1.4) feels comfortable and natural in my hands. It is not the bulky LA-EA 4.
The AF works pretty well. I got some out of focus photos when the kids were moving around (although I used AF-C and Eye-Focus) when using these lens wide-open, but on my native a-mount cameras (a900 and a99) it is more or less the same rate of missed-focus in such situations. When the kids are more static I get great and extremely sharp photos with focus right on the eye! I tried it for candid shots of the kids, but for studio shots or staged shots when you can ask your subject to stand still for few seconds it is great.

But it is a bit annoying that it works only with the newest cameras, that we still have delay when aperture is closed down and it still doesn't work with TCs.

Anyone care to guess whether the screw-drive capability of LA-EA5 will be enabled by firmware update on A7x M2 and M3 models?
Realistically, how likely is that? Did the later cameras need some hardware changes to make it work? or does the firmware necessary conflict with something else (or is resource-limited)?

Thanks for that, Mathew. I'm replacing my LA-EA2 with a 4 but wondered if it was worth waiting. Sounds like it's not, and I'm not buying an M4 camera just so I can buy an LA-EA5 instead.

I'm wondering if an LA-EA5r monster adapter would work. If it had the same chip as the LA-EA4r, how would the camera know it wasn't one?

I guess the LA-EA5 drive motor would need to have similar electrical connections to the 4 or else a modified chip would be needed.

@Miranda F The Monster Adapter team have stated that they are examining how the LA-EA5 works, on their facebook page. Presumably to see whether they can learn something that could be added to their LA-EA4r adapter firmware. But it could also be to see whether there is any way to hack the LA-EA5 to work on more cameras (who knows?).

However they have so many projects nearing completion at the moment, it might be a while - adapters for Pentax, Nikon lenses are coming, and presumably they are looking at further development of firmware in them too.

Finally, there are issues arising with the latest update to the LA-EA4r V4 probably because of different models of the LA-EA4, and they are trying to sort those out. Updating from V3 has resulted in some lenses behaving peculiarly, particularly the Mino 135 f.2.8 and the 500 f/8 on some adapters.

Edited by mirthseeker - 17 February 2021 at 08:11