Archive 2023 · Upgrading after a long time

ebrandon
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Upgrading after a long time

Hi All,

I used to be a real gearhead, focused on alt lenses -- all the great vintage mounts -- using them on my Sony A7RII.

I stopped buying & reading about gear a few years ago, because of Covid, moving to a small place without an active craigslist culture, and because I was satisfied with what I had.

Now, I'm wondering if should upgrade to one of the newer generation of mirrorless cameras.

Back when I bought the A7RII, neither Canon nor Nikon even had full frame mirrorless cameras, so I don't really know anything about using alt lenses on Canon and Nikon mirrorless cameras.

A few questions:

1) I have quite a few wonderful Canon EF lenses. Do these really work perfectly with the Canon R mirrorless cameras?

2) The obvious upgrade path for me would be a newer Sony, mainly because I already have all the adapters from the various vintage lenses to the Sony system. What I'm wondering is whether the Canon R cameras work better with alt lenses than the Sony system for some reason?

Thank you!

Jan 25, 2023 at 01:48 PM

Robin Smith
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Upgrading after a long time

I think the answer to 1) is yes and to 2) no

Jan 25, 2023 at 01:52 PM

Sy Sez
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Upgrading after a long time

I've not heard on any of the Canon forums of problems with Adapted Canon EF lenses on R camera's.

The only EF lens I've kept is the EF16-35F4L, and it works flawlessly with Adapter on my EOS R5.

Jan 25, 2023 at 03:52 PM

tsangc
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Upgrading after a long time

ebrandon wrote:
1) I have quite a few wonderful Canon EF lenses. Do these really work perfectly with the Canon R mirrorless cameras?

Yes, they do. The Canon EF lens to RF body adaptation is flawless. I've used my 1987 era EF50mm f2.5 Compact Macro, 1999 EF300mm f2.8L IS v1, and a 2010 EF70-200mm f2.8L v2, and all work exactly as they would on my 5D. The in plane focusing on RF bodies has made many of my lenses work even better (EF24-70mm f2.8L v1).

The only issue I've found is that the RF body runs the IS continously, but this is design intent and regular behaviour on all modern Canon mirrorless bodies and RF IS lenses.

Canon obviously knew the adapter had to work perfectly to have EOS EF users migrate to RF, so I suspect they must have tested just about every lens ever produced. There are very few if any compatibility problems.

Jan 26, 2023 at 01:07 AM

jedibrain
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Upgrading after a long time

I know some ALT lenses were designed for sensor with very thin glass stacks on them. You might check the difference between sony and canon on that. If Canon is a lot thinner, you may notice better performance out of some of your wider angle alts.

Aside from that, I think the reports are that Canon will focus faster with EF lenses than Sony does with EF+ converter. The Canon bodies in the mid market segment seem to be faster FPS wise than comparable sony's but some of the sony's are higher resolution. So tradeoffs there depending on what you shoot. Probably not a lot of need for speed if you are mostly shooting MF alts.

You're in a lucky position with so much EF glass that you could get an Canon body to try out and keep your Sony. Then decide after some use if you'd want to fully switch or commit to buying all the alt adapters you'd need.

EOS R6 is a great camera at a great price. Or the R6II if you want to buy new instead of used. Could even go cheap with an EOS R - not the latest autofocus system but does have MF assist for your alts.

-Brian

Jan 26, 2023 at 02:11 PM

Pete73
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Upgrading after a long time

All of the EF lenses focus exactly the way they always have, and some with arguable more accuracy (due to the body). However, some of the older EF lenses do have a reduction in frame rate. That might be something to be aware of especially if you plan to shoot any type of action with an older EF lens.

Jan 26, 2023 at 03:40 PM

crteach
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Upgrading after a long time

Sy Sez wrote:
I've not heard on any of the Canon forums of problems with Adapted Canon EF lenses on R camera's.

The only EF lens I've kept is the EF16-35F4L, and it works flawlessly with Adapter on my EOS R5.

+1 (except I've got mine on an R6)

Jan 26, 2023 at 04:34 PM

Z250SA
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Upgrading after a long time

Regarding the Alt-part, I gathered a lot of the Contax and had a few Hasselbladlenses as well, added some ZF and used them extensively on 450D/1000D, 7D, 1DX, 5D2, 3 and 4. But when I started switching to R, the ability to zoom in viewfinder really was a game changer. Have a look at the options regarding focusing aids in Sony vs Canon. There might be some gains worth considering.

Of course the adapters are A and O to Alt. But if you want something to dig into, there always is.

Jan 27, 2023 at 06:07 AM


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