What are they thinking????
Mar 26, 2019 16:36:47 #
There are many, and I mean many adapters out there to mount a Nikon F lens on a Sony E mount camera. There are still none (that I can find) to put a Sony E mount lens on the Nikon F cameras. There are only a few Nikon F lenses, and there are many of us trying to switch from Sony to Nikon Z. Go figure. Sorry for the short rant, but I really want to get my Batis lenses on the Z7.
Mar 26, 2019 16:43:02 #
An f mount lens is designed to sit further from the sensor than lenses designed for mirrorless cameras. An adapter moves the lens further from the sensor which is ok. An adapter would probably move a mirrorless lens too far away.
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Mar 26, 2019 16:48:10 #
The lens flange to image plane for the Nikon Z7 is only 16mm. For the Sony E mount it is 18mm. You would need an adapter that is only 2mm thick which is probably not possible. The Nikon F lenses have an image to flange distance of 46.5mm so you need an adapter that is 30.5mm thick, easy to manufacture.
Mar 26, 2019 16:57:54 #
John Howard wrote:
There are many, and I mean many adapters out there to mount a Nikon F lens on a Sony E mount camera. There are still none (that I can find) to put a Sony E mount lens on the Nikon F cameras. There are only a few Nikon F lenses, and there are many of us trying to switch from Sony to Nikon Z. Go figure. Sorry for the short rant, but I really want to get my Batis lenses on the Z7.
The E mount lenses are designed to be 18mm from the sensor and the Nikon F mount is 46.6mm from the sensor it's not possible to make an adapter that make the E mount lens sit 18mm from the sensor.
Mar 26, 2019 17:00:08 #
They do make Sony E to Nikon F adapters just for for the Z series I guess. I have a number of lens from a Minolta SLR that will fit a Sony E mount and B&H sold me an adapter so I could use them on my D7100. Now that I have it, I can't speak to how they work, I have had it 6 months and never taken if out of the box!
Mar 27, 2019 09:42:41 #
John, check with S.K. Grimes. All they do is custom camera parts. They've made several lens mounts for me, though rather simple ones. In all probability, they'll also be the ones to make some camera parts for me in the near future.
Another place to check is Fotodiox. They have ready-made adapters.
--Bob
Another place to check is Fotodiox. They have ready-made adapters.
--Bob
John Howard wrote:
There are many, and I mean many adapters out there to mount a Nikon F lens on a Sony E mount camera. There are still none (that I can find) to put a Sony E mount lens on the Nikon F cameras. There are only a few Nikon F lenses, and there are many of us trying to switch from Sony to Nikon Z. Go figure. Sorry for the short rant, but I really want to get my Batis lenses on the Z7.
Mar 27, 2019 11:06:29 #
Can't be done without adding a custom lens inside the adapter (to re-focus from 18mm away to 46.5mm away.)
Unfortunately adding extra glass (in this case) would cost you not only a small fortune, but would also degrade resolution and give you some distortion.
There are some much easier ways to do it: First, you could buy a better Sony camera. Sony makes several models that compete with the Nikon Z. They differ in some minor ways, but the Nikon and the Sony are both great cameras, and I have never met anyone who could look at the pictures and tell them apart.
Second, you could sell your Batis glass and buy the equivalent lenses from Nikon. If you take your time and sell carefully, you can get most of your money back from any glass that is well-maintained, and then buy Nikon glass that is every bit as good (and in one case, better.)
You might lose some money doing this, but nowhere near what you would spend on a custom adapter that is not likely to ever work.
Both of these solutions are way better than an adapter. Even if you are somehow able to duct-tape Sony glass to a Nikon, you will find that it will never perform as well as it does on a Sony. And the reverse is also true: You will find that Nikon glass on a Nikon will always out-perform Sony glass on a Nikon.
Unfortunately adding extra glass (in this case) would cost you not only a small fortune, but would also degrade resolution and give you some distortion.
There are some much easier ways to do it: First, you could buy a better Sony camera. Sony makes several models that compete with the Nikon Z. They differ in some minor ways, but the Nikon and the Sony are both great cameras, and I have never met anyone who could look at the pictures and tell them apart.
Second, you could sell your Batis glass and buy the equivalent lenses from Nikon. If you take your time and sell carefully, you can get most of your money back from any glass that is well-maintained, and then buy Nikon glass that is every bit as good (and in one case, better.)
You might lose some money doing this, but nowhere near what you would spend on a custom adapter that is not likely to ever work.
Both of these solutions are way better than an adapter. Even if you are somehow able to duct-tape Sony glass to a Nikon, you will find that it will never perform as well as it does on a Sony. And the reverse is also true: You will find that Nikon glass on a Nikon will always out-perform Sony glass on a Nikon.
