I possess two Canon DSLRs and two Sony mirrorless compact system cameras. The big full frame Canon I find too heavy to carry around, and, outdoors, I tend to use the Sony most of the time. However I have a small collection of good Canon lenses that might be useful on the smaller camera.
You can buy cheap adapters to fit Canon lenses to Sony cameras, but they do not allow adjustment of the lens aperture, auto focus, or in lens image stabilisation. Alternatively you can spend rather a lot of cash and buy a top of the range adapter, e.g. Metabones, which will give full electronic contact between camera and lens.
I don't think that I will be making that much use of my Canon lenses on the Sony, as carrying heavy full frame lenses rather defeats the purpose of using a lightweight compact camera. However I would like to make occasional use of them, possibly in connection with a tripod, and the lens that I would particularly like to fit is my Sigma APO 100-300 f4 . I used to do quite a bit of wild bird photography and that was my fitment of choice, but, recently I have concentrated on collecting commercially saleable photos for stock and that lens has taken a back seat. The Sigma is very good indeed between 100 and 200 mm, but the edges are not brilliant at 300. I am hoping that the cropped image available on my Sony a6500 might be more usable.
I contacted Sigma to see if their Canon to Sony converter would work with that lens, but the answer was no. Actually the only feature that I considered essential was the ability to control the lens aperture from the camera, autofocus and image stabilisation (for my Canon lenses) would be good, but I can live without.
Enter the Commlite adapter that comes with electrical connection between lens and body and costs the very reasonable sum of £50, a fraction of the price of the competition. For that money I decided to take the plunge.
Despite reading some adverse comment on the Internet, the adapter appears well constructed and the finish is good. It comes with a detachable tripod foot, and users are recommended to use that rather than the fitment on the camera.
It's a tight fit on the a6500 which has a metal bayonet connector, but slides easily onto the NEX 6, which has a plastic bayonet.
You can buy cheap adapters to fit Canon lenses to Sony cameras, but they do not allow adjustment of the lens aperture, auto focus, or in lens image stabilisation. Alternatively you can spend rather a lot of cash and buy a top of the range adapter, e.g. Metabones, which will give full electronic contact between camera and lens.
I don't think that I will be making that much use of my Canon lenses on the Sony, as carrying heavy full frame lenses rather defeats the purpose of using a lightweight compact camera. However I would like to make occasional use of them, possibly in connection with a tripod, and the lens that I would particularly like to fit is my Sigma APO 100-300 f4 . I used to do quite a bit of wild bird photography and that was my fitment of choice, but, recently I have concentrated on collecting commercially saleable photos for stock and that lens has taken a back seat. The Sigma is very good indeed between 100 and 200 mm, but the edges are not brilliant at 300. I am hoping that the cropped image available on my Sony a6500 might be more usable.
I contacted Sigma to see if their Canon to Sony converter would work with that lens, but the answer was no. Actually the only feature that I considered essential was the ability to control the lens aperture from the camera, autofocus and image stabilisation (for my Canon lenses) would be good, but I can live without.
Enter the Commlite adapter that comes with electrical connection between lens and body and costs the very reasonable sum of £50, a fraction of the price of the competition. For that money I decided to take the plunge.
Despite reading some adverse comment on the Internet, the adapter appears well constructed and the finish is good. It comes with a detachable tripod foot, and users are recommended to use that rather than the fitment on the camera.
It's a tight fit on the a6500 which has a metal bayonet connector, but slides easily onto the NEX 6, which has a plastic bayonet.
The Sigma 100-300 f4 dominates the scene.
Does it work?
Well to date I have found that the adapter will enable adjustment of the aperture on all of the lenses that I have tried, Canon 24-105 f4 L, 70-200 f4L, Sigma 10-20 DC HSM f4-5.6 and Sigma 100-300 f4. From my point of view that's fine, I shoot mainly manual focus, so my primary need is satisfied.
Can you autofocus? I've not experimented a great deal with this, but there is some degree of autofocus possible, it's slow, it involves some hunting, and it's not always accurate. I would not feel at all confident trying to shoot moving targets in this way.
Does the in lens stabilisation work? My only Canon lens with this feature is the 24-105, and I am not convinced that the stabilisation is working properly. I've not tested it extensively, but I seem to have a problem capturing sharp images at 1/15th. However it's early days, I need to do some proper testing. The big Sigma will generally be used on a tripod, so this is not much of an issue for me.
Conclusion - for around £50 this adapter has given my 100-300 f4 Sigma lens a new lease of life, money well spent. It won't suit everyone, but if, like me, you are happy to focus manually (and with the excellent EVF on the a6500 that's a pleasure) it could be a good buy.
11-1-2018
Comments
Post a Comment