Commlite Nikon F to Sony E Adapter - Review

[Shiner]

Hi!

 

I had the chance to test the new Commlite Nikon F to Sony E adapter on the Sony A7 Mark II with FW 2.0 with 3 Tamron and 1 Nikkor Lens.

I wrote a blogpost about my (sadly not that good) findings. Take a look if you like!

 

Commlite Nikon F to Sony E Adapter @ tommayphotography.com

 

Cheers

Tom

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[mkg3]

Thanks for the review.

 

Its my understanding that v3 firmware and hw is coming next month.  Hope things improve.

 

My impression from your review is, however, is over generalized and premature to reach the conclusion you did for simple reason that you only tested 1 Nikkor lens.  

 

While Tamron makes some nice lenses, vast majority of Nikon shooters shoot Nikon for Nikkor lenses.  We like to see more samplings of Nikkor AF lenses.

 

Again, really appreciate you being one of the first one out the gate with a review.  Hope others with more Nikkors post their reviews to support your conclusions or new findings.

 

Cheers!

[Shiner]

Hi, thanks for your input, appreciate it!

 

I also hope things improve and I am keen to hear other opinions with other lenses (as I also said after my conclusion).

 

I my opinion I would not say "vast majority".. I am a big fan of the Tamron lenses (nowadays 3rd party manufacturers are a very important part when choosing a system, as the lens quality is really great - Sigma ART, Tamron SP since the 24-70 F2.8) and I shoot Nikon for the excellent full frame bodies. The Tamron lenses deliver amazing quality, not far away or even better than the compareable Nikkor versions, and the pricepoint is clearly more attractive than of some Nikkor lenses. I think there are many others who will agree with that. Again, my personal opinion.

 

For this reason I wanted to show how the adapter performes with some of the most popular Tamron lenses. And the performance of the Tamron 24-70 was clearly better with the adapter than the Nikkor.

 

If I have the chance to try other Nikkor lenses in the future, I will update my findings.

 

Cheers

Tom

[mkg3]

Just wanted to share my recent experience with Commlite AF F to E adapter with FW version 4.0 with a7Rii.

 

Over time, there have been many negative reviews based on earlier firmware and trying lenses that are not supported by the adapter (per Commlite listing of lenses).  While I agree that more than the list provided should work, I am making the eval based on what is claimed by them and how I use it.  I own two AF-S either E or G Nikkors (the rest are all AFDs): 24-120mm f/4 VR and 300mm f/4 PF VR.

 

First key good points:

The current FW (ver 4.0) works as stated and no, it does not focus as fast as native lens (i.e., Sony AF E mount, or Nikkors on Nikon) but fast for most things.  I've found its AF accurate and about 80-90% speed of native mount. AF works both in Aperture and Shutter priority modes. Its more than fine for still subjects but can be a challenging for moving subjects at time.

 

That said, I've pretty much given up using a7Rii for moving subjects and have gone back to Nikon for action/sports, except using video mode for the most part. A7Rii it struggles with AF speed and blackouts on EVF in real life field use.  A9 looks great but I don't want to be a beta tester for Sony at the price of A9.  I'll wait until A9ii comes out.

 

Not so good points:

Exposure is inconsistent at times (<5%) and does not like low lighting condition.  It struggles to focus indoors on a cloudy day at f/4.  It also stops working if mounted on the camera and not used after 10~15 minutes.  It requires the adapter to be disconnected and reconnected to the body (or camera turned on and off couple of times).  Also uses quite a bit of battery power but I don't have other AF adapters to make comparison so maybe its not an issue.

 

AF for video doesn't work at all (as stated by Commlite) and its a shame as I use 4K video at high shutter speed (for sports and action) to capture 24fps images by frame grabbing short videos.  I usually use 70-200 f/4 native lens on cropped setting for this purpose.  It results in 8mp jpeg but its more than fine for most things.  Last, it works best using Center Focus mode and VR appears not to work.  If VR is working its subtle and nothing like it does on Nikon body.

 

The takeaway is that I can mount my AF Nikkors (24-120 f/4 and 300mm f/4PF) onto my a7Rii along with my native FE lenses and use AF.  I am not a fan of MF like many here so its a bigger deal for me than most on this forum.  I usually shoot moving subjects vast majority of the time.  (Btw, 24-120 f/4 is my "go-to" travel lens on a7Rii).  

 

Since I also have Nikon gear, being able to use common lenses is a big cost savings and convenience.  For me, it outweighs the negatives/shortcomings of this adapter.