p.2 #1 · Report: Megadap vs. Viltrox Sony E to Nikon Z adapters On Sigma 14mm f/1.4 lens/Nikon Z8
techiechris wrote:
Hi - hope I am not hijacking this thread, but I have the 14mm f1.4 DG DN E and have tried just several adapters with varying results. My favorite has been the Fotodiox ETZ Fusion as far as corner sharpness and overall success with astrophotography, but I have a problem I can't sort out and wonder if anyone else has had the same problem. I am shooting with a Z6II and frequently do timelapses. With the Fotodiox adapter, about 2 hours into an all night timelapse, the focus shifts, rendering all subsequent images useless. I have the body set to manual focus, the lens in MF and the focus lock set to LOCK. I can't for the life of me fathom why this happens. But it happens every time. I don't think it's the lens, as I have shot with the Megadap ETZ and the focus never changes, but the corner distortion is too much for me. I appreciate any thoughts! ...Show more →
Thanks for adding your experience. The more information we can gather, the better we can learn how to adapt the Sigma 14mm and what pitfalls to look out for. You would think that setting the lenses to MF and setting the MF lock would be enough to stop any focus shifts.
I have not done any Nikon Z time lapses yet, but I did some googling and wonder if any of the information in this thread might be helpful to you: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4506239
I would also check if your Fotodiox adapter has the latest firmware.
If you continue to have issues with the Fotodiox adapter and timelapses, it might be worth trying to shim the Megadap adapter by adding a layer of clear packaging tape onto to adapter on the side the lens mounts to.
p.2 #2 · Report: Megadap vs. Viltrox Sony E to Nikon Z adapters On Sigma 14mm f/1.4 lens/Nikon Z8
Thank you Jman13 and DWOfPaul for your insights! I'll give the tape trick a try with my Megadap. It's a really tight fit on the lens already, but I'll see if I can shoehorn some tape in there. There was a firmware update for both the Megadap and the Fotodiox, and there was a firmware update for the Sigma 14, so now that I've applied them all, and the very interesting report of the MF setting in the Video settings in the link DWOfPaul sent, I am shooting a timelapse now to see what happens. I don't shoot in timelapse video mode, rather I use the internal interval mode capturing raws and giving the camera 2 seconds to write the file. I don't think that's long enough for the camera to go into standby. I've literally shot thousands of timelapses this way (don't even ask me about shutter count!) and the only time I've ever seen this is with the Signa 14 and the Fotodiox. But maybe the MF setting and / or the new firmware will resolve this. I'll report back tomorrow morning after tonight's test shoot.
p.2 #3 · Report: Megadap vs. Viltrox Sony E to Nikon Z adapters On Sigma 14mm f/1.4 lens/Nikon Z8
As the OP, I want to update this thread.
I recently spent several weeks camping in a remote desert with Bortle 1 (very dark) skies. During this time, I shot Milky Way nightscapes with the Sigma Art 14mm f/1.4 lens on the Photodiox adapter on a Nikon Z8. I also shot these skies with other lenses (including the Nikon Z 14-24 S f/2.8, which, from experience, I consider a "known good lens"). (And a Sigma Art 40mm f/1.4 lens with Nikon F-mount, a "famously known good" lens on a Nikon F-to-Z adapter.)
Unfortunately, during the dark of the moon, I only got three or four nights with no clouds. But these few clear nights did permit me to perform decent tests and acquire good data for images I eventually hope to be proud of (and which, I must admit, I'm still struggling to post-process--ugh--huge learning curve.)
The short answer is that the Photodiox adapter seems far better than the Viltrox or earlier Megadap adaptors. (The new, apparently thicker, Megadap adapter may be better.)
Much reduced, with the Photodiox adapter, was the prominent radial smearing of stars even about halfway between image center and corners. To this improvement, I give a huge "Yay." Let me emphasize that I see this this as a enormous improvement--the smearing was severe, started shockingly close to image center, and was a deal-breaker (for me). While I would not claim that all smearing is now gone, I would say it is greatly reduced.
After observing this benefit, something I saw clearly is that my particular Sigma Art 14mm f/1.4 lens exhibits little coma on the right side of the image, but considerable coma on the left side of the image. Ugh. I'll likely be sending my lens off to Sigma in hopes they can repair it.
I do not have an upload account at this forum. If anyone wants to view my data, please send me a private message. If anyone does so, I'll create a file, place it in my Dropbox, and provide download links to anyone who wishes one. I'll add that anyone receiving my data is welcome to post it publicly.
If you make such a request, kindly give me a few days to respond, as I'm currently under the gun on other projects. But I will respond in time, and happily.
--Chris S.
--edited to clarify my sense of how much the radial smearing has improved with this adapter, and a few other technical details.
p.2 #4 · Report: Megadap vs. Viltrox Sony E to Nikon Z adapters On Sigma 14mm f/1.4 lens/Nikon Z8
In case anyone else wants to try adapting the Sigma 14mm f1.4 or other wide angle lenses to Nikon Z I would recommend trying the new ETZ21 Pro+. After quite a bit of adapter experiments this summer the ETZ21 Pro+ seems to give the best results (It was not even announced when this thread started).
Another tip I noticed is that you want to focus with the Sigma 14mm f1.4 on a subject at infinity, not on the stars themselves. I have DSLR lenses that I used to be able to focus directly on stars, but if I do that with the Sigma, I get much more smearing in the sky and a soft foreground at infinity. Yet if I focus the foreground at infinity, I get a sharp foreground and many fewer artifacts on the stars.
