JohnR Loc: The Gates of Hell

Just acquired my first 35mm since film days 20 years ago - a Sony A7 with just over 6000 shots on the clock. Looking forward to a 24-240mm lens arriving next week in the post but wondering what adaptor/lens combinations work OK on the Sony. One guy down here was selling an A7iii with an adaptor and Canon 24-100mm(?) lens. What do all of you A7 users find works well? Cheers JohnR

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

For Autofocus adapters, go online and read the reviews of any of your candidates, looking for comments like "Canon lenses work as good on Sony as native Canon with this adapter" vs "lens loses auto focus" or "AF is so slow / inaccurate, makes lens worthless". Brands Metabones and Fotodiox are considered the best for maintaining full AF and IS for Canon to Sony.

For manual focus lenses, these are literally all-metal donuts as no electronics and no glass are involved. They just need a prong to let you set the manual aperture on the lens and to properly hold the legacy SLR to the proper flange distance from the digital sensor for infinity focus. You can pay a little (like $20 USD) or a lot (like $100 USD) for the quality of the metal and added features such an Arca dovetail on the adapter as a tripod mount point.

MDI Mainer

In my experience nothing works as well as a native e-mount lens, especially for taking advantage of Sony's leading edge autofocus system. There is now a broad enough selection of native glass from several manufacturers to meet any reasonable requirement, including on the used market to save on the expense.

It's one thing if you already have a lens that you need/want to keep using with an adapter, but I would not go out and buy a lens for this camera that needs an adapter.

Here's what Ken Rockwell had to say about using older Sony/Minolta A-mount lenses:

"Some of these old A-mount lenses are good, and others aren't, but none perform as well as Sony's latest dedicated E-mount lenses. This adapter [the LA-EA5] is for old people with a bunch of old lenses of which they they won't let go rather than get with the program and buy all new dedicated E-mount versions."

The same would be true for other mount/adapter combinations.

https://www.kenrockwell.com/sony/lenses/la-ea5.htm

The only thing I would add to CHG-CANON's excellent advice is that the functionality of a camera/adapter/lens tends to be specific to a particular combination of the three components, so keep that in mind as you're doing your research.

User ID

Quite true.

Having a mess of EOS lenses left over from film days, I use them on various Sony a7xx bodies, and those with ring type USM work rather well, but I do have one zoom and one prime Sony FE lenses for events where the best AF is a great benefit. Fortunately much of my use doesn’t require ultimate AF so two real Sony lenses is enough.

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The OP seems interested in “proper” modern compatibility and is best served with real FE lenses, Sony or excellent Sigma or Tamron FE.

OTOH the OP expressed no interest in adapting any “vintage” lenses for their sometimes peculiar rendering. But maybe he will discover that later on ... or maybe not. Maybe no interest in that.

nicksr1125 Loc: Mesa, AZ

The LA-EA5 won't autofocus with your body. If you have A mount glass, get the LA-EA4.

MDI Mainer

There is some discrepancy between what Sony says on their website, and several UHH members say from field experience, about the compatibility of the LA-EA5 and several older version A7xx bodies. Which is why Rockwell cautions to buy any adapter from a source that offers an unconditional return period.

MDI Mainer

One additional argument in favor of native E-mount lenses for the A7 is image stabilization. The A7 body lacks this feature; many, perhaps even most, examples of native glass do. I can't speak to Nikon or Canon lenses adapted to the A7, but Sony A mount lenses did not offer stabilization, as Sony relied on in-body stabilization exclusively for their A mount cameras. Stabilization of course may or may not be helpful depending on what and when you shoot.

MDI Mainer

I have a Minolta "beer can" and 50mm f1.2 I can't bear to part with, though I don't use them enough any more.

User ID

When I mentioned “vintage” I had in mind much older, non-electronic, SLR lenses (or even LM-mount).

These sometimes require some extra careful use on the original a7, due to absence of IS in both body and lens.
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billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

If it was me, and it's not, I would go with Sony E mount lenses. Now you have no worries, no adapters, no issues. And, you will be happy for the rest of your life, and you won't have to marry an ugly wife.

Lorendn Loc: Jackson, WY

I have shot Canon for 10 years and have 6 "L" lenses from 16-600mm. Three years ago I started the transition to Sony, first using my Canon glass with a Metabones IV adapter. It works flawlessly will all of my Canon lenses with the exception of the original Canon 100-400mm (autofocus is slow and erratic.)

I have used the Sony A7Rii, A9ii, A7Riii, and A7Riv Sony bodies. Now, Sony has a good selection of quality lenses that are generally smaller and lighter than the similar Canon lenses with the Metabones but they are also significantly more expensive. I think you will be happy using the adapter in your transition.

nicksr1125 Loc: Mesa, AZ

The LA-EA5 will not auto-focus on the older A7 bodies. It was designed for the A7RIV. Sony is covering their bases. When I bought my A7RIII, I bought an LA-EA4 which worked well with all my Tamron A mount glass. When the LA-EA5 came out, I read what was on the Sony website & decided to give it a try. None of my lenses would focus.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Just get the Sigma MC11 adapter for Canon EF lenses - works well with most lenses. The latest (of several versions) of the Metabones seems to work well also. The performance of any AF adapter will be very body/lens specific.
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ggenova64

You forgot one, Sigma MC-11!

gwilliams6

Wrong ,, the Sigma MC-11 adaptor is widely agreed as the best Canon EF to E-mount adaptor and works much better than the more expensive Metabones and the very poor Fotodiox ones. I have used them all, and I and every major testers agrees here on this that the MC-11 is best. The MC-11 is the one to get for using Canon lenses on Sony E-mount. Cheers