Sony Alpha NEX Cameras and E Mount Lenses

NEX-7 with Metabones Speed Booster Lens Adapter with a Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM Lens Metabones Speed Booster Sony NEX Lens Adapter Test by James Miller So what does the Metabones Speed Booster NEX lens adapter do? Increase aperture by 1 stop. e.g. f/1.4 becomes f/1.0, which means more light to the sensor. Increases MTF, which means better resolution all across the frame compared to a standard lens adapter. Provides a focal length multiplier of 0.71x, NEX's APS-C 1.5 * SB 0.71 = 1.065, a 35mm lens = 37.7mm equivalent focal length. Metabones Speed Boost Sony NEX Lens Adapter The EF E-mount Speed Booster Lens Adapter shown above also provides automatic electronic aperture control, image stabilization with IS lenses, EXIF information, and autofocus (albeit slow.) Read more about the Metabones Speed Booster from the Metabones web site and white paper . It's pretty amazing what the NEX has spawned from the third party manufacturers.

DEO Techart Contax G to E-mount AF Adapter by MX Camera. Contax G rangefinder fans take a seat. Your autofocus lenses have been brought back to life with an upcoming Sony NEX E-mount autofocus adapter. The video above from MX Camera shows the NEX-7 controlling the Contax G 45mm f/2 lens in autofocus mode. We hope to discover more about this adapter soon. We'll have to wait two weeks. We have the manual focus adapter for Contax G lenses and we love the images that come from the lenses by Carl Zeiss. Taken with a Contax G 90mm on Sony NEX-7.

All shots are from the Sony NEX-7 with a M-Rokkor 28mm f/2.8 and a close-focusing Leica M mount adapter. Happy holidays everyone and thanks for following the blog.

NEX-7 with Voigtlander 15mm, Sigma 30mm, and Fujinon 50mm lens Here is a set of pictures by Emmanuel C. taken in Turkey with his Sony NEX-7. He brought along a pair of adapted manual focus lenses: Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 Super Wide Heliar and the Fujinon 50mm f/1.9 lens. He also used the native E-mount autofocus the Sigma 30mm f/2.8 DN lens. This provides a nice set covering 22.5mm, 45mm, and 75mm equivalent field of view. Check out Emmanuel's website at EmmanuelChampagne.fr .

NEX-5N Images by Dinito1980 Here are some sample images from Dinito1980 of flickr. The images are created using the Sony NEX-5N and a Sony 100mm f/2.8 macro lens . We love the colors from the Sony NEX sensor and Dinito1980 makes good use of that. Sony 100mm f/2.8 Macro used for the images above. See more of Dinito's work at DINITO1980's flickr Gallery .

32mm f/1.8 Zeiss Planar Autofocus Lens on the Sony NEX-7 (rendered) Here is more good news from Photokina 2012. Zeiss will expand their line of E-mount autofocus lenses from 1 to 4 by summer of 2013. Here is what we know so far about the new Zeiss lenses: Optimized for APS-C sensors and made in E-mount. Focal lenghts to be offered: 12mm f/2.8 Distagon (18mm efov) ø67mm filter 32mm f/1.8 Planar (48mm efov) ø52mm filter 50mm f/2.8 macro (75mm efov) Zoom lenses are being considered. Autofocus with manual override. High quality and lightness are driving factors. Each lens will be comparable in price to the Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 ZA E lens , around £1000. Made in Japan. We were off by a few mms on the focal lengths when we posted about this a ten days ago. The prototype lenses will be on display at the Zeiss booth at Photokina. Here is the interview with Carl Zeiss' Dr. Pollman with respect to the new Zeiss lenses for Sony NEX cameras. Video from Zeiss booth at Photokina

The new Leica M This is the new Leica M camera and this is where the NEX system should be headed. The Leica M has technologies proven in NEX cameras such as focus peaking, detachable and tiltable electronic viewfinder, accepting other lenses via adapters, and a movie mode. The Leica M adds the following to the NEX system: a full frame sensor, rangefinder focusing system, a weather proof body, and a GPS accessory. The Leica M will be around $7000, around 6x the cost of the Sony NEX-7 . Kudos to Leica.

