Sony Sony A7/7r - Ultimate Thread on Adapted Lenses

[Armanius]

I'm hoping that we can create one thread with our evaluations on what adapted lenses work and do not work with the A7 and A7r. Hopefully, it will facilitate access to such information, and folks won't have to go to multiple threads.

Perhaps the folks with experience can just write up a summary of their experiences in this thread. Cutting and pasting info on other threads into this one would be great.

Or maybe our awesome mods can eventually combine the information from various threads into one -- Leica M lenses by Chris (Featured Forum Thread: 'Sony A7 with Leica Lenses' by Chrisnmn), the thread by Deepsky asking for recommendations for lenses with character (Sony - Recommendations for Legacy Glass on the Sony A7R / A7 - lenses with character), and Vidor's thread on the Canon 50mm f0.95 (Featured Forum Thread: 'Sony A7 With Canon 50mm 0.95 Dream Lens' by Vidar).

We also have tons of good links scattered in the original "Sony Breaks New Ground ..." thread as well (Sony Breaks New Ground with A7 / A7R Announcement).

 

[Chrisnmn]

I can assure that the following lenses work without any problem on a Sony A7:

- Leica 35mm f1.4 Summilux - ASPH
- Leica 50mm f1.4 Summilux - ASPH

testing right now:

Voigtlander Super Wide Heliar 15mm f4.5 - ASPH II ... will confirm later on.

 

[retow]

I have the A7r for a few short days only and had limited time to give it a test ride. As far as file quality is concerned I hope raw will be supported by aperture asap. All Sony cameras I had so far showed a very significant difference in raw versus jpeg file quality. However, the first impressions with M-mount lenses are:

Excellent:
ZM 50mm Sonnar, I love this lens an it could be reason alone to pick up a A7(r)
Summilux 50 asph, it delivers, what else did you expect. But on which camera does this lens not shine? Though I prefer the character and compactness of the ZM Sonnar.
Summicron 90 asph (it shows that it is one of the magic ones and a breeze to focus on the A7)
C-Elmar 90, within its limits, the oldie shines on the A7, compact, light weight, a nice travel 90
Summarit 75, this is how corner to corner and edge to edge perfection looks like

Not excited yet:
24 Elmarit, a fantastic lens on the Leica. Stopped down to f8 and slower pretty good on the A7r, heavy vignetting and compromised edge sharpness at 2.8 and f4. Not as magic as on the M.
35 Summicron asph, so far disappointing and I think I can already conclude that it is not a good match for the Sony. For those coming from a RX1, not even close to the 24MP sensor & f2.0 Sonnar 35 dream team, there is simply no contest.

To early to tell:
Summilux 35 asph (not FLE). Looking promising so far, much better than the Summicron 35.

Don`t know yet:
Summicron 28. But the 28 slot is taken by the Ricoh GR anyway.

Nah:
CV 15mm

 

[Chrisnmn]

Hey guys apparently this lightroom plugin would fix any problem with WA and UWA lenses on the sony cameras.

The Flat Field Plugin that you can download for free here:

http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/lightroomplugins.html

Please note that only works with DNG files.

I did the conversion to DNG and applied the plugin but im getting errors

Error:
Could not apply flat field correction to the following photo: _dsc0xxxx.dng

I should say im using LR 5.3RC maybe someone with previous version of LR can try this?

 

[Armanius]

On the Sony A7:

- Leica Summilux 50mm Asph at center is excellent at f1.4. Corners are soft, but match sharpness of center at round f4. Tested for 1 meter distance.

- CV Nokton 35/1.4 SC is soft and lacks contrast in the center at f1.4. It gets good at f2.8. I haven't tested the corners yet. Tested for 1 meter distance.

- Nikon AF Nikkor 28mm f2.8D is good in the center at f2.8. Good on the edge at f4. No noticeable vignette or color shift. Tested for 1-2 meter distance. Have not tested infinity.

- Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f1.4D is ok through entire frame at f1.4, but lacks contrast. Sharpens up at f2.8. Tested for 1 meter distance.

- Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f1.8D is ok through entire frame at f1.8. Sharpens up at f2. Tested for 1-3 meter distance.

