I have a bunch of old manual focus lenses that are still in near pristine condition. These lenses are Pentax, Canon FL breech mount, and Nikon AiS. For the fun of it, I'd like to mount some of these on either my A7c or A7iv. A few years ago I purchased an inexpensive F to Micro Four Thirds, and it didn't work very well. Also, I've heard horror stories about some lens adapters that have either gotten stuck on cameras or have damaged the camera lens mount contacts.
While I'm at it, I'd like to get another lens mount adapter to use my Canon EF lenses on my Sony bodies. I'm assuming this mount will probably cost way more than the other mounts because if AF compatibility technology. Agsin, I'd like to know about lens adapters that won't damage either my camera's lens mount or my EF lenses.
Any suggestions for good lens mount adapters (K to FE, F to FE, FL/FD to FE, EF/EF-S to FE)?
snegron7 wrote:
I have a bunch of old manual focus lenses that are still in near pristine condition. These lenses are Pentax, Canon FL breech mount, and Nikon AiS. For the fun of it, I'd like to mount some of these on either my A7c or A7iv. A few years ago I purchased an inexpensive F to Micro Four Thirds, and it didn't work very well. Also, I've heard horror stories about some lens adapters that have either gotten stuck on cameras or have damaged the camera lens mount contacts.
While I'm at it, I'd like to get another lens mount adapter to use my Canon EF lenses on my Sony bodies. I'm assuming this mount will probably cost way more than the other mounts because if AF compatibility technology. Agsin, I'd like to know about lens adapters that won't damage either my camera's lens mount or my EF lenses.
Any suggestions for good lens mount adapters (K to FE, F to FE, FL/FD to FE, EF/EF-S to FE)? ...Show more →
The Sigma MC-11 adaptor is excellent for adapting Canon EF lenses to Sony bodies. It's usually $250, but works well.
The Sigma MC-11 works perfectly for the Sigma lenses that are specifically compatible. Canon or any other lenses not explicitly compatible are a toss up. If you venture down the adaptation road, be prepared to buy several adapters. Metabones might work on one lens but not another. Viltrox might work where Metabones does not. Good luck.
K&F Concept are cheap and generally good if all you need is a dumb adapter. I've used that brand, and also Fotodiox and Kipon (more expensive). You can spend a fortune on Novoflex and Raqual, but if you just want to have some fun with old fully manual lenses, go with K&F Concept or Fotodiox.
jeffbuzz wrote:
The Sigma MC-11 works perfectly for the Sigma lenses that are specifically compatible. Canon or any other lenses not explicitly compatible are a toss up. If you venture down the adaptation road, be prepared to buy several adapters. Metabones might work on one lens but not another. Viltrox might work where Metabones does not. Good luck.
Thanks! I don't own any Sigma lenses, so I'm not sure how well or if it will work with my Canon lenses. I've read some online reviews complaining about how lenses over 50mm won't autofocus with Metabones adapters on a Sony body. I'm not sure how true that is though.
snegron7 wrote: jeffbuzz wroteThe Sigma MC-11 works perfectly for the Sigma lenses that are specifically compatible. Canon or any other lenses not explicitly compatible are a toss up. If you venture down the adaptation road, be prepared to buy several adapters. Metabones might work on one lens but not another. Viltrox might work where Metabones does not. Good luck.Thanks! I don't own any Sigma lenses, so I'm not sure how well or if it will work with my Canon lenses. I've read some online reviews complaining about how lenses over 50mm won't autofocus with Metabones adapters on a Sony body. I'm not sure how true that is though.
The box of my MC-11 says "Mount Converter MC-11 Canon EF-E" I have no Sigma lenses either, I think at one time there was also a Sigma lens variant. The no of responses mentioning this might be an indication of the suitability of this.
The Sigma MC-11 is known to be accurately made. Not all adapters are.
I have used one extensively and have not had any problems with fit and I have not heard of anyone else having issues.
As jeffbuzz said, it's a toss up which EF lenses work well. There is no logic to it that I can work out.
eg
85 1.8 is really good.
Others report 400 f4 DOII maybe the best of all EF lenses.
200 2.8 II is terrible.
100-400 II pretty good.
Any of these results can change significantly with body or body firmware change.
Other than EF 100 L macro, I have not used MC-11 on recent bodies.
I used on A9, A7RIVa and A7RIII.
Therefore my information may be completely useless! (other than the accurate build)
snegron7 wrote: jeffbuzz wroteThe Sigma MC-11 works perfectly for the Sigma lenses that are specifically compatible. Canon or any other lenses not explicitly compatible are a toss up. If you venture down the adaptation road, be prepared to buy several adapters. Metabones might work on one lens but not another. Viltrox might work where Metabones does not. Good luck.Thanks! I don't own any Sigma lenses, so I'm not sure how well or if it will work with my Canon lenses. I've read some online reviews complaining about how lenses over 50mm won't autofocus with Metabones adapters on a Sony body. I'm not sure how true that is though.
That hasn't been the case with my MB IV, though I rarely use it anymore. The MC-11's lighter and played just as well with all the Canon EF lenses I've used it with. These days, I'm down just the 35LII, and it's got a dead AF motor, so I only depend on adapter for aperture control.
For the dumb mounts...
Rayquals are pricey but really well made and are baffled to help control stray light and reflections. Never had a fit problem with them and the front and rear mounts have all been square, so no imbalance edge performance.
Novoflexes are also pricey and they don't do baffles, but everything else I said about Rayqual applies to them. I do highly recommend their FD adapter. It's a little trickier to mount than the cheaper adapters, but it lacks moving parts, so it'll effectively last forever.
