Sony A7II with only LA-EA4 and A-mount lenses

[Nicklas]

Hi, I've been looking into buying a new camera for a while, and am leaning strongly towards the Sony A7 II. I currently only have an old Nikon D80 with a couple of APS-C DX lenses at my disposal, so I don't have any current equipment to take into consideration.

This is all for personal enjoyment only, and apart from stills (mainly street and travel photography) I am planning to get into making some videos (starting with a small budget slider and perhaps some adapted legacy lenses, equipment-wise).

For stills I would prefer to have autofocus, but my budget does not allow me to buy native FE lenses that cover the wide angle and normal zoom (anything longer is a bonus) I also really want lenses faster than f/4.

With this in mind I've been thinking about the current setup:

- Sony A7II
- LA-EA4 Adapter
- Tamron SP AF 17-35 mm f/2.8-4
- Tamron or Konica-Minolta AF 28-75 mm f/2.8
- Minolta AF 70-210 mm f/4 "Beercan"

I have read that the LA-EA4 adapter (seemingly by design, as it is mentioned in the manual as I understand) for some reason disables the AF assist light which might make autofocus unusable in low light (for example in a nightclub).

I have seen one person mention in a forum that on the A7II the AF assist light DOES actually work together with the adapter, but that the light might be useless with the adapted lenses actually obscuring the AF assist light.

I would like to hear from anybody who has direct experience with using the LA-EA4 together with the Sony A7II, and whether the AF assist light works or not?

I'm also interested in any feedback on whether it is at all a good idea to rely primarily on A-mount lenses on the A7II.

Thank you.
 

[sum_of_all_parts]

I am working with the Sony a7 II camera for the last month and have been using LA-EA4 adapter. I am using it with a Tamron 90 mm f2.8, a Sony 70 to 400 mm zoom, and a Minolta APO 100-300mm zoom. I can confirm that the adapter disables the AF assist light under low lighting conditions.

 

This may not be as much of a handicap as you might think. I did an informal test and obtained focus lock with the Minolta Konica lens at ISO 2500 with an aperture F5 and an exposure of half a second. Admittedly, focus was slow and it took some time for it to lock on (1/2 to 1 second). So it may be the native system may be sufficiently sensitive for your work.

 

For what it is worth, when shooting with this camera under lowlight situations-especially if shooting a performance group—you may not want to use the AF illuminator. It is quite a distraction and annoyance to the subject. Myself, I turn off the AF illuminator as a matter of course in my photography. If automatic focus does not work for you, you might want to go to manual focus and take advantage of the peaking mode to find focus. Generally, this is what I do when shooting high school stage productions. One thing, the viewfinders of the Sony increase their light output so when you view a scene through the camera, it may appear brighter than it would if viewing without the camera.

 

I have used the adapter with Konica Minolta lenses, Tamron lenses, and Sony lenses for their SLT cameras. The adapter works well and it has allowed me to take advantage of these optics.

 

I hope this helps,

 

Brian

[Nicklas]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience, this was very helpful.

Great points about not distracting the subjects, I imagine I'd be taking more shots if I can be less visible by not using the AF assist light.

Thank you again!

Nicklas
 

[Lefty]

I shoot an A7ii with LA-EA4 and A mount lenses. It is a very nice combination as far as I am concerned. I have no native FF E lenses.

 

Were it me, I'd start with the 28-75mm, it is a pretty good range for FF, fast enough for most stuff (A7ii is happy up to ISO 6400), and save getting the 17-35mm until I found 28mm was not wide enough. I've got a 19-35mm that sits in the bag, I rarely need it. There is also a Minolta 24-105mm that's a nice range, and a decent lens, but it's not fast.

 

I'd add a Minolta 50mm f1.7, at about $50 https://www.keh.com/236327/minolta-50mm-f-1-7-alpha-mount-autofocus-lens-49 it's a steal. Only a half stop slower than the f1.4 and 1/6th the price. IQ is close to identical.

 

The Beercan is an interesting lens, and priced reasonably these days. Good color, but big for what it is. Minolta made another lens you might want to look at instead, 100-200mm. Not a lot longer on the short end, and half the size of the beercan. It's f4.5 which, when you get down to it, is not much slower than the f4 beercan. IQ will be as good as the beercan and the price is right, at less than $50. https://www.keh.com/236526/minolta-100-200mm-f-4-5-alpha-mount-autofocus-lens-49

 

Almost all of the Minolta lenses will out resolve a 24mp FF sensor, the better ones will do FF 36mp, and the best, like the primes and G's, will do 50+mp. Only down side is that focus screw drives are a little louder than motors if you're shooting movies.

 

As you can tell, I like shooting the old glass, and the prices have never been lower. They are a good combo with the camera and the adapter. The LA-EA4 uses the focus mechanism out of the A65, so it's no slouch. Auto focus and 5 axis image stabilization on all lenses rocks. On the 50mm I get a high proportion of shots at 1/10th. That adds several stops effective aperture to every lens. The old Minolta color is saturated and warm. Once you get hooked on it a lot of other lenses seem sterile and flat.

[jimsimp3]

I use the LA-AE4 almost exclusively with my A7 II. I use a Minolta AF 100mm f2,8 macro, Sony 70-400mm G, 70-200mm beercan, Minolta 50mm f3.5 macro.

 

I have experience an issue with the adapter recently and may have to send it in for repairs.

[molan]

Hi, I've been looking into buying a new camera for a while, and am leaning strongly towards the Sony A7 II. I currently only have an old Nikon D80 with a couple of APS-C DX lenses at my disposal, so I don't have any current equipment to take into consideration.

 

This is all for personal enjoyment only, and apart from stills (mainly street and travel photography) I am planning to get into making some videos (starting with a small budget slider and perhaps some adapted legacy lenses, equipment-wise).

 

For stills I would prefer to have autofocus, but my budget does not allow me to buy native FE lenses that cover the wide angle and normal zoom (anything longer is a bonus) I also really want lenses faster than f/4.

 

With this in mind I've been thinking about the current setup:

 

- Sony A7II

- LA-EA4 Adapter

- Tamron SP AF 17-35 mm f/2.8-4

- Tamron or Konica-Minolta AF 28-75 mm f/2.8

- Minolta AF 70-210 mm f/4 "Beercan"

 

I have read that the LA-EA4 adapter (seemingly by design, as it is mentioned in the manual as I understand) for some reason disables the AF assist light which might make autofocus unusable in low light (for example in a nightclub).

 

I have seen one person mention in a forum that on the A7II the AF assist light DOES actually work together with the adapter, but that the light might be useless with the adapted lenses actually obscuring the AF assist light.

 

I would like to hear from anybody who has direct experience with using the LA-EA4 together with the Sony A7II, and whether the AF assist light works or not?

 

I'm also interested in any feedback on whether it is at all a good idea to rely primarily on A-mount lenses on the A7II.

 

Thank you.

 

 

Well, you will loose features like eye AF and video with AF since it's not possible in practise with the current options.

 

Sony's challenge is, A-mount doesn't provide full features and E-mount have no "normal" prices, premiums only - thanks to Sigma and Tamron inability to make a businesses case in order to support E-mount.

 

So less features and speed vs. premium prices or go for non Sony's options - Nikon have some quite attractive cameras these days, however they lack IBIS, EVF etc., so there is a feature lose as well.

 

As it is, there are no way to get it all, you've either skip features or break the piggy bank, that's it.