Sony FS7 E-mount and A-mount with LA-EA4 and Speedbooster lens tests from Dan Chung on Vimeo.
Dan Chung from Newsshooter is reviewing the new E-mount FS7 4K camera. He is not happy with the E-mount lenses for many reasons while A-mount lenses do work much better than expected on the FS/:
What makes Sony’s A-mount lenses different to Canon’s is that the aperture is still controlled from the body (or LA-EA adapter) via a mechanical level. Canon EOS lenses are all electronic and so without power there is no way to adjust iris. This means the A lens aperture can be controlled by a simple ‘dumb’ mechanical adapter in the same way that most Nikon lenses can. This makes them about the most suitable AF lens out there for adaptation to video.
Read the full article at Newsshooter!
Camcorder preorders:
Sony PXW-FS7 body only at BHphoto (Click here).
Sony PXW-FS7 with 28-135mm lens at BHphoto (Click here).
Sony VCT-FS7 Lightweight Rod Support System for PXW-FS7 at BHphoto (Click here).
28-135mm at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
28-135mm powerzoom in Europe at Sony DE, UK, ES, IT, FR, CH, AT, NL, BE, FI, SE, NO, PT.
Sony 128GB XQD Memory Card G Series 400MB/s at Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
Sony 64GB XQD Memory Card G Series 400MB/s at Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
Sony 32GB XQD Memory Card G Series 400MB/s at Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
0 Responses
Looks like a “feature” not a “bug” to me. Nice and smooth apurture moving, suited for video.
+1
this fast aperture moving is what he call great for run and gun shooting style. Well, that’s not the stuff I’d do when I make a movie.
Would be nice if there was a firmware option for aperture control speed though.
Exactly. He is probably expecting it to move instantly and ‘jump’ so keeps turning the wheel.
Is it actually a su
if bigger is better and more versatile for you…
The issues of e-lenses on this camera seem to be related to the FS7 firmware anyways, read the article.
An f/2.8 lens is always gonna be more versatile than an f/4 one.
You can close the f/2.8 lens to f/4, but you can’t open an f/4 to f/2.8.
IF your wallet is also as “versatile” as well as your back. The day that the world will see F2.8 zooms on E-mount must be the apocalypse for you….
Right now I can buy an A-Mount 70-200 f/2.8 (mark I) and FE 70-200 f/4 for the same price.
If I’m going to shoot an event, I need all light I can gather, and my back understands that. If I’m just going for a walk, I’m mostly fine with a smartphone or a small prime.
The day we see FE f/2.8 zooms will be the day I’ll treat E-Mount seriously. It’s already half-happened with the announcement of 35mm f/1.4.
‘all the light I can gather’ except a big portion of that extra light you pay a lot more for in weight is gobbled up by an SLT mirror. So your second hand, much larger heavier lens is barely better than the smaller cheaper f4 lens, once you add the different sensor options, ability to place AF point anywhere (not just clustered in the middle), ability to focus to lower light levels and the f2.8 A-Mount option starts to look less than fresh….
*waits for the ‘but but DoF’ responses from the “top geniuses” on this forum*
Hm… I’m tempted to use your patended discussion strategy and say something abortabort-ian and totally irrelevant like “SLT mirror is not part of the lens!”
See what I did there? Same thing you’re doing with image stabilization issue
You are right, it isn’t part of the lens. When I am heading to an event I take the best option available to me which I do not consider to be an A-Mount camera with 70-200mm f2.8. The fact that you can buy a second hand lens for the price of a new one is also irrelevant. So what is the point? I can pick up a boat anchor for less than a 70-200mm f2.8.
Finally you get it! It doesn’t matter what’s part of what, all that matters is what works. Now apply this logic to the image stabilization debate above.
>The fact that you can buy a second hand lens for the price of a new one is also irrelevant.
How’s that irrelevant? There’re no such opiton for FE. I was going to buy a full frame Sony system by New Year before Sony abandoned A-Mount, with 24-70 and 70-200 as a start. Now, for the same money I was going to buy 70-200F28G1 I can only get 70-200F4 in E-Mount.
Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 OS HSM for A-Mount, costs less than either, has OS, can be used on FE cameras with adapter. It is the lenses that lack OS from A-Mount, ALL functions of the lenses remain when used on E-Mount… get it yet?
Yes, yes, we can say it’s not “lens functionality” that is lost with E-Mounts.
It’s still lost.
You still have to use an adapter for some lenses and no adapter for others, which slows down rapid lens changing.
You still have to rely on LA-EA4 crappy AF from a low-end SLT camera and waste your E-Mount native AF.
You still get no stabilization with most lenses. You’ve found a third-party odd duck for 70-200… What about other FL?
I’m not sure that LA-EA4 is weather-resistant either.
Overall, a temporary stop-gap fix. Makes E-Mount kind-of one-way compatible with A-Mount lenses with many caveats, but in no way combines A and E into a single system.
All Sigma’s current lenses longer than 100mm have OS in A-Mount, so not an ‘odd duck’. This works with all E-Mount cameras through the adapter, so again is this a limitation of adapting A-Mount lenses or a lacking feature in A-Mount lenses? Hint – It is the latter. Talking about the AF, well the A99, the only comparable A-Mount to FE cameras also has crippled ‘entry level’ AF… So is that a limitation of the mount or just shipping products? I agree that the LA-EA4 is a poorly warmed over LA-EA2 and uses one of the many poor Sony AF modules, putting ANY of the Sony AF modules in there at the time of release would have also resulted in using a poor AF module. Again this is NOT a limitation of the mount, it is a limitation of the products Sony have shipped.
There is nothing at all stopping them from shipping a better module, other than Sony having to develop one (they have in the A77 II, released 6 months after the LA-EA4).
Yes E-Mount is one way adaptable, which is why it is better than A-Mount which is zero ways adaptable.
I have been an A-Mount user for a long time, I have been on this site since the beginning when an article would get 2 or 3 comments. The lenses available for FE cameras are exactly the ones people have been crying for since as long as I can remember. Comments like ‘Sony we NEED a more affordable f4 70-200mm, like a modern beercan’ etc etc. Now on FE cameras you can have that. ‘We NEED a new 35mm f1.4’… ‘We NEED a new macro’… ‘we NEED smaller lenses’… And so on.
Of course nobody on this site is EVER happy.
Believe it or not they can actually be used in harmony, it is entirely possible for A-Mount users to use an FE camera as a second body to an A-Mount camera AND be able to share lenses with it (heck I am an A-Mount user and I don’t use an A-Mount body at all any more). For all the complaining that A-Mount is better blah blah blah, you CAN use A-Mount lenses with E-Mount cameras with an official OEM adapter. That makes them the same system whether you don’t like the particular limitations on current products or not is up to you.
So say what you want, but according to your logic then no A-Mount camera other than the A77 and A99 is ‘fully compatible’ with A-Mount lenses…. because your logic is flawed.
Best comment on SAR in years +1
The whining of some insecure a-mount users here is ridiculous. Narrow minded people that I thought would only shoot Canikon. I was really hoping Sony would carry on with A-mount, but sometimes.I also think the should just abandon it and make those people finally leave to canonwatch where they can see the final downfall of other DSLR systems in the next few years…
And it is you who needs to apply that logic to IS, it is not part of the lens in the same way SLT is not part of the lens.
Damn my f2.8 lenses are jammed at f4 when used on my E-Mount camera… not.
*sigh* Do you really need a THIRD explanation why A-Mount lenses don’t really work on E-Mount? Stop citing those adapters, they are a crappy stop-gap solution.
*sigh* do I really need more idiots like you (actually it really is only a couple on this forum) telling me that somehow what I use every day does not work, from morons who themselves have little to no experience other than their ‘expert opinions’? I’m sorry that you measurbated so hard you can hold a camera steady enough that you need IBIS. Go use you ‘amazing’ A-Mount camera with your limited lens selection while you pine for better A-Mount cameras and lenses, because end of the day all you people do is at once whine that A-Mount is not good enough and at the same time whine that you don’t get what E-Mount has AND whine that A-mount is so much better.
Well yes, Sony is transitioning from DSLR to mirrorless, and while they are doing so, both systems are lacking in lenses and functionality. Why does this notion strike you as rediculous or whining?
