p.1 #1 · At what point, Sony will decide not to cripple third party lenses.
Sony had great last few years, but now others are catching up and Sony has somewhat slowed down.
I think trickling of high FPS capabilities to entry/mid range bodies will mount a lot of pressure on Sony.
It was one thing to say if you want to fully unleash your flagship A9/A1 series camera, you need to stick to Sony lenses but midrange users who buy A7V? are not averse to third party glass and may look for alternatives. As entry-level cameras approach the 15fps limit, more users will experience the limitation directly, increasing the general consumer awareness and frustration. This broader push might make Sony rethink its strategy.
Inability to use tele-convertors or FPS limitation will have severe backlash in future.
I also think Sony has benefited a lot from poor relations between Sigma and Nikon, till date Sigma has not released a single full frame Z mount lens. It is sad to see two Japanese giants not working together and letting Chinese companies Viltrox fill that void on Z mount.
I think lenses like Sigma 300-600 F4 will benefit a lot from restrictions being lifted.
p.1 #2 · At what point, Sony will decide not to cripple third party lenses.
I think if Sigma and other third party manufacturers start releasing new lens on all three major mounts. And Canon and Nikon don’t cripple their performance. Sony will have no choice but to follow suit
p.1 #5 · At what point, Sony will decide not to cripple third party lenses.
Unfortunately, Sony probably won't open up support unless it starts hurting their profit. We would need to know how much they profit off their high end lens sales vs camera sales.
Personally, I find the limitations annoying. One of the biggest strengths of the Sony E mount system is the thrid party lens support. A lens like the Sigma 300-600 f4 would be perfect for my telephoto needs. If Sony removed their limitations, especially the TC limitations, I would probably end up picking up the Sigma lens and a new Sony Body to put it on. We know that especially Sigma lenses are capable of more FPS when we adapt them to Nikon bodies, so the limitation is definitely on the Sony side.
p.1 #6 · At what point, Sony will decide not to cripple third party lenses.
If at some point (which maybe we're already at), 3rd party E mount lenses were not limited in fps when adapting to Nikon Z...and AF'd extremely well, etc. (Effectively allowing them to perform better than how they perform on Sony.) Then, if a well followed social media persona outed this.....then maybe Sony might be more motivated.
But there is a lot of "ifs" in the above.
^^^^ See post above, it's alluding to a similar line of though as my post, which I was typing up before I saw his. ^^^^
Interestingly, there is a rumor of a Viltrox TC for E mount, which the masses had thought couldn't happen due to E mount licensing agreements. If it's okay for Viltrox to do it, then not sure why Sigma, etc can't do it. But that doesn't solve the FPS limit.
And funny enough, there is no FPS limit as long as you are in AF-S mode right? So they it's more a limitation they are imposing on AF-C and >15 FPS.
p.1 #8 · At what point, Sony will decide not to cripple third party lenses.
tsdevine wrote:
If at some point (which maybe we're already at), 3rd party E mount lenses were not limited in fps when adapting to Nikon Z...and AF'd extremely well, etc. (Effectively allowing them to perform better than how they perform on Sony.) Then, if a well followed social media persona outed this.....then maybe Sony might be more motivated.
But there is a lot of "ifs" in the above.
^^^^ See post above, it's alluding to a similar line of though as my post, which I was typing up before I saw his. ^^^^
Interestingly, there is a rumor of a Viltrox TC for E mount, which the masses had thought couldn't happen due to E mount licensing agreements. If it's okay for Viltrox to do it, then not sure why Sigma, etc can't do it. But that doesn't solve the FPS limit.
And funny enough, there is no FPS limit as long as you are in AF-S mode right? So they it's more a limitation they are imposing on AF-C and >15 FPS....Show more →
I've been seeing discussion about adding an adapter and Nikon body, for the lower priced stacked sensor body? Not following that closely. I'd think any camera maker would prefer to sell both body and lenses. Users could more readily mix and match body or lens. Maybe there's a moderately sized/priced Nikon alternative to the A7Rv as I look to replace my A7Riv.
p.1 #9 · At what point, Sony will decide not to cripple third party lenses.
Craig Gillette wrote:
I've been seeing discussion about adding an adapter and Nikon body, for the lower priced stacked sensor body? Not following that closely. I'd think any camera maker would prefer to sell both body and lenses. Users could more readily mix and match body or lens. Maybe there's a moderately sized/priced Nikon alternative to the A7Rv as I look to replace my A7Riv.
I have a Sony a7riv and a Nikon Z8, and adapt my E lenses to Z mount. The gap in performance of adapting lenses seems to be getting smaller by the year. I can highly recommend the Megadap ETZ21 Pro+. To me, the a7rIV is a slow and steady photography experience, where the Z8 is a much faster and smoother experience that just gets out of your way. The Z8 is definitely a larger body, but personally, I prefer how it fits in my hand, especially with bigger lenses.
I would actually say that currently Nikon does not have an a7rIV / a7rV competitor. That will probably be the Z7III if and when it comes out. But Sony also does not have a Nikon Z8 or Canon R5 II competitor. Sony's closest competitor is the a1II at almost 2x the cost. Since the Z8 does have really good image quality, 45mp is close to 60mp, has much better video capabilities than the a7r line, and is about the same price a7rV (sometimes cheaper on sale), more Sony users are feeling the pain of not having a Z8 competitor than Nikon users feeling the pain of not having an a7rV competitor.
