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Lenses AF compatibility?

Rawfa

Active member
Hi guys,

I´m starting to sell all my Sony gear and I´m trying to decide if I should move to Canon or Nikon. One of the things that bugged me about Sony was that many of their cameras had a lot of AF focus points but they were only compatible with a small amount of Sony lenses. Is it the same for Canon or can I slap any lens on a 5D III or a 6D and get the same AF speed and accuracy with all of them?
 

DaveS

Active member
Hi there, I am sure you are obviously referring only to Canon or Canon Compatible auto focus lenses. Since Canon has a (relatively) short lens to focal plane distance you can put Leica, Nikon and many other lenses on the body but only in Manual focus with an adapter, but without auto focus or other control.

First off, Canon, (Like Nikon) has TONNES of lenses covering all the focal lengths available. So you never have to leave the system to get what you might want. But if you mean Tamron, Sigma or others who design specifically for the EOS mount, yes they also use all the focus points and all the focus features of Canon.

My personal experience, which might be lens specific, is that all Canon Lenses focus well on the Canon bodies, but sometimes need to be set using the built in focus calibration system on the body. IE out of the box they might front focus or back focus, but once I adjust them with the AF Microadjustment menu, they work consistently and well.

Again, my personal experience is I bought a Tamron 24-70 VC F2.8 IS, and set up the AF Microadjustment, but it wasn't consistent on my body. Sometime is worked, and other times it was off. The same happened with a Sigma zoom. The Sigma 35mm F1.4 ART is perfect. So I have found different 3rd party AF lenses not consistent, all Canon lenses could be adjusted and ok.

Lastly Manual Focus adapted 3rd party lenses are as good as your own focus ability. If you nail it, there are fine.

Again, this is all my personal experience, (and I am quite picky).

Not sure if this answers your question, but it is my experience.

all the best,

Dave
 
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