Sony E-Mount Lens Guide Here >>

Lens Adapters Update 2018 – Metabones, Sigma, Commlite

Sony E-Mount Lens Adapter Guide

Which lens adapter to get and how well will it work with a given lens is often the question. Well, in this video courtesy of TheCameraStoreTV, Chris and Jordan go over and test the latest offerings from Metabones, Sigma, and Commlite in a variety of ways using the Sony A7 III and more…New Sony A7 III Reviews This Way >>

The Sigma MC-11 appears to work better with the Sigma Glass then with the Canon Glass vs the Metabones V. The Metabones V has a slight advantage with Canon EF glass over the Sigma MC-11 adapter however, but still does not perform as good as the Sigma Glass on the Sigma MC-11 Adapter using the the Sony A7 III. Very interesting!

Eye- AF works on all the adapters pretty accurately, but all have trouble tracking larger forward and back movements.

The Commlite adapter with a Nikon lens appears to be the least effective unit, but is also the first electronic adapter for Nikon lenses to Sony E-Mount that actually works decent.

2018 Lens Adapters Update

Conclusions

Sigma MC-11
Metabones V

The Sigma Art Lenses using the Sigma MC-11 Electronic Lens adapter appear to work the best as compared to native E-Mount glass. Very impressive to say the least! Eye- AF worked really well overall and was able to track using AF-C continuous auto focus mode.
When using the Sigma MC-11 with the Canon EF lenses, the performance was not quite as good as the Metabones V with Canon EF lenses, but very close.
The Metabones V with Canon EF glass also worked really well, but not as good as the Sigma Lenses using the Sigma Lens adapter. This makes sense when you look at the fact we have a Canon Lens, a Metabones V Adapter, and then a Sony camera. Three different manufactures involved in the system, where as the Sigma solution has a lens and adapter matching pair with the Sony camera.
Note: Sigma Announced a New E-Mount Art Lens Line (See Here)

Canon Glass Users:
If you are Canon EF lens User like myself, an want to adapt to the Sony A7 III for example, you can go with either the Sigma MC-11 (canon EF version) or the Metabones V. The Metabones Costs $399 and the Sigma MC-11 costs $249.

The Metabones V performs slightly better than the Sigma with Canon glass, but is it $150 dollars better? I don’t think so based on what I have seen in various testing. Therefore, I would recommend the more affordable Sigma MC-11 unit over the Metabones V for most users.

The Metabones V does offer the Tri-pod mount which can be extremely valuable when mounting large heavy lenses. The Sigma MC-11 Does not offer this…

Nikon Glass Users:
You are going to want to look at the Commlite Lens Adapter which goes for ~$369.

Micro 4/3rds users:
You would want the Speed Booster lens adapter units for the speed advantage. Since the sensor is so much smaller compared to the larger lens coverage area, the extra light can be gathered and boosted to help in low light situations. Great for keeping the ISO down when recording video in low light for example using a Canon EF Lens. The Metabons Speed Booster is very expensive @ $649, built I have seen cheaper Speed Booster style units on Amazon.

Final Word

Please let me know if you have used any of these adapters and your experience with them. Which lenses work and which don’t for example, and so fourth.. I have the older Metabones IV unit and it works pretty darn good for regular photography, but not so good for video and some lenses don’t work. My Canon EF 135mm f/2 Lens for example doesn’t work, but apparently does on the Metabones V. So many lenses and so many variables!

Thanks for checking in and catch up with you soon!
Jay

Current Lens Adapters Worth Getting:

    1. Yeah, that would be a good test I agree! I have tested before using the LA-EA3 lens adapter and have found a slight delay, but it did work. Supposedly the tracking abilities have been improved however and should be just as good as a native lens in theory. I would like to see that test done though and perhaps I will give it a try with the A7 III when it comes out…
      Thanks,
      Jay

  1. I am a professional forestry photographer in the Nordic countries. Forest, nature, people, forestry, industry, products,reportage all over the world. Been using two A7mk2 for a couple of years with metabones 4 and 5 while waiting for Canon to come up with a better sensor. I have tried Sony glass but don’t find them as good as the Canon lenses. Overall sharpness is actually better with Canon glass, especially if You look att the edges of the images, and then this focus by wire… hate it when I focus manually (do that quite often in macro or landscape photography.) I have at the moment 15-30 f 2,8 Tamron zoom for night photography (no coma and sharp at 15 mm) and industrial pics. Canon 16-35 f4, 24-70 2,8 mk2, 100mm 2,8 macro, 70-200 f4 USM IS, 135 f2,0, 100-400 mk2, TC14, TS90mm, Sigma 50 mm 1,4 ART, 70 mm 2,8 macro, 105mm 2,8 macro, 150 2,8 macro and some older lenses as well. All used depending on the motif with the Sony cameras and Metabones. The Sony Camera house is very slow in autofocus but works very well at “slow motifs” and standard photography. AF-C doesn’t work at all and face detection doesn’t work good either. However with normal photography and autofocus I haven’t had any problems except for “hunting issues” with the “slower lenses” (f4-5,6). Absolutely no problem with faster lenses as the 135 f2,0 as You mentioned (have You updated V4 Metabones to latest firmware?) Used the combo in +35 to -35 in dry and wet conditions. Actually surprised how well it has helped me in my daily work. Now just wondering what cameras and lenses I will use in the future, but for me the Sony sensors are just fantastic regarding color and dynamic range. Have also tested Nikon but find the “color separation” in green (very important in forestry photography) and yellow, brown and red to be bad.

    1. Thank you Lasse for the detailed comments and sharing your experiences with the various lenses and gear 🙂 I have not updated my Metabones, because I need to send it out last time I looked. Perhaps I can update my Metabones III from home nowadays? My Canon EF 135mm f/2 L lens still does not lock focus.
      You have a series lens line-up, wow!!
      Thanks again,
      Jay
      Update: I need to ship my Metabones III unit out for an update…

      1. I have no experience with Metabones series 3, and don’t understand why You should send it “out” for an update. To me that sounds very strange… is it not as with the version 4 and 5 that You just plug it in to your computer and download an update and run it via your pc/Mac?
        If not I recommend to buy a new one if You have Canon lenses… simply because You can then use more or less all Your Canon lenses… and don’t have to buy new glass! So it is a rather cheap way of getting the best from two worlds, and You don’t as I have to be irritated and angry over the focus by wire function Sony has come up with.
        By the way try to work more with manual focus, promise You in normal photography will be more careful and “awake” regarding Your motif:)

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