Sony E series - lens question

Barryboy

Barryboy

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Rob
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Hi... I currently use a Nikon D610 but I bought a cheapo NEX3 with 16-50 lens for street photography and am seriously impressed with it To increase the focal length I was thinking about getting a FX to E series adaptor for it. Call me old thicky-thicko if you like but I'm still trying to get my head around the sensor size issue. As I understand things, an E series focal length is to all purposes 1.5 times the focal length as we understand traditional 35mm sizes. That is to say a 30mm E series prime lens would give the same field of coverage as a 45mm lens on my Nikon FX gear. But what would happen if I used a Nikon to E series adaptor? Would my Nikkor 70-210 become effectively a 105-315 on the Sony, or would the increased distance between the lens and the sensor increase that.? And furthermore, whilst I obviously know that I would lose autofocus, what about exposure? Do these adaptors render the camera effectively totally manual? I suspect so but grateful for any advice

Rob
 
Hi there, took the same path as you a couple of years ago, your thinking on focal lengths is exactly right, it acts in much the same way as when you put a full frame lens on a crop body.

However to be honest I wouldn't bother, I found the adapter to be hopeless - lots of functionality lost and the camera feels pretty unbalanced with a DSLR lens on.

I would suggest picking up a longer sony NEX lens, these can be had for not much more than a decent adapter these days.
 
IntenseJason said:
Hi there, took the same path as you a couple of years ago, your thinking on focal lengths is exactly right, it acts in much the same way as when you put a full frame lens on a crop body.

However to be honest I wouldn't bother, I found the adapter to be hopeless - lots of functionality lost and the camera feels pretty unbalanced with a DSLR lens on.

I would suggest picking up a longer sony NEX lens, these can be had for not much more than a decent adapter these days.
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The adaptors are just a tube that places the Nikon/Canon/Legacy lens the correct distance from the senor to account for the flange depth. If you mount a Nikon 70-210 lens to your Sony, your effective focal length will basically be cropped to an equivalent 105-315 as the Sony sensor has a 1.5x crop factor. With regards to exposure etc, you can shoot either in aperture priority and set the aperture on the lens then the camera will meter the scene and set ISO/shutter speed accordingly or you can shoot in full manual and use the inbuilt exposure meter to judge your aperture/shutter speed yourself. The only thing you lose is autofocus and the ability to set the aperture on camera so I'm not sure what other functionality the previous poster is referring to?

I used to use Olympus OM primes on my old NEX5/A6000 and still use them on my A7 (which has a full frame sensor so the field of view is the same as the original SLR they came off). I also use a Nikon 20/3.5 which is an excellent wide angle lens.
 
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stevelmx5 said:
The only thing you lose is autofocus and the ability to set the aperture on camera so I'm not sure what other functionality the previous poster is referring to?
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That's what I was referring to, I cant be bothered with stuff that half works.
 
IntenseJason said:
That's what I was referring to, I cant be bothered with stuff that half works.
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It doesn't half work, it's a manual focus/aperture lens?

We're all different though and if you'd rather have AF, buy a native lens. I'm not sure which E mount 20/3.5 lens costs not much more than the £15 I paid for my Nikon>FE adaptor though?
 
Thanks, Steve. That cleared things up for me. It's rare that I need a long lens and can certainly live with aperture priority and manual focussing. A bit like we all used to do years ago, I think.....

Rob
 
I own a Canon 7D Mki and a Sony NEX5R and I am also very impressed with the Sony.

I use a sigma mc11 adapter for my sigma 17-70 contemporary EF mount lens, and 2 Canon L lens and 1 EF Marco lens. The sigma lens works very well on the sigma mc11, the Canon lens are ok. AF works good on sigma and ok on canon, however low light everything starts going South.
I also own Sony e mount 16mm f2.8, 18-55, and 55-210 sony lens. The 55-210 is great lens for long reach so look for a used one.
 
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