Mar 27, 2019 12:54:28 #
amfoto1
Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA
Seems like someone has something in the works:
https://www.diyphotography.net/this-super-slim-adapter-will-let-you-mount-sony-e-lenses-on-nikon-z-cameras-with-full-autofocus/
https://www.thephoblographer.com/2019/01/22/a-new-adapter-lets-you-use-e-mount-lenses-on-nikons-z6-z7-but-why/
https://nikonrumors.com/2019/02/22/shoten-techart-tze-nikon-z-mount-to-sony-e-mount-adapter-mount-converter-to-be-officially-announced-next-week.aspx/
Physically it should be possible to do.... to adapt and E-mount lens for the Z-mount camera. 18mm to 16mm. 2mm is plenty of space for an adapter (there have been 1 and 1.5mm adapters in the past, for some other combos). Plus the Z-mount has a very large diameter to accommodate an adapter.
There may be some over-compensation in the dimensions they've chosen... Nikon has struggled a long time with their F-mount's diameter, as well as it's relatively long flange to film distance. Those have made it difficult for them design fast, super large aperture lenses, incorporate electronics and made it impractical for most other mounts to be adapted for use on Nikon F-mount cameras, but easy for F-mount lenses to be used on other manufacturers' cameras. Canon got blasted for abandoning their FD/FL mount in the late 1980s, replacing it with the much large diameter and shorter lens register EF mount... but that difficult decision has paid many dividends for them since then, including the ease of adapting many other system lenses for use on EOS cameras.
A bigger question will probably be to get the electronics of the lens and camera to talk to each other properly. Getting AF, aperture control and, if present, image stabilization all to work. Distance info, lens brand/model designation and other data may be less critical, but also may be important for some purposes (for example, modern flash may use distance info derived from the lens).
As noted... There already are adapters for Nikon F-mount (DSLR, 46.5mm register) to Z-mount (MILC, 16mm register). But, as also noted by others, there never will be adapters for the opposite. Optically it will be pretty much impossible to ever adapt a Z-mount lens for use on an F-mount camera (or any other DSLR mount, for that matter).
Be a little patient.... Z-mount has only been out for around for what... maybe 6 months now? Sony E-mount was introduced almost ten years ago and the Nikon F-mount has been around since 1959.... so there's been plenty of time for third parties to step up and design F-mount lens to E-mount camera adapters. It will just be a matter of time until there are lots of different adapters for Z-mount, too. There already are quite a few for vintage, purely mechanical lenses such as Leica M, Leica 39mm, Olympus OM, Canon FD/FL, yada, yada. There are even already some for more modern lenses, such as Canon EF to Z-mount... HOWEVER they don't support autofocus, image stabilization... or probably most importantly, aperture control. It's always the easier adapters... the ones without electronics.... that come to market first.
https://www.diyphotography.net/this-super-slim-adapter-will-let-you-mount-sony-e-lenses-on-nikon-z-cameras-with-full-autofocus/
https://www.thephoblographer.com/2019/01/22/a-new-adapter-lets-you-use-e-mount-lenses-on-nikons-z6-z7-but-why/
https://nikonrumors.com/2019/02/22/shoten-techart-tze-nikon-z-mount-to-sony-e-mount-adapter-mount-converter-to-be-officially-announced-next-week.aspx/
Physically it should be possible to do.... to adapt and E-mount lens for the Z-mount camera. 18mm to 16mm. 2mm is plenty of space for an adapter (there have been 1 and 1.5mm adapters in the past, for some other combos). Plus the Z-mount has a very large diameter to accommodate an adapter.
There may be some over-compensation in the dimensions they've chosen... Nikon has struggled a long time with their F-mount's diameter, as well as it's relatively long flange to film distance. Those have made it difficult for them design fast, super large aperture lenses, incorporate electronics and made it impractical for most other mounts to be adapted for use on Nikon F-mount cameras, but easy for F-mount lenses to be used on other manufacturers' cameras. Canon got blasted for abandoning their FD/FL mount in the late 1980s, replacing it with the much large diameter and shorter lens register EF mount... but that difficult decision has paid many dividends for them since then, including the ease of adapting many other system lenses for use on EOS cameras.
A bigger question will probably be to get the electronics of the lens and camera to talk to each other properly. Getting AF, aperture control and, if present, image stabilization all to work. Distance info, lens brand/model designation and other data may be less critical, but also may be important for some purposes (for example, modern flash may use distance info derived from the lens).
As noted... There already are adapters for Nikon F-mount (DSLR, 46.5mm register) to Z-mount (MILC, 16mm register). But, as also noted by others, there never will be adapters for the opposite. Optically it will be pretty much impossible to ever adapt a Z-mount lens for use on an F-mount camera (or any other DSLR mount, for that matter).
Be a little patient.... Z-mount has only been out for around for what... maybe 6 months now? Sony E-mount was introduced almost ten years ago and the Nikon F-mount has been around since 1959.... so there's been plenty of time for third parties to step up and design F-mount lens to E-mount camera adapters. It will just be a matter of time until there are lots of different adapters for Z-mount, too. There already are quite a few for vintage, purely mechanical lenses such as Leica M, Leica 39mm, Olympus OM, Canon FD/FL, yada, yada. There are even already some for more modern lenses, such as Canon EF to Z-mount... HOWEVER they don't support autofocus, image stabilization... or probably most importantly, aperture control. It's always the easier adapters... the ones without electronics.... that come to market first.
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