I replaced mine and like the new mount. I did almost strip one of the screws. Once I got it out there was loctite all down the screw, not just a dab like the others had.
I ended up removing the Fotodiox mount and going back to the factory mount on my A7R. The extra rigidity was nice with the Sony lenses, but I couldn't use my Novoflex adapters due to the poor fit (lack of precision) of the Fotodiox mount.
If anyone wants a very lightly-used "Tough E-Mount", let me know...
Bubble wrote:
Fotodiox is well known for this problem. So many fail products.
After removing the mount from the camera body, I tried fitting it to the adapters to see where the problems were.
1) The tight fit seems to be due to a burr around the ID of the adapter due to sloppy machining - I can probably clean that up with emery cloth.
2) My Nikon adapters wouldn't mount because one of the bayonet lugs ion the mount is a fraction of a millimeter longer than the other - so the lenses can't rotate far enough to lock in place. A little work with a file should fix this.
3) My A7R doesn't exhibit as much mount flex as my A7 did (a rather frightening amount) so going back to the stock mount wasn't a concern... however, on closer inspection, most of the lateral flexing that is present with my A7R seems to be in the mounts of the Sony lenses, not in the camera body.
I picked up one for my ancient (relatively speaking) Nex-5, which after a number of years of use had started to lose contact with the 18-55mm lens when it was mounted resulting in a loss of aperture control. The replaced lens mount seems to have fixed or at least significantly reduced the incidence of this, which is rather useful seeing it the camera I usually set to auto and lend to friends.
I just ordered one from Amazon and its scheduled to arrive next week, so we'll see how well it performs on my A7R with Metabones IV adapter. The one I ordered was the Fotodiox Signature limited edition version because it was only $10 more than the regular, so why the heck not?
A Japanese company, Shoten, is now manufacturing one as well. From these pictures, the finish looks very nice. I had the Fotodiox Tough E-mount on my previous A7r, and while it worked well enough it did look a little rough, and there were a few adapters that wouldn't fit onto it.
All a bit irrelevant now Sony seem to have sorted out their mount issues on newer cameras. One basic flaw in both these after-market mounts is the fact that the only points of contact on the body frame are the 4 raised lugs for the screws. These are not flat machined surfaces and on the fotodiox the bottom of the recessed hole is not flat either. This can mean the new adaptor does not seat itself flat on the 4 points and can be out of parallel alignment with the sensor. The former will make lens mounting very stiff and the latter will cause sharpness variations across the frame. At least with the old Sony design the plastic spacer provided an all round reference surface for the metal mount to rest on .......
shirozina wrote:
All a bit irrelevant now Sony seem to have sorted out their mount issues on newer cameras. One basic flaw in both these after-market mounts is the fact that the only points of contact on the body frame are the 4 raised lugs for the screws. These are not flat machined surfaces and on the fotodiox the bottom of the recessed hole is not flat either. This can mean the new adaptor does not seat itself flat on the 4 points and can be out of parallel alignment with the sensor. The former will make lens mounting very stiff and the latter will cause sharpness variations across the frame. At least with the old Sony design the plastic spacer provided an all round reference surface for the metal mount to rest on ..........Show more →
I ordered the "Signature" solid brass model. It installed very easily and provided a very tight and strong fit for my lenses. The trick is as mentioned above, not to drive the screw driver through the sensor. Back in the day I used to assemble various electronic devices for a living, so I had no trouble installing it .. Perhaps not for everyone? I now mount my Loxias perfectly tight and tried a friends kit zoom which also mounted nicely. You will need a good quality Small screwdriver #0 As I recall. The newer model A series .A7S, .A7II and AR II already have solid metal mounts I believe.
Update, my new 70-200 Sony G lens also mounts perfectly.
Ugh... mine arrived yesterday and ugh... three of the screws came out nicely, the fourth was super-tight and I lost my patience with it and ended up with a stripped screw.
Oh well, after fitting the new mount I grabbed a new screw from one of the junk adapters that I don't use anymore (it was some nameless m4/3-to-E-mount adapter) to replace the stripped screw.
I haven't done any extensive shooting with the camera yet, but all my native FE lenses attached fine. The Metabones EF adapter was tight as heck though, but still eventually mounted and unmounted fine.
Just to be safe, I went through several rounds of auto-cleaning as well as rocket blower cleaning to make sure I did not leave any dust particles or metal flakes (from the stripped screw) before calling it a day.
The Signature Limited edition Tough E mount from Fotodiox, for my A7 arrived today. The Shoten, (now made in Chromed Brass or Stainless steel) wasn't easily available in UK.
