I recently purchased a number of Rayqual adapters in various mounts to use with my A7r thinking the special baffle design of these adapters might prevent potential flare issues when used with the A7r. After testing three classic Pentax K lenses - 85/1.8, 50/4 Macro and 28/3.5 - I found the 85 benefited greatly from the flare control of the Rayqual adapter but the other two lenses saw little difference. I also tested my Leica Summicron R 50 with a Rayqual vs cheap adapter and saw little difference in flare between the two. The 85 has a fairly large rear element compared to the other lenses tested so no doubt lens design plays a large role as to if flare will end up being a major issue or not with a cheap adapter.
The setup was a soft box placed behind a color checker card on top of a black wire bowel. Main light was a large umbrella. Shot at F8.5. Below is a crop showing the difference with the Rayqual adapter on the left and an inexpensive Fotasy adapter on the right as shot with the Pentax K 85/1.8
Here is the special baffle design of the Rayqual adapters. There is a baffle right behind where the lens mounts as well as a baffle at the camera mount to block the gold contacts of the A7's.
Yeah, I was kind of shocked. I was also surprised that it could be so dramatic a difference with the 85 as above yet make no easily discernible difference with the other lenses tested, though I only tested stopped down. Perhaps brighter apertures would show a difference with some of the other lenses. I don't have any ND filters to easily try it with the strobes at very bright F-stops.
I only have experience with Rayqual's Leica R -> Canon EF adapter, but having said that, it's just about as transparent as one could hope. I couldn't say the same for other less-expensive adapters that introduced de-centering or infinity problems.
FWIW, we're starting to see this kind of baffling in many adapters. The latest Hawk's Factory helicoid apdapter has it, as well as the Metabones EF adapter clones.
^^nice. I recently bought a Metabones Leica R adapter which did not have this degree of baffling and I don't believe the expensive Novoflex adapters have the baffling at the rear for the A7 gold contacts either. Hopefully, all of these - as well as the inexpensive adapters- get updated with a better design.
Those gold contacts have got to be the culprit for the "yellow brick" blur/blob I've seen at the top of my UWA A7R shots.
Corner sharpness aside, I had high hopes for the ZM15 on the Sonys but was very disappointed by the pronounced discoloration. If Rayqual's adapter solves (or mitigate) that problem, I'd be on it like white on rice.
