Tamron af 70-300 A mount for a7

[Lirancoh85]

Hi guys, 

I'm new in the photography area and have very little knowledge. 

I own a sony a7 i, and have one lens atm (sony 28-70), I would like to add a macro lens, a zoom lens and wide angle lens for astrophotography and landscapes. 

Now prices for e mount lenses are so expensive even for second hand market compared to other brands and platforms. Now I did find lots of other options for canon or Sony a mounts like the tamron af 70-300 f4-5.6 Di 

If I do go with this kind of lens and use the adapter from a mount to e mount, will that do?  Am I loosing quality by using an adaper? And which adapter would you recommend for the Sony a7 Mark 1? 

Thanks a lot 

Leo 

Edited April 4, 2021 by Lirancoh85

[Alejandro]

I had a Sony a7 (which was stolen from me) and I first bought an adapter (A mount to FE mount) with no electronic contacts / comunication with the camera. This kind of adapters usually have a ring to set the aperture but no scale to let you know which aperture you are setting. With these adapters, focusing has to be done manually and the camera does not recognize the lens nor the focal distance used. This two last thing have a subsequent related problem which is that if you develop your photos using a program that automatically corrects lenses distortions, the program won’t be able to do it. Not much of a problem if you are using a prime lens as if the lens would have any distortion, you can determine it just once, and thereafter correct it manually. But it is not the same with a zoom, for which the focal distance used will vary. In my opinion, this kind of adapters are specially OK if you want to use some vintage prime lens, any of those which have their own ring to set the aperture.

Then I bought the new Sony LA-EA5. It worked very well. The lens gets recognized, and you can control the aperture from the camera, but AF can’t be done for every A mount lens. With many, focusing ought to be done manually. But manual focusing can be done very quickly and accurately with the help of the focus peaking assistant of the a7. I would recommend this adapter. It’s more expensive than the simple ones, but it’s worth it.

For what I know, you won’t be loosing any image quality for using an adapter (a good one).

I think Tamron lenses are a good option. Specially if they are the SP ones (but these are more expensive). Some Minolta AF lenses are a good option too, and you might find a used one (you ought to look for one in impeccable conditions) at a very affordable price. 

This photos I took with a Sony a7 using an A to E mount adapter. This one with the Sony 100mm f/2.8 (A Mount): https://alejandroceppi.zenfolio.com/p535123452
This one I took with an oldie Tamron Adaptall-2 35-70mm f/3.5: https://alejandroceppi.zenfolio.com/p1023512898
And this one I took with a Minolta 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 APO: https://alejandroceppi.zenfolio.com/p738946690
 

Edited April 28, 2021 by Alejandro