NEX and legacy glass

Ken Ford

Ken Ford

Refuses to suffer fools
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I've been trying to learn more about NEX and am trying to understand how to use MF and other non-Sony lenses.

I see many adapters, but are these just mechanical mounts? Do any of the adapters allow full aperture metering and automatic stopdown? What legacy glass works most like the original when adapted to the NEX?

I have Nikkors and Zuikos around the house right now, and (if I were to buy into the NEX system) would consider buying other brands of lenses that adapt particularly well.

Last, have any third party lenses come along in native NEX mount?

Thanks!
 
Short answer

Mechanical, no autofocus support for legacy lenses. Stop down metering similar to rf lenses.. Whatever the f stop u pick, the aperture blades will be set to immediately. LCD or evf focusing at the stopped down f-stop.

Sony recently released their lens mount info to third party, but as of now I am not aware of any third party like sigma doing a native Nex lens.

All your lens have a third party adapter including one for g-lenses

Hope that helps

Gary
 
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Hmmm. That's what I was afraid of - I already did my time in stop-down metering hell.

Thanks!
 
If you're shooting in Aperture Priority mode, though, the EVF will compensate for the decrease in brightness. Remember, it's not an optical viewfinder, so stopping down won't dim the image in the finder.
 
Ken Ford said:
Hmmm. That's what I was afraid of - I already did my time in stop-down metering hell.
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This is so different though. When the viewfinder "gains up" for a stopped down shot, you're focusing at the aperture the shot will be taken at (so no focus shift with for example the C-Sonnar lens), but the viewfinder is as bright as if you were wide open.
 
Yep. The LCD or evf will auto compensate for the lower level of light being received by the sensor.

Gary
 
GaryLH said:
Yep. The LCD or evf will auto compensate for the lower level of light being received by the sensor.

Gary
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I wasn't too thrilled about using a camera with no optical finder until I tried this out on a 5N with EVF - combined with focus peaking, I'm as happy with this as when I once had my paws on an M9.
 
I've actually turned peaking off. The EVF is so good, that with my f2 lenses I really don't need anything else.
 
wintoid said:
I've actually turned peaking off. The EVF is so good, that with my f2 lenses I really don't need anything else.
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I suppose that's another advantage - your 'virtual focusing screen', let's call it, is as fast as the lens you have mounted! I was only able to try the focus peaking with the kit lens; hopefully I'll have the same experience as you with my faster M and OM glass.
 
I set peaking to minimum and yellow with the EVF and yes, it is basically as good as they viewfinder found in most DSLRs. Manual SLRs like an R are superior, of course, but it is better than the FV in the D200 and K5.
Evens SLR viewfinders are resolution limited by the grain of the matte.

stop down, focus, maybe confirm by a zoom in with the button (or configure the directional button to do that), half press the shutter to get out of zoom again and shoot.

simple and fast, and better than with a DSLR (except the D700 with a Canon matte I used, but still, almost as good).
 
I never liked stop-down operation with SLRs, due to having to stop down the lens - while counting clickstops or taking one's eye off the viewfinder to verify the aperture - just before firing. With the NEX cameras, the live view compensates for the loss of light, so that's no longer a problem. Same thing with any situation where the view through the viewfinder gets dark enough to make focusing a pain, as with long, slow lenses, or lots of bellows extension, etc.
 
I find manual focusing to be a breeze with the Nex LCD 14x/7x view. It is, nowever, not the rff experience but akin to using a TLR.

yours
FPJ
 
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There is an exception to the manual focus/stop down metering rule -- Sony and Minolta autofocus SLR lenses. Two adapters are available that support autofocus, etc -- one has a dedicated phase detect sensor to speed things up, but is a bit pricey.
 
Ken Ford said:
I have Nikkors and Zuikos around the house right now, and (if I were to buy into the NEX system) would consider buying other brands of lenses that adapt particularly well.
Click to expand...

All your rangefinder glass will be perfectly happy on front of a NEX. Just buy a decent mount adapter. Bonus: the M to E mount adapters are very trim, so your combined adapter + M glass solution will still feel svelte. SLR glass plus adapter doesn't feel so svelte, although some adapted lenses might not be much longer than an adapted M glass solution, they will tend to be wider in diameter.

20111106-_Z067115.jpg


At ~180 dollars, the Hawk adapter (sold via eBay, receives high praise here) might seem expensive but it has an ingenious internal helicoid that allows you on the fly to go into close focus macro mode with any of your M (or adapted LTM - M) lenses. Instead of being limited to 18 inches with one my ZM lenses I can get to within about 4 inches. Hugely useful.

The better adapters are less likely to allow for focus past infinity but this isn't a given either. Whatever you get, you'll need to test.
 
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A world of retrofocus wide lenses are less likely to require software fixes ( Cornerfix) than the classic rf wide angle choices. Rokkors, Nikkors and Elmarits abound!

I find the ergonomics of the plastic wide Rokkors to be excellent on the Nex.

yours
FPJ
 
The NEX is fantastic for using vintage lenses. Even focusing is pretty easy with firmware V4 and its focus peak.
 
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