Henning wrote:
As you know, wide angle lenses are much more sensitive to poorly manufactured adapters especially insofar tilt is concerned. Lenses with floating elements are sensitive to the adapter length, with wideangles again being more sensitive than longer focal lengths. I don't have experience with the Trioplan, but I believe that neither it and definitely the Helier do not have floating elements and certainly with the Heliar's spherical aberrations tilt becomes very hard to detect.
These are different issues though.
Lenses with floating elements are not ideal to use with the LM-EA9 adapter because the latter works best with wide and normal lenses set to infinity distance. So, for example, when focusing the Leica 35/1.4 FLE on a subject at 2m distance, the lens should be set to infinity and the adapter focuses great. However, because of FLE, this lens performs better if the focus ring is set to 2m instead of infinity. It's not a big issue but something to keep in mind.
In regards to lenses with lower contrast due to spherical aberration like the Heliar and Trioplan mentioned previously... I was expecting worse AF performance but to my surprise, the adapter did well as far as acquiring and tracking focus when shooting with these lenses wide open.
nehemiahphoto wrote:
I may have just gotten lucky, but when I stacked adapters with the LM-EA7, I did infinite testing with the Pentax 31 limited + a7r2 without any issues.
Which adapter did you use? Some have better tolerance than others.
Nice review and samples Fred. Nifty little device for sure. I have sold off my remaining Sony gear but if this ever came available for the SL2, I would be first on the pre-order list.
MEDISN wrote:
Nice review and samples Fred. Nifty little device for sure. I have sold off my remaining Sony gear but if this ever came available for the SL2, I would be first on the pre-order list.
We need a SL3 with PDAF (and Leica / Panasonic branded AF adapter ideally) for that dream to happen
Michael Gordon wrote:
I would not expect to circumvent the "no free lunch" rule of optics with stacked adapters. Somewhat disconcerting was the discovery that even the use of one well made expensive adapter usually degrades performance --readily measured on an optical bench. Roger at Lensrentals has commented upon this.
If Roger cringes with one adapter, I wonder what his reaction would be with stacked adapters?
That be said, I do it all the time but don't expect perfect corner performance with WA lenses. With the
nicely rendering bubble bokeh wonder, Triopan 100 f2.8, I doubt it would matter.
Roger cringes at it with optical bench testing with flat test targets.
Roger wrote in the post:
What Does It Mean in the Real World?
Like a lot of laboratory testing, probably not a lot. Adapters couldn’t all stink or people wouldn’t use them. Like a lot of tests, you can detect a very real difference in the lab that doesn’t make much difference at all in the real world.
I would note that front tilt is very popular with large format landscape photographers precisely because it affects how the plane of focus falls across the scene, the Scheimpflug principle and all.
Sample using the LM-EA9 + Leica 75mm f/1.4 Summilux at MFD wide open using Eye AF:
(This lens is very gently on the skin, especially at close distance due to SA)
Straight out of the camera using the Adobe Standard profile.
Donzo98 wrote:
I’ll definitely get one at some point… having AF with the Noctilux should be very cool.
Yes, especially since focus and recompose does not work very well with the 50/1 Noct. The 0.95 version is on the heavy side for this adapter weighing 768 grams. (the official 700 grams is not accurate)
With the TAP2 adapter, one can engage tracking at center and recompose while AF sticks to the subject. With Eye AF, it's easier to set focus mode to "Wide" and let PDAF do its job.
I was told by Techart that LM-EA9 units purchased from Ebay or Amazon, may not be eligible for warranty.
No “may not” about it.The Techart order page specifically states that “No warranty will be provided to eBay / Amazon purchase” together with a request to follow a link to a page that carefully describes the limitations of the TAP2. (It might be worth adding the text of this page to the new FAQ.)
genji wrote:
No “may not” about it.The Techart order page specifically states that “No warranty will be provided to eBay / Amazon purchase” together with a request to follow a link to a page that carefully describes the limitations of the TAP2. (It might be worth adding the text of this page to the new FAQ.)
Thanks Jonathan,
I have added this info to the FAQ.
Aside from the other numerous benefits Fred, could you share any thoughts on the speed of the new adapter versus the OG TAP? Have you tested them side-by-side with the same body and lens or anything?
With the new adapter all the wider aperture settings are used to assign focal lengths unlike the old version. If one uses exp compensation to get proper aperture exif, is there any consequence of using an assigned aperture? For example if one wishes to take a shot at F4 and use -2 exp comp does the FL get reassigned to 21mm? Perhaps that is for the next shot?
Michael Gordon wrote:
With the new adapter all the wider aperture settings are used to assign focal lengths unlike the old version. If one uses exp compensation to get proper aperture exif, is there any consequence of using an assigned aperture? For example if one wishes to take a shot at F4 and use -2 exp comp does the FL get reassigned to 21mm? Perhaps that is for the next shot?
Hi Michael,
This was added to the LM-EA9's FAQ:
Is there a way that I can have the actual aperture recorded in the EXIF?
Both versions of the Techart Pro adapters require the camera aperture to be set to f/2 before taking a picture to allow proper exposure. With the previous model (LM-EA7), it was possible to write the lens working aperture to the EXIF with the help of exposure compensation, The procedure was to set the aperture on the camera the same as on the lens, then compensate exposure accordingly by using the exposure compensation dial or menu. For example: If the lens’ working aperture is f/2.8, set the camera aperture to f/2.8 (instead of f/2) while correcting the exposure by using exposure compensation " -1EV". If the lens is at f/4, set exposure compensation to "-2EV" and so on…
Unfortunately this is no longer feasible with the LM-EA9 because it requires wider apertures like f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, etc...to assign focal lengths and therefore this conflicts with the aperture EXIF recording method of the past.
