Sony a7ii with Manual lenses

[f16sunshine]

Please post comments in regard to using the Sony A7ii with Manual focus non native lenses.
Are you benifiting form the 5 axis ibis ?

Is the upgrade from the original a7 really worth it for non native lenses?
Are there additional upgrades that make the V2 bodies worth the additional expense?

I would like to primarily use the Canon 50mm f1.2 and Summicron 40mm f2 (CLE Rokkor).

In the Last couple weeks I was in a hurry to find a User a7 for a project to shoot the Canon 50mm f1.2. No luck finding a good used copy at my budget.
I'll used my 5Dii instead with a f1.5/75mm Biotar instead this weekend for the dreamy look in this case (as the Canon 1.2/50 also leaves at wide open).

With more time to ponder,...My curiousity for the a7ii is piqued. Are you adopters making good use of the ibis for non native lenses or is it mostly benificial with Native FE glass.

Thanks for your comments and experiences! 🙂

 

[YYV_146]

A7rii just came in last week. I think the IBIS helps, although it isn't as effective as with FE lenses. As noted by Sony, when using adapted lenses you're only getting stabilization in the x-y dimension.

Because of the higher pixel count, I found myself shooting at 1/focal length*2 on the A7rii without stabilization. 21mm isn't quite safe until 1/50, and 50mm is okay at 1/80th, but 1/125 feel easier to work with.

With IBIS on, the 21mm I can handhold at 1/15th for sharp shots and get maybe 1 sharp frame out of 2 at 1/4th - just enough for hand-held slow sync. 1/15th on a 50 is easy with the FE 55mm F1.8, but feels a bit less safe with a manual 50mm. The Noctilux is heavy enough to throw the camera off balance, though, so that might make the results seem worse than it is.

Haven't tried it on longer lenses yet - I'm very curious to see how it does with the 135mm STF, which is a Sony (but fully mechanical and manual) lens.

 

[f16sunshine]

So Victor.... sounds like about a 1.5 stops with your 21mm?

For me with my 50mm and 40mm I might realize only an extra stop ?

I'm pretty steady.

1/15th with the native 50mm FE..? Sounds pretty impressive for in body.
My Fuji 55-200 I'm seeing sharp steady images at 55mm down to 1/20th.
That's a stabalized lens rather than body.
That's one of the things that got me looking this direction.
I never cared too much about stabilized process until i started seein the benifits from this particular lens.

 

[YYV_146]

So Victor.... sounds like about a 1.5 stops with your 21mm?

For me with my 50mm and 40mm I might realize only an extra stop ?

I'm pretty steady.

1/15th with the native 50mm FE..? Sounds pretty impressive for in body.
My Fuji 55-200 I'm seeing sharp steady images at 55mm down to 1/20th.
That's a stabalized lens rather than body.
That's one of the things that got me looking this direction.
I never cared too much about stabilized process until i started seein the benifits from this particular lens.

Yes - 1/15th as long as you're using both hands and looking through the viewfinder. The 55-200 might be a larger lens and harder to hold steady? The FE feels like it was designed as part of a fixed-lens camera - balances perfectly, and at just the right size.

1.5 stops sounds about right. It seems like a powerful system - you can actually feel the IBIS "kick" when the shutter is half depressed. My guess is that you might get more out of the A7ii since the sensor isn't so demanding on perfect focus and shooting parameters.

 

[newst]

I work strictly with manual lenses and hand held. Was using an A7 and happy with it until Sony introduced the A7II.

Frankly IBIS is great, but primarily with longer, heavier lenses. I didn't have any difficulty keeping the A7 steady with 35-50mm lenses. When I moved up to 85mm and larger I had a hard time fighting camera shake with the A7.

Beyond IBIS I find the re-designed body with the larger grip and re-positioned buttons to be more comfortable to hold and shoot, but that will vary by individual.

Most of the remaining upgrades in the A7II are applicable to auto-focus and/or native lenses, as well as 4K video, neither of which I use.

I am happy with the A7II and the additional cost even though I don't benefit from the full range of improvements.

 

[chris91387]

i have the a7ii with metabones adapter and leica m glass. i don't love the a7 (or most sony cameras) in general but leica digitial is beyond what i am willing to spend. i believe the 5 axis is only for sony glass but we benefit from 3 axis. I've handheld down to about 1/8 with good luck. BE SURE to change the setting where you tell the camera what focal length lens you are using. i assume it behaves differently depending on what mm you are using.

 

[craygc]

I use my Sony A7II quite differently to most people. I only use adapted lens; the camera is almost always in manual, with auto iso & a constant -2EV (always push in post). Rarely found a need for IBIS but certainly beneficial when needed (although it does make cleaning the sensor a little harder)

 

[willie_901]

Here are a series of objective, data driven studies on adapted lens performance on the Sony A7II.

The link loads the last of these posts, there are several more, including M lenses, before this one

 

[newst]

I am another of those who only use manual, non-native lenses with the A7II. I use both an A6000 and the A7II in this way.