Hope this info helps if your thinking of giving Nikon a look.
p.1 #10 · At what point, Sony will decide not to cripple third party lenses.
Unfortunately for the market at large, Sony's userbase tends to have a little bit of Stockholm Syndrome when it comes to the brand instead of voting with their wallet.
Sony has been deeply anti-consumer in the last 2-3 years and no one seems to care.
p.1 #11 · At what point, Sony will decide not to cripple third party lenses.
tsdevine wrote:
If at some point (which maybe we're already at), 3rd party E mount lenses were not limited in fps when adapting to Nikon Z...and AF'd extremely well, etc. (Effectively allowing them to perform better than how they perform on Sony.) Then, if a well followed social media persona outed this.....then maybe Sony might be more motivated.
p.1 #12 · At what point, Sony will decide not to cripple third party lenses.
Once the Sony base models exceed 15fps, you will see Sigma and Tamron pressuring Sony to get a new licensing deal and get updated protocols, at least the ones that Sony was using to get to 30fps with the A1.
p.1 #13 · At what point, Sony will decide not to cripple third party lenses.
tsdevine wrote:
Interestingly, there is a rumor of a Viltrox TC for E mount, which the masses had thought couldn't happen due to E mount licensing agreements. If it's okay for Viltrox to do it, then not sure why Sigma, etc can't do it.
I'm pretty sure that Viltrox is reverse-engineering, not licensing. So they can do whatever they want.
p.1 #14 · At what point, Sony will decide not to cripple third party lenses.
RoamingScott wrote:
Unfortunately for the market at large, Sony's userbase tends to have a little bit of Stockholm Syndrome when it comes to the brand instead of voting with their wallet.
Sony has been deeply anti-consumer in the last 2-3 years and no one seems to care.
Only a few years? What about when Sony suddenly dropped Linux support from PS3 back in 2010 after advertising it as a feature
Personally, I haven't been able to fully abandon Sony yet, since at the end of the day, they are making some of the lenses that interest me the most to add to my kit, such as the 28-70mm f2 and 400-800mm f8. But I can't deny the fact that my disappointment in Sony's third party restrictions and lack of a Z8 competitor at a similar price point has kept me waiting on the sidelines and hoping Nikon puts out similar lenses. The only two lenses I actually added to my kit this year were Sigma Art lenses for astro photography that I had my eye on for a few years, and decided to jump on them before the tariff price increase, since at the end of the day, I can adapt them to Nikon Z, and currently the Z mount does not have similar lenses. It will be interesting to see what moves Nikon and Sony make in the next few months and what gear I end up buying in 2026.
p.1 #16 · At what point, Sony will decide not to cripple third party lenses.
When Canon and Nikon make the RF mount as open as E mount is but with no cap on FPS then you'll see Sony change their stance. The 1st part isn't happening so neither will the 2nd.
p.1 #17 · At what point, Sony will decide not to cripple third party lenses.
SNJOps wrote:
When Canon and Nikon make the RF mount as open as E mount is but with no cap on FPS then you'll see Sony change their stance. The 1st part isn't happening so neither will the 2nd.
You can really tell who hasn't used Z Only Sigma is missing, and that's because the two companies have beef. There is a plethora of great 3rd party glass for Z with zero restrictions.
p.1 #18 · At what point, Sony will decide not to cripple third party lenses.
SNJOps wrote:
When Canon and Nikon make the RF mount as open as E mount is but with no cap on FPS then you'll see Sony change their stance. The 1st part isn't happening so neither will the 2nd.
Currently, Nikon is not putting restrictions on Tamron lenses for Z mount and they are allowing Companies like TTArtisan and Viltrox to make AF lenses for Z mount. Unfortunately, the only one really missing from Z mount is Sigma for whatever reason.
Canon, on the other hand, has basically stopped all third party AF lenses, which killed any interest in the R mount that I had.
Long term, it's going to be interesting to also see what happens with L mount. Every year that goes by, it's becoming a more and more viable option.
p.1 #19 · At what point, Sony will decide not to cripple third party lenses.
RoamingScott wrote:
You can really tell who hasn't used Z Only Sigma is missing, and that's because the two companies have beef. There is a plethora of great 3rd party glass for Z with zero restrictions.
Canon's situation is PATHETIC.
Which of those 3rd party lenses would one want to use at say 60fps? From what I see, Sigma is the only 3rd party manufacturer that one would want to use for high speed photography.
p.1 #20 · At what point, Sony will decide not to cripple third party lenses.
chez wrote:
Which of those 3rd party lenses would one want to use at say 60fps? From what I see, Sigma is the only 3rd party manufacturer that one would want to use for high speed photography.
I could definitely see using the Tamron 50-400 for high speed photography, assuming the lens can keep up. If you need to get from 50-400 without changing lenses, Sony has no alternative.
Also, any lens can benefit from high speed FPS if you plan to do image stacking like HDR. I was surprised how many fewer alignment issues I had with my Z8 at 20fps vs my a7rIV at 10 fps.
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