Metbones autofocus with these lenses?

[dfinkels]

 

I have a one year old Sony a7r with an Ommlite Canon-to-Sony adaptor.

 

I am considering buying a Sony a7r II with Metabones adaptor. I have read that many Canon lenses work in auto-focus mode with this combination (a7r II and Metabones), plus exif, etc.. Is this your experience? For which of these lenses does it work?

 

Canon 70-200 f/2.8L EF USM

Canon 17-40 f/4L USM

Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM Lens

Canon EF 50mm 1.8 II Lens (plastic fantastic)

Rokinon 8mm T/3.8 Fisheye Cine Lens for Canon

[Bindegal]

Well at least the 70-200 and 50 seems to be on the list: http://metabones.com/products/details/MB-EF-E-BT4

 

Great as the Metabones is - I have one for my A7 ii - I don´t see it as a full-on replacement for native lenses.

It works of course but there are caveats. I would say that the only way to find out if it works for YOU is to try it out.

 

For me, AF speed is okay but not really useful for anything resembling sports.

EXIF is there but for example my 300mm canon F4 L IS is reported as a Sony 300mm F4 G SSM although I´m sure the actual data from the lens is in the original RAW file. Focal length etc. is of course all in there even when using extenders.

 

Personally I got it to use on the 300mm but as soon as a native lens exists and I can afford it, the Canon lens will be sold.

 

/Allan

[dfinkels]

Thanks Bindegal,

 

I agree I'd rather have native lenses, but in the meantime I need to use my Canon glass or rent Sony lenses. For landscapes manual focus is fine, but I have some once in a lifetime shoots coming up (helicopter over NYC) so I can't be fumbling (or changing lenses)

 

I did not know of the list on the website, so thanks for that too!

[MLWolfe]

I have the Canon 70-200 2.8ii, A7rii, and Metabones iv. I also have a lot of other Canon lenses. Occasionally, auto focus works well, but I usually manually focus for landscapes. I would NEVER use it for a wedding or fast paced event. Hunt, hunt, hunt. So I'm sucking up the huge re-investment in Sony glass, one lens at a time. Without the amazingly positive metabones reviews I read just before the Sony came out, I would never have switched systems, but I love the Sony, so no regrets.

[KimBrunStudio]

The 17-40 f4L works great with my Metabones III v.41 on a A7rII v3.0.  It focuses as fast and accurate as my 5DMIII. 

[Kyron]

I can confirm the 17-40 F4/L and the 70-200 2.8II/L are indeed very snappy on this setup

I tried my old 50mm 1.4 (not the nifty) and it was not as fast as the first 2 lenses but sort of acceptable.

The 50mm F1.2L is super fast though!

 

My 24-70 2.8/L is great too although it feels a tiny bit slower than the first 2 lenses as well.

 

Remember that shooting this way requires you to be in centre focus mode. If I deviate out to any other focus modes, the focus hunting begins and all the lenses generally struggle.

[karographix]

tend to agree with the other comments here... I would not buy any adapter just for the sake of being able to buy e.g. Canon optics. I would stick with native lenses and if you shoot for Canon's L glass... the price tag of similar Zeiss is at the same range but you get all functions and better performance than via any adapter.

I personally use an adapter as I'm a Canon & Sony shooter and mix lenses at times, but I stick to the native lenses as I don't like too much of compromise in speed and feature. 

Usually adapters are great when you are in no rush but I would not count on adapter use on e.g. weddings, sports etc.
Mostly useful for landscapes and non moving situations.

Also, the adapters are best used in primes, on Zooms you will lose performance in optical quality and also in focusing speed.

 

Adapters are getting better, but is never OEM and therefore I would considered them "as copy".

Copy is never as good as original.

 

You can save a few buck like me switching between canon and sony and not always get the prime on both so it works but only on selected styles of photography.

Stating that you save money by using adapter simply is not reality as you need to have 2 brands of cameras in the beginning with. If not, then simply skip the adapter and be smart on the lens choices based on photographic needs. Just buy 3 lenses instead of 5. 

 

And if you have e.g. A7 and you really really want that Canon L F1.2.... well, I recommend to look into the Zeiss Loxia and Batis lenses instead of compromised Canon+adapter on Sony and feel sad for slow AF or fewer focus points and this and that. 

Adapter means you need to "learn to live with it" as it will always feel like lacking something, no matter what the guys like Northrup says in Youtube videos. 

Hope this helps

Karo

[karographix]

I have the Canon 70-200 2.8ii, A7rii, and Metabones iv. I also have a lot of other Canon lenses. Occasionally, auto focus works well, but I usually manually focus for landscapes. I would NEVER use it for a wedding or fast paced event. Hunt, hunt, hunt. So I'm sucking up the huge re-investment in Sony glass, one lens at a time. Without the amazingly positive metabones reviews I read just before the Sony came out, I would never have switched systems, but I love the Sony, so no regrets.

I was about to step into the same, I thank God now for keeping both Canon and Sony systems. The adapters are great help but nothing compares to the native. I'm sucking up on the Zeiss lenses now for my Sony cameras and occasionally use Canon on my Sonys anymore. 

[Golem]

............. 

Also, the adapters are best used in primes, on Zooms

you will lose performance in optical quality ............. 

 

  

I have NEVER found that a hollow empty tube has any

effect on optical performance .... given that the flanges

are well aligned. Are you only referring to the numerous

cheapo-cheapo adapters in the $10 - $25 range ? 

  

Well, if the flanges are not parallel, primes will suffer at

least as badly as zooms, especially very short FL primes

and large aperture primes, and acoarst it's worst for wide

fast primes ! The longer the FL and the slower the widest   

stop, the less the IQ is affected by misaligned flanges.