Using other lenses on Sony

[Rawfa]

Hi,

I've never owned any Sony SDLRs so excuse me if the answer to this question is of general knowledge already. I'm planing on buying either a Sony NEX3 or NEX5 with the adapter that allows them to use regular DSLR Sony lenses. Now my question is, can you use other brands on regular DSLR Sony mounts? I have a very very nice Pentax 50mm f1.4 that I'd love to use and might get my hands a on some canon FD soon. I've seen adapters on ebay, but I wonder if the that's the performance like (other than the obvious fact that AF won't work).

thanks

Rafa

 

[Terry]

I would assume the eBay adapters currently available adapt these lenses to other systems like m4/3. Doubt there are any E mount adapters yet. So, as far as I know we are in wait and see mode as to which lenses will stand out from the crowd as being good on the Sony platform.

 

[Rawfa]

I know it's an optimum solution, but Sony will sell a Sony MA to Sony E adapter so that regular Sony mount lenses can be used on the NEX system mount. I guess it would end up being too much of a hassle using an adapter over another adapter.
Another question that pops into mind is if you can use micro 4/3 lenses on the NEX cameras. Of course you will not be able to AF, but the micro 4/3 lenses are so small that I'm not sure they'll be able to cover the entire Sony sensor. It would be a shame though because I love my super compact micro 4/3 lenses. With the 20mm f1.7 you would have a 30mm f1.7! And with the collapsible E-P1 kit lens (14-42mm) you would have a super compact 21-63mm . I'm aware of the focusing difficulties, but it would be amazing though.

 

[Terry]

Rawfa -
Micro 4/3 lenses have no on-lens aperture controls, so even if they could cover the whole image circle you have an issue. Many Sony Alpha lenses are similar. However, the Sony made adapters (A to E ) have the capability to control the aperture for Alpha mount lenses.

 

[Rawfa]

D'oh! I love my little lenses so much that I completely overlooked this small detail. I've pondered buying the 30mm f1.4 to go along with the 16mm (with the adapter to MA) but it's much bulkier than the 20mm pancake.

 

[gsking]

Don't forget all Minolta Maxxum lenses work on Sony DSLR's...that's the mount they inherited. These will be adaptable to the NEX, but without any aperture or (reportedly) focus control.

 

[RDG]

+1 on the Minolta lenses, although the "legacy" designs are somewhat more difficult to find and getting pricer as we talk about them.

Since acquiring a A900, picked up a Minolta 20mm 2.8, a 35mm f2.0, and the 200mm 2.8 all three are very good on the A900 sensor -- I'm certainly not an authority for using mf lenses or sony/minolta A mount af lenses on smaller formats, but wouldn't the smaller sensor use the central "sweet spot" of any optic?

As an aside, I'm trying to sell a Leica 100mm apo macro and Leica 19mm v2 converted to the A mount with chipped Leitax adapters as we speak and also have a 28-135mm Minolta zoom that should be excellent on the smaller sensors. It sounds from everyone's report that the new Sony cameras will be very competitive, so good luck with your kit!

Guess this is a long winded way of wondering how the Leica 19, 100 and a 180 3.4 plus the Minolta lenses mentioned above might work on the new Sonys.. Especially when I need a tele effect for wildlife?

Too many cameras/lenses, not enough time.

And perhaps the older "beercan series of zooms" for Minolta might be the cat's meow on the smaller sensor as well and available at very good prices -- so lots of interesting possibilities out there for you.

RDG

 

[kevinparis]

when i was looking to buy a ff camera i looked at the sony then walked away as it didnt seem to offer the ability to mount a full range of legacy lenses so i went for canon instead

maybe the NEX will allow the full range of lens maunfacturers... but not until 3rd parties make the adapters

K

 

[Terry]

The Sony adapter is billed as being mechanically coupled so aperture control would be possible on Alpha. Is this different with the Minolta lenses? I was expecting my 24-105 to work.

 

[Vivek]

The Sony adapter is billed as being mechanically coupled so aperture control would be possible on Alpha. Is this different with the Minolta lenses? I was expecting my 24-105 to work.

Terry, I think that aperture control (Sony adapter) was for the G lenses.

With the old Minolta (AF) lenses, it should be no problem, I would think.

As Kevin says, I would wait for some 3rd party adapters. With the NEX' being so cheap, it would be a shame to throw away a lot of cash on adapters just to use some all manual lenses.

 

[gsking]

when i was looking to buy a ff camera i looked at the sony then walked away as it didnt seem to offer the ability to mount a full range of legacy lenses so i went for canon instead

maybe the NEX will allow the full range of lens maunfacturers... but not until 3rd parties make the adapters

K

I lost count at 20+ legacy lenses...that's a pretty "full" range. :thumbup:

 

[kevinparis]

My point was that with the Canon 5D I can - with simple inexpensive adaptors mount Canon, Nikon, Olympus OM, Pentax K and M42, Contax and Leica R lenses.

There didn't seem to be the same range of options for the Sony - and the options that did exist were more expensive and seemed to have additional bits of glass in them.

K

 

[GrahamB]

My point was that with the Canon 5D I can - with simple inexpensive adaptors mount Canon, Nikon, Olympus OM, Pentax K and M42, Contax and Leica R lenses.

There didn't seem to be the same range of options for the Sony - and the options that did exist were more expensive and seemed to have additional bits of glass in them.

K

Canon enjoys greater variety with alternative lenses. With Leitax link producing Contax C/Y and Leica R bayonets for alpha mount, the options are much better. With the Euro/Dollar exchange rate much better now, I hope to acquire a few more.

In addition to the above, inexpensive m42 mounts are easy to find. I recently acquired a Mirex tilt/shift adapter (link google translated from German) http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mirex-adapter.de%2Ftilt_shift_adapter.htm&sl=de&tl=en and I'm now enjoying 3 excellent Mamiya M645 lenses on my a850. All of the above alternative lenses focus to infinity without glass inserts in the adapters.

Although Canon offers more variety, the Sony full frames, because of their folding mirror design, enable use of a few lenses that would require a mirror shave or would foul the mirror on the Canon mount.

Graham