I just put in my rental order to Lensrentals.com for the Sony LA-EA5 A-mount to E-mount adapter and the Sony A7R IVA camera. I’ve been wanting to find out if using this adapter on the A7 cameras that are “allowed” to autofocus motorless A-mount lenses would be a valuable option for me or not. I have two very high-quality A-mount lenses that currently can only be autofocused using the LA-EA4 adapter. This adapter uses a translucent mirror that contains some rudimentary auto-focus points rather than the much more capable sensor based autofocus capability of the modern Sony mirrorless cameras.
This rental will allow me to test this new adapter to see if these old lenses can be returned to reasonable and productive use. If they do perform satisfactorily, I’ll still have to purchase one of the cameras that have this capability with motorless A-mount lenses. Currently only the A7R IV and the super expensive A1 have this capability for full frame shooters. Neither are what I’d want to shoot. But if the upcoming A7 IV camera will be given this capability then I’ll trade up my A7 III and get the LA-EA5 for the sake of using these old lenses.
The two lenses that I am primarily interested in using are the:
Both are extremely sharp optics that produce images I like.
I’ve got a Minota 100mm f2.8 macro that has always been a stellar performer for me. That plus my Sony A Mount 70-300G lens. When I look through my pictures, I’m amazed how many of the best came from that lens. I’ve got a number of other A mount lenses including a Sony branded 11-16mm but that lens is soundly outperformed by my Zeiss 16-35 f4.0 That Zeiss of yours is probably a superb portrait lens. One of the best photographers I “know” is Roberto Trombetta. I’m “friends” with him via flickr. He has does all his work for years… Read more »
His photos have a bright, clean look to them. It’s too bad some of the A-mount lenses are so good or I wouldn’t care about this ridiculous adapter.
BTW: Be sure to post how the autofocus performs, especially the eye autofocus.
It looks like I can get one for $228, a bunch less that the cost to replace my A mount 70-300G
I’ll do my best. I’m just hoping the autofocus is at least close to modern standards. After all these motor-less lenses are sort of archaic compared to the stepper motors in the modern lenses. So a little noise and a little slower is alright as long as the actual focus is accurate.