Voigtlander 21mm f/1.8 Ultron Here is a new Leica M mount lens from Voigtlander. It is a fast f/1.8, 21mm wide angle lens. This translates to 30mm (effective FOV) for the Sony NEX sensor. The big question is, will it play well with the APS-C sensor? We are hoping that it does and give us a fast, wide angle lens similar to the Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 ZA E . The manual focus and aperture, Leica M mount, Voigtlander 21mm f/1.8 Ultron will cost £1149. It is almost twice the weight of the Zeiss 24mm. 21mm f/1.8 Ultron Specs from Voigtlander Germany: Due to its large diameter elements, you can shoot with available light even in severe light condition, and also shallow depth of field and super wide angle, this mix of features offers you a chance to emphasize main things with great bokeh. Any kind of aberration is corrected properly by the construction of 13 elements 11 groups with Aspherical element. 13 elements in 11 groups with Aspherical lens Full Metal Barrel with high stiffness and durabi

Panorama Photos by Keijo Karvonen Here are some beautiful panoramas from Keijo Karvonen. Keijo used his Sony NEX-7 in sweep panorama mode to create these expansive images, no stitching necessary. The NEX-7 can produce up to a 12,416 x 1,856 (23M) file, which equates to a 41.4" by 6.1" print at 300 dpi. The Sony 18-200mm OSS lens was mostly used and a few were with a Canon 35mm tilt / shift lens in FD mount. NEX-7 Panoramas of Namibia and Botswana Here is Keijo's full panorama gallery . Here is the Sony NEX-7 with the 18-200mm OSS lens attached. This provides an equivalent field of view of 27mm to 300mm on the APS-C sensor. NEX-7 with 18-200mm OSS Lens from maa1

Canon 50mm EOS Lens on Sony NEX-7 with Autofocus Here is a second video showing a NEX camera controlling the autofocus drive of a Canon EOS / EF lens. The lens used was the Nifty Fifty, Canon 50mm f/1.8 on a Sony NEX-5 and a NEX-7. The new NEX-5R with a hybrid autofocus system (Phase Detection and Contrast Detection designed for speed and accuracy) should improve the autofocus speed shown in the video. Canon's EOS-M mirrorless compact camera uses the same hybrid autofocus system. Our assumption was wrong - the Canon stepper motor (STM) lens is not necessary for the NEX to control the Canon autofocus drive. The Canon EOS to NEX adapter with AF drive shown can control a standard EOS lens. The Canon EOS-M requires an EOS M Mount adapter to drive the same lens. If you have Canon EOS lenses and want a light, compact camera to use them on - this seems to be the best option so far. Canon 50mm EOS Lens on Sony NEX Autofocus Drive from MX Camera It's only a matter of time when

Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM Lens on NEX-5N by Bob Israel Bob I. posted some samples from his newest lens, the Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM lens. STM designates the stepper motor in the lens which allows the new Canon T4i to mimic the Sony NEX's continuous autofocus during video. The Canon 40mm STM is mounted on the NEX-5N via the Conurus / Metabones EOS to NEX E-mount Smart Adapter. The Smart Adapter allows the NEX to control the aperture of the EOS lens. See our previous post here . The 40mm STM is a pancake lens and is less than an inch in thickness. Here are some samples from the Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM Lens, Conurus/Metabones EOS to NEX Smart Adapter, and the NEX-5N . Photos by Bob Israel Thanks Bob I!

Here are a few shots from the Sony NEX-7 and a tilt lens adapter with a Contax Zeiss 28mm f/2.8 Distagon. The 28mm lens provides an effective focal length of 42mm, very close to the human eye's fov. The tilt adapter provides fun images, we posted about the tilt adapter in August 2010 . It's great on the NEX system with focus peaking as you can see focus band as you "tilt" the lens. We have not shot much using tilt and were wondering if it can make it in our travel bag where space and weight is a premium. Do you have any tips for new users of tilt lenses?

NEX Shift Adapter for Nikon Lenses Here is a Kipon shift lens adapter for NEX cameras. At the moment it is only available for Nikon F lenses. Here is the eBay auction for the Kipon shift adapter for NEX cameras. Let's hope more mounts for the shift adapter will be available soon. Here is how Canon describes shift: To explain Shift, the example of photographing a building exterior is an easy one for most to follow. Normally, if you use a wide-angle lens and try to photograph a fairly tall building, you’d aim the camera upward to include all of the building in the frame. The problem? In aiming the camera upward, you introduce a perspective distortion. The sides of the building bow inward, giving a sort of pyramid-like effect. In our everyday photography, we’ve seen this so much that we’re usually acclimated to it and accept it. But to a critical professional, there are times when this distortion is not acceptable. Here is where a shift lens comes in. With the lens’s movements all