Nobody will buy a new expensive SSM zoom to use on E-Mounts with crappy adapters, and there’re no E-Mount counterparts ATM. That’s not whining, that’s just the way things are at the moment.
Is it a surprise that E-Mount is more versatile in that it allows you to do this, something that A-Mount does not? No. It has always been the case.
His critics on the e-mount lenses are mostly related to the camera firmware, not the lens itself.
E-mount is very obviously suboptimal for large sensors, especially FSI sensors and sensors with color filters – and Sony sensors in E-mount cameras are BOTH.
Maybe they will make a multi-layer BSI sensor one day…
You didn’t read the article did you? It’s not about lens optics or sensors, it’s only about things like aperture control, which seems to be a firmware issue on this particular FS7 camera.
evidently what you write is not true. FS7 is always E maount regardless of the lens you attach to it.
Live wiht it A and E are one system. E is the compact version. A is the bigger version.E camera can take any A lens. In due time I believe all bodies will be E mount. Some of them will be sized like A99 and offer much more funcitonality. You wtill will be able to use either lens format
>E camera can take any A lens.
E-Mounts can only use native E-Mount lenses with full functionality.
With LA-EA you lose native autofocus, image stabilization and light. This is a temporary solution at best.
Hahaha! Yes you lose all that native E-Mount functionality by turning your camera into an A-Mount SLT and somehow A-Mount SLT’s are better?
A-Mount body has stabilization in body, E-Mount lens has stabilization in the lens.
Mount A-Mount lens on an E-Mount body = no stabilization anywhere.
Same with AF.
Precisely because, two different systems. Do you really not understand this or just trolling?
Not ‘same with AF’. Also IBIS is not a ‘native feature’. You don’t lose OS if the lens supports it, it retains the native features of the lens.
Rumor on other site is that Sony will offer an adapter (LA-IE) which allows I-mount lenses to be attached to E-mount cameras. Thus E-mount can take ALL Sony lenses while A-mount and I-mount can only take one type. —>>> E-mount es futuro!
A was always meant to be the pro line (size, price, weight, performance, f/2.8 …) and E the tourist line. No surprise here.
FE lenses are all superb quality. So your statement is not really true. 1.8/55 is better than any 50mm on A mount to date. 16-35 is supposed to be fantastic lens. etc. etc.
You think tourists don’t need/want good image quality?!?
A mount was always meant to be 35mm for the masses. Same as Nikon and Canon- sell it to whomever would buy it, entry, enthusiast, pro, etc. That’s why A mount offers lenses form dirt cheap to highly specialized like the STF 135mm. If it was ever meant for anything it was meant for film. When it came out in 1985 Minolta had already made the move to lower the build quality by implementing more plastic (unabashedly) and wrapping around that state of the art technology (AF).
Add to that the fact that Sony didn’t even know E mount would eventually house a full frame sensor until NEX really started taking off. It’s called make it up as you go along. Any distinctions are a pure product of Sony’s marketing and imagination.
A was ‘always’ meant to be the pro line huh, with f2.8 lenses (which makes it super pro right!?)… Too bad it took 8 years for A-Mount to get a standard f2.8 zoom, guess they just forgot…
A and E are one system. There is no point in E mount lenses beyond 100mm except may be occasional zooms like 70-200, 18-200, 24-200 etc.
>A and E are one system
Nope, totally different systems.
If Sony is going to replace DSLR with mirrorless, they’lll have to release FE 500mm f/4 and so on, that will be able to utilize OSPDAF of the E-Mount bodies and have OSS.
Because you have the 500mm? Yeah didn’t think so.
What does that have to do with anything?
A complete system will have to provide all lenses with full native functionality. Nobody will buy the A-Mount 300mm, 500mm etc. to use specifically with LA-EA4 on E-Mount bodies with no OS.
Yes they better get on to making a 1200mm lens otherwise it isn’t a ‘complete’ system. And a 64.83mm f0.85 otherwise again, not a complete system.
And they are the same system, have never come across an A-Mount lens I couldn’t use with it.
A-Mount has too few lenses on its own.
All lenses provided within the system must be fully functional on the camera body. Is it clearer this way?