A really beautifully engineered piece of brass, not sure if it's coated or not. If it is (clear lacquer?) I wonder how that will wear?
First thing I did was to measure for evenness and thickness.
It measured between 0.1125" - 0.113" using my old screw micrometer, that's 2.86 - 2.87mm, that's better accuracy than any of my adapters have.
To remove the screws, without dropping them onto the sensor, I placed a body cap on, in which I had previously drilled holes to correspond to the screws (put the cap on the new mount to mark the positions), then unscrewed and withdrew the screws through the holes. Thankfully the screws weren't too tight. They did have red sealant on, but it gave without too much force.
Horrible "string" of double sided tape around the edge of the plastic mount, to be carefully removed next. Not sure why that was used?
The original Aluminium and plastic mount, measures 0.113" 2.87mm, so the new is very, very close. According to one post I read here (?), the MkI standard (not this Limited "Signature" edition) measured 0.114" nearly 2.9mm, and was enough out to put off infinity focus on some lenses..
So far, all I've done is check that all my adapters (Kindai-Rayqual, Fotodiox-Pro and Pixco VA) plus native mount lenses fit well, and they all do. Hardly much difference in feel to mounting with the native mount, but more solid feeling once on.
Also I've checked that infinity focus has remained the same using the MD 100/2.5, and it has.
Still to do is carry out some retest of a more demanding lens like my MD 24/2.8 to check it is still as well centred as before, and of course that there are no light leaks.
Everything feels lovely and firm now.
The only question I have is whether any of the shiny brass is visible to the sensor, where there was formerly (shiny) black plastic, which may theoretically increase the chance of reflecting any internal stray light??
I bought two of the mounts for my A7r bodies and both have been unparallel, leading to massive decentering. Also the invinity point was different.
I emailed to Fotodiox but never got a reaction or answer. Last time i bought items from them.
rainer-v wrote:
I bought two of them gor my two A7r bodies and both have been unparallel, leading to massive decentering. Also the invinity point was different.
I emailed to Fotodiox but never got a reaction or answer. Last time i boight from them.
Just been doing decentering checks, comparing my two A7 bodies..and, very sadly, there now seem to be some decentering issues with lenses that I've never noticed any decentering before. I'll post examples.
I wouldn't have removed the double sided seating tape from the black plastic part of the mount if I'd known it was going back in, but as part of it came out with the plastic, I took it all out.
For some reason my site Flickr Share Code link isn't working, but here's the comparison link:
It may not be the new mount after all! I swapped back to the native mount and the soft left lower corner is still there cf. my newer A7! (In fact looking further, the newr A7 has a softer top right corner!) Oh I wish I'd done this direct comparison between the two bodies, same lens, before I changed the mount. I foolishly assumed the two cameras would have been properly set up by Sony!
As the infinity focus between the two bodies with native mounts is slightly different, I'm now beginning to suspect poor Sony quality control rather than the new mount, although my brick wall test is only a rough indicator, though I do my best to centre exactly and get it parallel.
However, to be certain, I now need to work out a more precise set up, with exact parallelism to compare more truly. I think Roger Cicala's blog has something about this, but a lot more work involved!
One thing I'd like to mention. I also swapped out original A7R mount with 'Signature' Fotodiox one.
A few observations with Metabones adapter:
1. Metabones 4 model M - wobble decreased by about 30-40%. Was so much better when using TS-E lenses.
2. Metabones 4 model T - wobble no longer exists, which is interesting. I emailed Metabones before asking about wobbly adapter - and they said they build their adapters for wider tolerances (not 100% sure they understood my question) but with Model T not having any wobble, I wonder if MB changed their tolerances in the new model.
I noticed not only reduced front-back wobble, but perhaps even more, the reduced rotation slack. Firm in every dimension and feeling a much better fit.
I'm really hoping I'm able to have it back on after my testing, though that will mean something else (ie. sensor?), has always been misaligned.
So many variables now, as, if the original mount has always been out, I'm not certain which lens really is well adjusted to test with.
I'm assuming my Micro-Nikkor 55/2.8 should have the flattest field and least distortion of all I possess, plus being fairly sharp wide open. That's what I'm trying with anyway.
I placed a body cap on, in which I had previously drilled holes to correspond to the screws (put the cap on the new mount to mark the positions), then unscrewed and withdrew the screws through the holes. Thankfully the screws weren't too tight. They did have red sealant on, but it gave without too much force.
I foolishly assumed the two cameras would have been properly set up by Sony!