 

[Armanius]

On the Sony A7

- Voigtlander Color Skopar 20mm f/3.5 SL II (Nikon version) is good at center at f3.5. Soft on the corners. Corners are ok at f5.6 and good at f8. Tested at both 1 meter and infinity. Moderate vignetting until f8-11.

The Color Skopar is tiny by itself. Most of the older Nikon lenses (whether manual or AF) are small as well (like the aforementioned 28/2.8 and 50/1.4). Unfortunately, the Nikon to NEX adapter adds a good 1 inch to the length.

 

[serhan]

Thanks for all the reports. Ad has been posting his test on talkemount:

Wide-angle test festival on the A7
Upgrade system login | XenForo

More (Minolta) lens tests on the A7
Upgrade system login | XenForo

His notes (review) on the A7
Upgrade system login | XenForo

SAR also just posted (part one) A7-A7r legacy lens test and reports:
(part one) More A7-A7r legacy lens test and reports (Martin Stelbrink, Sean, Hakan, Andrew, Yuri) - sonyalpharumors

Ashwin Rao's take using rf glass on A7R:
A weekend with the Sony A7R – A companion review. By Ashwin Rao | Steve Huff Photo

 

[Armanius]

On the Sony A7.

Leica Summicron 90mm pre-ASPH with built in hood - Sharp in the center at f2. Ok on the far edge at f2. Good on the edge at f2.8. Sharp on the edge at f5.6. The images seem to lack contrast though. Might be the cheapo UV filter I have on it.

Edit: Yes, it was the cheapo Tiffen UV filter. Much better contrast once I removed it.

 

[Armanius]

On the Sony A7.

Update on the CV Nokton 35/1.4

- Vignetting at f1.4, but clears up by f4

- Ok in the center at f1.4, good at f2.8
- Soft in the edge at f1.4, good at f4

- BUT in the edge, at f2.8 there's a weird focus shift where the shimmering actually shimmers the strongest when the image develops astigmatism. So it's necessary to adjust the focus to get rid of the astigmatism, which then results in a softer edge. WEIRD stuff.

- Tested at approximately 0.7-0.8 meters from subject.

 

[Armanius]

On the Sony A7

CV Color Skopar 21/4 (screw mount)

- Vignetting at all apertures, but no noticeable color shift

- Sharp at the center at f4

- Tested at 0.7 meters

- More testing to come

 

[serhan]

Important info on older Hawk leica m e-mount adapters:
The Sony A7 thread [Merged]

 

[KianO]

I must report using the noctilux on the a7r. I confess that I have a lot of corner sharpness issues, center sharpness is razor thin and sometimes randomnized, specially using the hawk adapter on closups...

Sorry for the joke... Although it has effectively been taken using the hawk adapter and noctilux. So far the trio works very well together. The hawk adapter is much better than the kipon double helix model that was not very stable, lack of firmness due to the double helicoil construction, the weight of the lens would be stronger than the spring that keep the double helicoil from wiggling, or at least tilting down and misaligning the lens. The lens release button on the adapter gets in the way depending on how you grip the camera, it maybe could filed down to something smaller and get less in the way.

This picture was taken closer than what a leica camera would have allowed, the distance of the noctilux focusing is 1 meter, here I closed the hawk a third of a turn or so and focused closer. DOF is almost inexistant, can't remember if I needed to close down from 0.95 to 1.4 on this particular instance. There is a slight post production crop, b&w conversion in light room, slight white balance adjustments to fine tune the grey and blacks and other small adjustments.

Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[Armanius]

On the Sony A7.

Sony Zeiss 24/2 Distagon with LAEA4 adapter:

- big ol' honking chunk of metal
- not a good balance with the Sony, particularly with the small grip on the A7(r)

- only tested under incandescent lighting so far
- AF speed is acceptable using multi point, and good using single point
- AF accuracy is ok, and did miss focus sometimes even when using single point
- sharpness in the center is very good at f2 and gets to excellent at f2.8
- edges are good at f2 and get very good by f4 - 5.6

- will be using it under better lighting conditions and update

 

[serhan]

SLRClub CV 35mm f/1.2 II review w/ A7(R):
[SLR리뷰] Voigtlander NOKTON 35mm F1.2 Aspherical II

The Sony A7R and Voigtlander 35 1.2 by Gianmaria Veronese
The Sony A7R and Voigtlander 35 1.2 by Gianmaria Veronese | Steve Huff Photo

FE35 2.8 vs CV 35mm 1.2
Re: Zeiss FE35 F2.8 or Voigtlander 35mm F1.2 II for A7r?: Sony Alpha Full Frame E-mount Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

 

[Armanius]

Having some difficulties reading the SLRClub review!