Kipon I mostly use for specialty adapters. I have several of their perspective control adapters that are well made, but I've had to flock them all to cut reflections. I also have an old Minolta SR adapter with a helicoid I got from them years ago that's held up fantastically well and required no flocking. I still use it regularly with my MD 100/4 and others.
K&F/Fotodiox/Urth/etc. are all a mixed bag. They're more likely to require shimming to get them square, and the K&F tend to be heavier than necessary, but, if you're just fooling around with it, they're a decent place to start.
I’m now very close to ordering the Sony system that will replace my older Canon 5DsR-based system. I’m putting together my “shopping list” at this point.
I’m reviving this thread to ask specifically about adapters that I might use with three of my current lense lenses on a Sony A7r6.
Two of them are Canon lenses:
EF 100mm f/2.8L macro
EF 16-35mm f/4L
I would like to have full functional integration with these lenses, AF, etc. I could consider something less if necessary.
(Both of these are excellent lenses, but I use them much less than other lenses so I’m considering using them with an adapter rather than purchasing Sony equivalents.)
The oddball lens: On my Canon system I sometimes use a medium format Pentax 80-160mm f/4.5 lens with the Mirex tilt/shift adapter for the Canon EF mount. This is a fully manual setup. I would like to be able to mount the current lens/Mirex combo on the Sony camera.
Does your move to Sony depend on the adapter? If not I would buy the Sony stuff I like an a used MC-11 (here typically a bit over 100€) and try myself. It will work, but not as good as E-mount lenses. Whether that is good enough to like it is very subjective.
My impression with screw drive lenses and MC-11 or Sony LA-EA5 is that AF is so slow and loud that I don't really use the lenses. With lenses with the best AF drives it might actually be quite good.
Altglas wrote:
Does your move to Sony depend on the adapter? If not I would buy the Sony stuff I like an a used MC-11 (here typically a bit over 100€) and try myself. It will work, but not as good as E-mount lenses. Whether that is good enough to like it is very subjective.
My impression with screw drive lenses and MC-11 or Sony LA-EA5 is that AF is so slow and loud that I don't really use the lenses. With lenses with the best AF drives it might actually be quite good.
I’m not quite sure what you mean by “depend on the adapter.”
When you write “Sony” and then “MC-11,” I assume that latter is the Sigma unit rather than something from Sony?
As to where I’m headed with lenses, I plan to make my primary lenses Sony lenses. (Currently leaning toward 16-25mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8, 70-100mm f/4 “macro,” 100-400mm f/4.5, plus at least the 1.4x TC and possibly the 2x.
The three lenses I listed in my post (EF 16-35mm f/4L, EF 100mm f/2.8L macro, and the Mirex TS adapter with the Pentax MF 80-160mm f/4.5) are lenses that I a. rely on less frequently and/or lenses that I’d happily use in manual-only mode. I could get by with a “dumb” adapter, but depending on price and compatibility I would not rule out a “smart” adapter for use with the two Canon lenses.
gdanmitchell wrote:
I’m now very close to ordering the Sony system that will replace my older Canon 5DsR-based system. I’m putting together my “shopping list” at this point.
I’m reviving this thread to ask specifically about adapters that I might use with three of my current lense lenses on a Sony A7r6.
Two of them are Canon lenses:
EF 100mm f/2.8L macro
EF 16-35mm f/4L
I would like to have full functional integration with these lenses, AF, etc. I could consider something less if necessary.
(Both of these are excellent lenses, but I use them much less than other lenses so I’m considering using them with an adapter rather than purchasing Sony equivalents.)
The oddball lens: On my Canon system I sometimes use a medium format Pentax 80-160mm f/4.5 lens with the Mirex tilt/shift adapter for the Canon EF mount. This is a fully manual setup. I would like to be able to mount the current lens/Mirex combo on the Sony camera.
Just FYI, the 16-35/4 L does have a minor field curvature issue on the Sony stock sensor. You may find yourself having to give the wider settings an extra stop or two to get passed it. It depends on the shot, of course.
Altglas wrote:
My impression with screw drive lenses and MC-11 or Sony LA-EA5 is that AF is so slow and loud that I don't really use the lenses. With lenses with the best AF drives it might actually be quite good.
The LA-EA5 is excellent. Slow lenses will be slow. You won't want to use most of them for action, but for 95% of use cases, it is perfectly well. But high speed screw driven lenses are incredibly fast. Try the Minolta 80-200 HS G. Super torquey. Same with the other HS's. You still wouldn't use them for video, as they do make noise. But the adapter itself with quality glass yields amazing results. Love my LA-EA5 with my Minolta 100/2.
Even when AF is not great with your lenses and e.g. a Sigma MC-11 you will have exif data transmission and automatic aperture control. So this would be a much nicer solution than a dumb adapter.
Altglas wrote:
Even when AF is not great with your lenses and e.g. a Sigma MC-11 you will have exif data transmission and automatic aperture control. So this would be a much nicer solution than a dumb adapter.
Those capabilities would cover what I would need for those specific lenses (Though the Pentax MF plus Mirex adapter combo won’t AF or send EXIF, but I’m used to that.)
I've been interested in the Sigma MC-11 for a long time so I can use my EF lenses with my A7V and A6700 in particular the fast EF 50/1.2 L and the 85/1.2 LII. I'm still 50-50 because I also still shoot with Canon (R6MKII). So I might just continue using these lenses with Canon but OTOH the MC-11 is a lot cheaper than buying the modern 50 and 85/1.2 like the Sigma and the upcoming Viltrox for e-mount. I know the advantages of the current lenses i.e. smoother bokeh and less CA but I also have Photoshop and DXO PL 10 Elite.