Hopefully, this upcoming new moon will be good for photos, and I can post some full res samples for people curious 🤞
p.2 #5 · Report: Megadap vs. Viltrox Sony E to Nikon Z adapters On Sigma 14mm f/1.4 lens/Nikon Z8
DWOfPaul wrote:
In case anyone else wants to try adapting the Sigma 14mm f1.4 or other wide angle lenses to Nikon Z I would recommend trying the new ETZ21 Pro+. After quite a bit of adapter experiments this summer the ETZ21 Pro+ seems to give the best results (It was not even announced when this thread started).
Another tip I noticed is that you want to focus with the Sigma 14mm f1.4 on a subject at infinity, not on the stars themselves. I have DSLR lenses that I used to be able to focus directly on stars, but if I do that with the Sigma, I get much more smearing in the sky and a soft foreground at infinity. Yet if I focus the foreground at infinity, I get a sharp foreground and many fewer artifacts on the stars.
Hopefully, this upcoming new moon will be good for photos, and I can post some full res samples for people curious 🤞...Show more →
Waiting on the Sigma 21mm 1.4 sample also.. on etz pro(+)
p.2 #6 · Report: Megadap vs. Viltrox Sony E to Nikon Z adapters On Sigma 14mm f/1.4 lens/Nikon Z8
Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate this weekend for astro photos.
But I did some testing with the Sigma 20mm f1.4 last night on the ETZ21 Pro+ and was happy with the results. Overall, the experience was very similar to using the Sigma 14mm f1.4. I got the best results by focusing on an object at infinity.
You can tell the Sigma 14mm f1.4 is a bit more optimized for astro than the 20mm. For example, the 14mm has less coma. But the 20mm is still a strong performer. I compared the Sigma 20mm to my Voigtlander 21mm f1.4, which I have used for astro in the past, and the Sigma was better in every way for astro.
Overall observations for the Sigma 20mm f1.4 and 14mm f1.4:
1. Strong performance for astro photography, but not perfect. There is some coma and vignetting is stronger than I would like wide open, but vignetting is similar to other fast wide angle lenses. Look up reviews of how they compare on Sony in terms of coma and vignetting. I didn't notice any notable change in performance with the ETZ21 Pro+ on my Z8.
2. I think stepping the lenses down to around f1.8 will be the sweet spot. f1.6 knocks down the most extreme of the vignetting, f2 I would call full acceptable vignetting and f1.8 is a good in between.
3. I would use MF to slowly dial in the focus for best results. If you have an object bright enough to focus on at infinity with AF it will get you close, but I feel you can dial it in a bit better yourself for astro.
4. I noticed with MF the infinity mark is right around where the distance scale starts going in reverse, for example, 2m -> 20m -> 2m. I am wondering if we can use this as a way to lock in infinity focus in the field. I will have to see if this trick works as the weather gets colder, as infinity focus may change.
5. The MF lock on the Sigma lenses is very convenient. In theory, we should be able to lock in infinity focus before it gets dark or we go out. Again, I will need to test this when the weather gets colder to see how much temperature may throw off infinity focus.
6. The ETZ21 Pro+ is new, so it will take time to see if any issues creep up or how it handles cold weather, but in the few weeks I have had it, it's the smoothest experience I have had yet for adapting wide angle E lens to Nikon Z.
Overall, I am happy with my decision to pick up the Sigma 14mm f1.4 and 20mm f1.4. They might not be perfect, and adapting to Z adds a bit of complexity, but if you're looking for 20mm or wider and faster than f2.8 they seem to currently be the best options on the market.
If you decided to go down the rabbit hole of adapted lenses, I do recommend comparing your results to other lenses you are happy with. While I have used and adapted many lenses in the past, this time around, trying 4 different adapters had me doing a crazy level of pixel peeping that had me at times looking for perfection and noticing every minor flaw. I had to step back and remind myself that I was getting better results than the lenses I was happy with in the past. So far, no manufacturer has produced a 20mm or 14mm APO lens, so we need to keep our expectations relative to other wide angle lenses. Fast, wide, and astro photography is about as demanding as we can get for a lens.
p.2 #8 · Report: Megadap vs. Viltrox Sony E to Nikon Z adapters On Sigma 14mm f/1.4 lens/Nikon Z8
Unfortunately, getting in a good Milky Way session never happened this year.
Last night I did get to play around with the 14mm f1.4 on my Z8 for some Northern lights photos, and I was very impressed with the results. Unfortunately, it was cloudy most of the night, so I only got about 30 minutes of photography in, and didn't get to head out to a picturesque location. But I am happy I was able to get some photos in as the clouds were uncooperative most of the night
The results definitely cemented my opinion that the Sigma 14mm f1.4 is an awesome lens if you need a fast wide angle lens and can deal with its size and weight. If you're on the fence about picking it up to use next year, you may want to jump on the waiting list, as it's now a made to order lens and the timeline for the second batch has not been released yet. The first made to order batch should be available Mar 2026.
p.2 #9 · Report: Megadap vs. Viltrox Sony E to Nikon Z adapters On Sigma 14mm f/1.4 lens/Nikon Z8
Hi! I'm looking to get the Sigma 20 mm f/1.4 primarily for astro (with a Z6ii) and was wondering if you got more opportunities to test it under the stars. Did the ETZ21 Pro+ continue to perform well?
