I’ve been investigating how I wanted to do certain close-up photography work on the Sony E-mount. Transitioning from the Sony A-mount I had the Minolta 200mm f\4 macro lens. This is a superb lens but it has a screw drive autofocus system which is not accommodated by the LAEA3 adapter and if used with the LAEA4 adapter forces me to have the so-called “translucent mirror” of the adapter in between the lens and the sensor. So I went around looking for other options. I rented the Sony 90mm f\2.8 macro lens. It is excellent and has an excellent autofocus response with the Sony A7 III camera. But it is less than half the focal length of the 200mm lens. I looked at adapting the Sigma 180mm f\2.8 macro in Canon mount with the Sigma Canon to E-Mount MC-11 adapter. I rented this combination and found the autofocus inconsistent at best. Finally I tried to find the Sigma 180mm f\2.8 in A-mount and see if the LAEA3 combination would autofocus better. The A-Mount is not a very popular one so none of the rental places had this lens. I called up B&H Photo who had the lens and asked them to mount it on an A7 III with the LAEA3 and test the autofocus. They said the autofocus was fair but completely blown away by the native Sony lens performance. When I heard this I knew it was time to give up and go with the Sony 90mm f\2.8 macro lens. I’ll always have the Minolta 200mm for times when I want the extra reach but autofocus is not critical. But for hummingbird and butterfly shots the autofocus of the native sony E-Mount lenses is more important than the extra focal length. I ordered it from B&H last night. Case closed.
I’ve got A mount Sony macros lenses in both 50mm & 100mm, the 100 Minolta branded lens is/was excellent and have MANY thousands of shots through it. When I transitioned to E mount I used primarily the 100 through a LAEA 4 until I bought the 90mm Sony E lens and never looked back. I’ve found that to really get anything like the most out of a very good macro lens, you have to be VERY steady or, preferably, use a tripod. Even with a tripod, I’ll usually use the 2 second delay. When you’re looking for an insect hair… Read more »
Yes, you got the code right. The butterfly and the spider are excellent and the butterfly picture even has an artistic look to the whole frame.
Let me know if you ever want to write some posts on photography Tom. I’d be happy to set up a folder of your stuff.