 

[Armanius]

On the Sony A7

CV Nokton 50/1.5(I)

- perfect!

CV Heliar 75/2.5

- perfect!

Highly recommended lenses for the A7!

Only small negative about the Nokton is the 0.9 meter minimum focus distance. The Nikkor 50/1.4D can focus at 0.4 meter.

Both the Heliar and Nokton are extremely compact and are good matches with the A7's small size. And the Leica M to E mount is super thin.

 

[serhan]

Here is Henry's list from dpreview:
Re: The big question for A7 and A7r - which lenses are you going to use with them?: Sony Alpha Full Frame E-mount Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

still experimenting on the A7, so far on FF lenses:

17mm: MD17 (Takumar I believe) - ok when stopped down, not very flare resistant

21mm: CV21 (Color Skopar) - not very good - magenta cast

24mm: OM24/2.8 - very good, even in corners

28mm: CG28/2.8 - useable, but vignets; MD28 and OM28 have no vignetting but show soft corners

35mm: CG35/2.0 - useable, some vignetting; OM35 very good;

35mm: CV35/1.4 very usable, a bit soft; ZM35/2.0 very usable, some vignetting

45mm: CG45/2.0 - stellar

50mm: OM50/1.4 - soft wide open, very usable; MD50/1.7 - very usable

75mm: CV75/2.5 - very good

90mm: CG90/2.8 - very good

100mm: OM100/2.8 - very good

From another poster, Contax Distagon 28/2.8 & Nikkor 28/2.8 Ai-S are good options for 28mm...

 

[Armanius]

I have the Nikkor 28/2.8D AF, and that's pretty good.

No info on Olympus OM 18/3.5 yet?

 

[serhan]

I saw sb has the OM 18mm but no reports:
A7/A7r - performance with WA RF lenses

However I saw the old review, it may not be the best option though it is a very small wide angle lens:
Canon 16-35mm f2.8 v Leica 19mm v Olympus 18mm: Introduction

 

[Armanius]

Ron Scheffler's testing at infinity distance with the A7 and various rangefinder lenses.

Sony a7 camera with rangefinder lenses

Voigtlander Ultra Wide-Heliar 12mm f5.6 Aspherical (LTM version which is identical to the current M mount version) (referred to as CV12)
Voigtlander Super Wide-Heliar 15mm f4.5 Aspherical M (referred to as CV15)
Leica Summilux-M 21mm f1.4 ASPH. (referred to as 21 Lux)
Zeiss Biogon T* 21mm f2.8 ZM (referred to as ZM21)
Leica Super-Elmar-M 21mm f3.4 ASPH. (referred to as 21 SEM)
Leica Summicron-M 28mm f2 ASPH. (referred to as 28 Cron)
Voigtlander Nokton 35mm f1.2 Aspherical VM II (referred to as CV35)
Canon 35mm f2.0 LTM (a lens from the late 50s-early 60s)
Zeiss C Biogon T* 35mm f2.8 ZM (referred to as ZM35C)
Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 35mm f2.8 (newly announced with the a7/a7R)
Voigtlander Nokton classic 40mm f1.4 (referred to as CV40)
Leica Summilux-M 50mm f1.4 ASPH. (referred to as 50 Lux ASPH)
Canon 50mm f1.4 LTM (a lens from the late 50s-early 60s)
Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f1.5 Aspherical LTM (optically identical to the current M mount model, though apparently there may be some coating differences) (referred to as CV50)
Zeiss C Sonnar T* 50mm f1.5 ZM (referred to as ZM50C)
Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f2 ZM (referred to as ZM50P)
Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 55mm f1.8 (newly announced with the a7/a7R)
Sony 28-70mm f3.5–5.6 OSS (newly announced with the a7/a7R)
Leica Summarit-M 90mm f2.5 (referred to as 90 Summarit)