If you through AF and OS out of the window, then you can say all Canon and Nikon lenses are also part of the E-Mount system. But they’re not, and neither are A-Mounts. Full frame E-Mount has 10 lenses so far, and this is it.
A-Mount isn’t IBIS, IBIS was added later. It is NOT in any way shape or form ‘part of A-Mount’… get it? maybe you think my Dynax 7 is not A-Mount compatible either? Because you are a moron.
Again with your hair-splitting…
All modern photo systems feature image stabilization one way or the other. IBIS has been part of the Sony Alpha SYSTEM from the very beginning, along with the A-Mount.
And your Dynax has NOTHING to do with the FACT that A-Mount lenses are not fully functional on E-Mount bodies.
It’s an A-Mount camera yet doesn’t have IBIS… because A-Mount is NOT IBIS. again… moron.
Who ever said that A-Mount is IBIS? Are you hallucinating a giant flying Barry with his Animals and replying to their imaginary comments?
Because you keep replying that you don’t get all the features of the lens… exactly like Barry.
“A lens” is not a separate device. It has zero functionality of its own. You can’t shoot with a lens. It is a part of a photo SYSTEM, which is supposed to function in a certain way.
You can make something like that, but it’s not a system:
http://lolcars.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/big-wheels-drive.jpg?w=500
Exactly and they function in the same way the system was intended. Thus it is part of the same system.
Fine, A-Mount lenses work the same way on E-Mount as they worked on film cameras designed by a different company in the previous millenium. Talk about irrelevant…
Once again, your hair-splitting changes nothing. You still don’t get full AF and OS functionality with A-Mounts on an E-Mount body. Let’s not call it “lens functionality”, for ****s sake it’s still NOT THERE.
And considering this is a discussion about a VIDEO camera and Sony’s IBIS is not even functional in VIDEO it demonstrates the idiotic depths of A-Mount troll boys. Guess what? If this camera was A-Mount a) nobody would buy it b) it would be a SIGNIFICANTLY worse camera than it is with far less versatility than it has for the people who would use it (ie not you). But im.sure in your mind A-Mount would have been better…
This reply is totally irrelevant to anything I’ve said here. I don’t know what you are replying to. Some crazy imaginary A-Mount fanboy? No idea.
Not really. They can build stabilization in a bigger E mount body.
I really view and use these as one system with two bayonets.
I keep telling myself it’s one system as well…kind of like the Wizard of Oz…”there’s no place like home,etc.”…but no matter how many times I say it to myself and click my heals I still end up with two mounts.
True two mounts. I actually have about 10 lenses and hear they have a total of 60 or more. I do not really care about it as long as the ones I need and have work well. It is kinda of odd that I have to switch my 135 with my 14 when shooting first portrait and then interiors but I live with it. Same for the camera body.
I checked my metadata yesterday…so like, in the past 3 years I’ve owned 32 lenses. So, besides the fact that I obviously have a problem I’ve begun to try and reduce this. After a frenzy of crazy spending i’m realizing less is more anyway. I just bought an A7 and will use what glass I have with my A mount for now. Sometimes you just have to slow down and enjoy what you’ve got.
So true. Buying lenses is very slippery slope. I just fell for it and bought three lenses this month. I excuse myself by saying I am going for a great trip next week. Indeed I hope (if all goes well) I am but still not sure if spending all this money on few lenses is worth it.
We don’t buy them for pleasure. We buy them for tax write off. Better the lens hold the value and return it one day on something else, instead of IRS get the value and never return it.
Only if you’re using them for business 😉
Last time I took a trip to Scotland and I brought a bag of primes. 500mm reflex, 135mm 1.8, 16-50mm 2.8 and fisheye. I ended up using the cheap fisheye more than any other lens. Crazy! I now try to keep it to a wide angle zoom and one prime. So far so good:) Good luck on your trip as well…
This is very reasonable thinking.
They can, but they won’t, because already committed to OS. Canon Nikon won’t either for the same reasons.
B’sides, a “bigger” Elpha is against original design philosophy.
If they do it one day – count me in.