I was using an A7, and loving it, when the A7II came out. I upgraded simply for IBIS but was pleased to discover that the body changes from the A7 made the MkII more comfortable to hold.

Truthfully you only get 3 axis stabilization with adapted lenses. The five axis stabilization requires the use of a Sony OSS lens. When the camera recognizes an OSS lens it combines the two systems into a 5 axis system.

Truthfully I don't see any difference between the A7 and A7II when using smaller, shorter focal length lenses. I see a big difference when shooting longer, heavier lenses with a much higher 'keeper' rate using the A7II.

 

[uhoh7]

If you want and of the Sony A7 cameras to shine shine with non-native glass, including SLR, like a M240, you send it off to Kolari and they peel off the silly thick coverglass over the sensor. All works as normal, including AF. Native glass is very slightly worse. Any lens designed for Flim is better. 35mm and wider are much better. My nFD 24/2 was unusable on the stock A7r or A7. Here it is on the A7.mod:


Bridge in to Blue by unoh7, on Flickr

The mod is available for all models, including the r2.

You buy a A7 used for 700 and get the 400 mod. For 1100 you have a camera which will beat the latest A7r2 or the A7S with non-native glass.

The M240 is still slightly better.

 

[naren]

I've tried a few A7II bodies with my M-mount lenses and Metabones adaptor, 1 used, 3 in camera stores .... On the 1st used body I tried I believe the image magnification feature worked and then on the other cameras it did not. I scrolled through the menu and found just an on/off option for focus assist with image magnification (can't remember the exact phrase). Unfortunately the salespeople were unable to help. 2 of the new bodies gave me a black screen saying, "cannot perform the function because there is no lens attached". The other body just didn't do anything. At first I thought maybe I was mixed up and since the first seller was rushing, and I had only seen magnification with his native lenses... on 2nd thought I was pretty sure it worked with mine. It was a 2 step magnification though, and the guy said that it's programmable so that you can make just 1 step with the higher magnification. I suppose there's someplace in the menu system other than "focus magnification assist ON/OFF)?? Although he did seem to be full of it on a number of issues.

If you buy used make sure the original receipt is from an authorized Sony dealer, otherwise they may not honor the warranty.

 

[peterm1]

I've tried a few A7II bodies with my M-mount lenses and Metabones adaptor, 1 used, 3 in camera stores .... On the 1st used body I tried I believe the image magnification feature worked and then on the other cameras it did not. I scrolled through the menu and found just an on/off option for focus assist with image magnification (can't remember the exact phrase). Unfortunately the salespeople were unable to help. 2 of the new bodies gave me a black screen saying, "cannot perform the function because there is no lens attached". The other body just didn't do anything. At first I thought maybe I was mixed up and since the first seller was rushing, and I had only seen magnification with his native lenses... on 2nd thought I was pretty sure it worked with mine. It was a 2 step magnification though, and the guy said that it's programmable so that you can make just 1 step with the higher magnification. I suppose there's someplace in the menu system other than "focus magnification assist ON/OFF)?? Although he did seem to be full of it on a number of issues.

If you buy used make sure the original receipt is from an authorized Sony dealer, otherwise they may not honor the warranty.

These issues can all be fixed by changing setting in the cameras settings menu. I regularly use Leica and Nikon lenses on my Sony cameras with features including MF Assist/magnification, focus peaking etc. So I know it works. But some fiddling with menus is required first.

Also to get the camera to recognize that a manual lens is attached you must also change a setting to allow shutter release without lens otherwise you get the error message you spoke of. Further you have to change one of the custom button settings to allocate the MF Assist function to one of these programmable buttons on the camera.

I don't have time now to record all of the several changes needs to facilitate this or to document exactly which menu items must be reset. Perhaps some other kind soul can help. It is clear to me that the staff in the store(s) you went to did not know what they were doing and did not know this camera. Shame on them. Oh well they lost a sale.

 

[sevo]

These issues can all be fixed by changing setting in the cameras settings menu. I regularly use Leica and Nikon lenses on my Sony cameras with features including MF Assist/magnification, focus peaking etc. So I know it works. But some fiddling with menus is required first.

The A7 series by default (as shipped and after you reset the camera) has the basic adapted lens settings enabled whenever no AF lens is detected (release without lens attached, peeking on AEL button).

On a shop demo camera, someone might have set them differently, but it is more likely that the issue simply was that the camera had been put into some AE mode that requires a lens with aperture control (i.e. shutter priority or any program mode) - manual, adapted lenses can (for obvious reasons) only work in manual or aperture priority modes.

 

[naren]

Well, the C2 button I used for that in the past I believe has a magnification icon next to it... so I assumed that was the default. As far as no lens attached selection I will have to play around with that or talk to a more knowledgeable salesperson. I was really surprised there were 3 guys there at Samy's (now one of the top two Pro shops in SF) and none of them knew. And yeah the camera was in A model

Well,, I'm glad to know at least works and it doesn't seem yet that there's major glitches. I just thought that if there were 2 levels of magnification options that would come up in the same spot in the menu where I saw magnification on/off. Oh well.