NEX-7 with MF Zuikos - yeah, baby!

[Ken Ford]

My Rainbow adapters for OM and Nikon F mount came in today and I was able to spend an hour or so walking around downtown with the NEX-7, 24/2.8 and 50/1.8.

This is a very viable way to shoot! The NEX-7s EVF works well for me (I leave it in monochrome with contrast -3 and sharpness +3 which helps with the peaking) and these lenses seem to be a good match with the sensor. The adapter is a little cheesy (12:00 ain't 12:00 ala LTM to M mount), but it's snug and appears to be light-tight. If this legacy glass thing takes off for me I'll look at replacing the adapter at some point.

I'm certainly not impressed with what I'm seeing out of my kit lens in comparison to the Zuikos. Next I need to try some of my sack o' Nikkors - the 24/2.8, 50/1.2, 50 Micro and 85/2 are on deck.

I was never able to get too much enthusiasm up for the NEX before the NEX-7 came along with the EVF and revised control suite. I'm impressed so far!

 

[dbm]

It might be adjustable

It might be adjustable

The adapter is a little cheesy (12:00 ain't 12:00 ala LTM to M mount), but it's snug and appears to be light-tight.

Check to see if there are any screws holding down an inner ring that can be adjusted.

I have a RainbowImaging LTM->NEX adapter, and when it arrived, my distance marker was underneath (6:00 instead of 12:00). Once I loosened the retaining screws, I was able to correct the orientation of the lenses and now most (6 out of 7) of my lenses have the center of the scale dead center on top. The last lens is more towards 1:00, but I'm not worried about it.

 

[Ken Ford]

I'm not seeing any way of adjusting it - the mount is screwed directly into the aluminum of the adapter, and there's a notch milled into the adapter for the stop down lever. I'll drop Rainbow an email and see what they have to say. It's not a dealkiller in any case.

 

[eleskin]

Better lenses do justice to NEX 7 sensor!

Better lenses do justice to NEX 7 sensor!

I can see your pint about the kit lenses. I bought a NEX 5n for my Leica and Voigtlander glass for the high ISO and boy the NEX really rocks with great glass! I hope more on this forum post just what the NEX 7 can do with stellar glass! I posted 2 threads wanting to see pics from people who use the Noctilux and 35mm f1.2 Nokton on their NEX 7. I am considering a NEX 7 because I feel I need more resolution for big prints. I like high ISO but am finding I use ISO 1600 most of the time, and when I go lower I stick to my Leica M8.

 

[bwcolor]

I found that my second sample of the Fotodiox C/Y adapter was perfect.. so send the adapter back and ask for another. I know that you have a different adapter, but these cheap adapters seem to have poor quality control. I purchased a CowboyStudio Nikon adapter because of the good user reports. It is absolutely perfect in all regards.. tight..lined up.. infinity focus.

I use my kit lens for video. It works well for that. I just picked up a step up ring, a B&W two stop N.D. filter and hard rubber hood for outdoor video. I wasn't overly impressed with corner performance, wide open performance, or distortion, but these are all things that I don't notice much when shooting outdoor family video.

 

[Ken Ford]

Things have been really busy here, so I finally just had a chance to test mount a few of my MF Nikkors to the NEX-7. To be honest, the combination of the larger size of the Nikkors and the longer adapter makes for a very ungainly combination. I'll still shoot this way on occasion, I'm sure (I have a lot of Nikkors, and the 50/1.2 in particular sounds like fun on the NEX - a poor man's Noct) but I think I'll be sticking with Zuikos for everyday MF use.

I'm contacting Rainbow now about the Oly adapter issue, let's see what they say. No matter what it's just a cosmetic issue.

 

[Kent]

OM Zuikos are great for a NEX. They are high-performers and pretty compact.

A set, consisting of a Zuiko 3.5/18, a 2/28, a 1.4/50 and the 2/90 Macro would be almost perfect.

 

[Ken Ford]

I've never seen a Zuiko 50/1.4 in the flesh (brass). How compact is it compared to the f/1.8? What is it like wide open? I'm not sure if the budget would stretch to a f/1.2.

And I still haven't tried my Zuiko 35/2 or 135/3.5 on the NEX-7. I'd like to send my 24/2.8 off to John's Zuiko Spa for an overhaul, so I may be playing with the 35 for a few months.