R.C. at LensRentals.com performed a test on several lenses on the NEX-7. The lenses comprised of the native E-mount lenses from Sony and Sigma. A Leica Summilux was also thrown into the mix since it's done well in previous Imatest challenges. The numbers below represent MTF-50 at aperture f/4. The NEX-7 was set at ISO 400 and each lens was manually focused and bracketed so that focus errors were eliminated. from Imatest. Device or system sharpness is measured as a Spatial Frequency Response (SFR), also called Modulation Transfer Function (MTF). MTF is the contrast at a given spatial frequency (measured in cycles or line pairs per distance) relative to low frequencies. The 50% MTF frequency correlates well with perceived sharpness— much better than the old vanishing resolution measurement, which indicated where the detail wasn’t. Now let's look at the test results at aperture f/4. Lens Max Avg Sony 16mm f/4 915 646 Sigma 19mm f/4 920 765 Sony 24mm f/4 1000

4 Days with the NEX-FS700 by Andrew Young This is the newest camera of the NEX system. It is a pro level camcorder dubbed the Sony NEX-FS700 NXCAM. The camera builds on the NEX-FS100 with most of the requested features like the built-in ND filter and the 3G-SDI interface. The NEX-FS700 is also 4K ready, soon 4096 x 2160 video can be captured with an NEX camera. The video above by Andrew Young shows the versatility of the NEX-FS700 for video - 240fps in HD, 400fps in 480p, autofocus tracking with Alpha mount and E-mount lenses, most adaptable lens mount, lightweight and compact. The video below is a walkthrough of the NEX-FS700 which shows the user interface. There is a zoom rocker which means that a new E-mount powered zoom lens for video is inevitable. Features of the NEX-FS700 Camcorder: 4K “Exmor” Super 35 CMOS sensor Super slow motion at 10x at full HD or 40x at lower resolutions E-mount interchangeable lenses offer a wide choice of lenses Built-in ND filters 3G-SDI interface

Bryant N. posted his review of the Conurus EOS Smart Adapter for NEX cameras. He was impressed with the build quality, the lens release mechanism, complete control of EOS lenses by the NEX-FS100 Super 35 Camcorder , and EOS image stabilization powered by the NEX. He found a couple of bugs that were easily solved. The best part for us was the IS testing - it looks like Conurus has a winner on their hands. Testing EOS Image Stabilization (IS) with the NEX-FS100 NXCAM The button on the adapter is a Wide Open button to ease manual focusing. It's called the depth of field (DOF) preview button in the video. See our previous post about the Conurus EOS smart NEX lens adapter for more info. Thanks Bryant N. !

Sony NEX with Zeiss Super Speed 16mm f/1.2 Arri Bayonet Mount Lens Here is an interesting lens we ran into on eBay. It is a Carl Zeiss 16mm f/1.2 lens made for the Arriflex Super 16mm cameras. Breguet Camera of Hong Kong is offering this lens and has modified it for the NEX E-mount. This Super 16 lens will not cover the NEX-5's APS-C sensor and will cause vignetting as seen in the sample pictures below. This may not be a problem if you crop the image or use it for videos. This lens will work with NEX cameras via an Arri to PL to E-mount lens adapter which is included with the auction. Here is more information on the Carl Zeiss Super 16mm MKI lens from cinematechnic.com : Super 16mm Mk. I Set The 16mm set comprised of four Distagons: 9.5, 12, 16 and 25mm, f1.2, all with a photometric aperture of T1.3. These were the first 16mm prime lenses designed to cover Super 16mm format. The 9.5mm focal length covers the full S16 aperture, but is somewhat compromised in sharpness and ill

NEX-5 with Celestron C8-SGT by razor2277 Here are some out of this world photos from the Sony NEX-5. razor2277 mounted his NEX on a Celestron C8 SGT telescope for some astrophotography. The images from the NEX are stacked / combined to produce what we are seeing. Contact razor2277 for more details. Celestron C8 SGT (Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope) Check out more astrophotography work by razor2277 here .

Game Winning Shootout Goal - ISO200 1/320 f/4.0 We were lucky enough to get nice seats to the New Jersey Devils vs Anaheim Ducks. We brought the NEX-5 with a Minolta MD/SR to NEX/E-mount lens adapter the Minolta 45mm f/2 MD Rokkor-X. The combination easily fits into a jacket pocket. The 45mm f/2 on the NEX gives an equivalent FOV of 67.5mm, which allowed us to shoot the width of the ice from our seats. Here are a few shots from the night. Most of these are cropped which shows the lens' and NEX sensor capability. Minolta 45mm f/2 MD with Sony NEX Drop The Gloves - ISO200 1/60 f/5.6 Face Off Win - ISO200 1/250 f/5.6 Brodeur Kick Save - ISO200 1/250 f/4.0 Premature Celebration, Goal Recalled - ISO200 1/125 f/4.0 Overtime Shootout - ISO200 1/200 f/4.0 Sony NEX-5 with Minolta SR/MD mount adapter and Gordy leather strap