Like a stereo 3D camera? I’d prefer both mounts to be of the same type. Will be hard to find matching lenses with 2 different mounts and then left eye will see different quality than right eye.
And just to be sure: You say that you really view and use as one system with 2 mounts: Do you REALLY do that or do you just “do” that? Like you do it but not really or it’s like dead serious and you REALLY do it? I really need to know!
Right, one system with different batteries, different chargers, different menus, different ergonomics, different sensors, different accessories, different lens mounts, different AF technologies, different philosophies, different heritage…
Other than that, pretty much the same, like a Nikon is to a Hasselblad.
All religions are the same. They just have different gods, devils, angels, origins, messiahs, salvations, agendas, artwork, locations, histories… Other than that, they’re pretty much the same.
Go check them out. I shot both for a while. Different from old alpha but very consistent between these two. I shoot alpha for about 10 years now.
Were did this come from? All religions aren’t the same- modern misconception. If they were they wouldn’t have different gods, devils, etc. For instance, you may worship the god alpha (Lord the Zeiss Underworld) were someone else worships the god elpha (Lord of the dark realm in which mirrors have been banished).
These aren’t the same. Anyways, in truth culture, language, history and geography separate us from the intended meaning of religious belief. I believe statements such as “all religions are the same” often stem from the inability to overcome or the confusion these hurdles present toward religious insight. It’s not all that problematic, but it does require study, inquiry and dicipline. I admit, even I myself find this hard to overcome, but I guess my point is…it’s not as complicated or as convoluted as many make it out to be.
The problem today is that we think it should be easier to understand religion than other things we do. I personally would disagree with that. It’s work, and work is often not fun. But when it comes to spiritual matters I think it’s work the effort. It’s to each his own to decide if the truth uncovered is worth that effort.
Not really. A7 and A77 m2 are like twins. A77 m2 evidently gained more weight and has less content(sensor) but very similar otherwise. Button layout, menu, flash system, behavior even are similar. Philosophy is identical. Menu is exact replica , bad part is software on a77 seems to be generation behind with no app support. So you cannot easily shoot time lapse without Chinese controller. Yes batteries are not same but on nikon system all cameras have own batteries. Sony is doing fabulous job of keeping just two battery types for about 10 years now
Haha twins? LOL… a full frame Elpha is twins with a half frame Alpha?
That’s ripe friend.
They evidently are fraternal twins hence the slight subtle differences 😉
There’s no reasoning with these idiots so don’t bother 🙂
You didn’t read the article did you? It’s not about lens optics, it’s only about things like aperture control, which seems to be a firmware issue on this particular FS7 camera.
I wonder if FS7 has a setting for aperture control speed on E mount.
This wasn’t really a full comparison from A to Z…..more like from A to E.
SAR seems to delight in phrasing things/summations in overstated, almost misleading terms…
…And then gleefully watch the trolls/misreaders/conclusion-jumpers/dumb-people/etc. jump down each other’s throats as the post counts accumulate.
I think it’s a language barrier thing… except for the AWESOME FLEABAY DEAL REMINDERS
Hahaha all the A-Mount troll boys! READ, because NO A-Mount camera can do what is supposedly ‘the best’ about A-Mount lenses on the FS7. If it wasn’t E-Mount, A-Mount lenses wouldn’t supposedly be ‘the best’. So the answer is: E-Mount is the best because it gives you these options.
Do you mind rephrasing that so it actually makes some sense.
The slow aperture transition rate on the E-mount lenses must surely be down to firmware, and nothing to do with the lens itself. After all, we expect still lens cameras to shut down from wide open to the actual shooting aperture extremely fast as framing and focusing is usually done “wide open”. I believe that’s just as true with mirrorless as with DSLR/SLT.
However, there must be a reason for the transition being so slow, but I can’t imagine what it is.
E-Mount lenses can also be set to stop down when taking a shot and as such behave like SLR lenses in terms of aperture control. He also states that (as many already know) isn’t the case on any other E-Mount body. It could very well be a firmware ‘bug’ OR that he isn’t familiar enough with the camera. It ‘sounds’ to me that there is a setting somewhere that does ramped movement of the iris blades to create slow transitions between f-srops, but this causes a small wait so that transitions aren’t noticeable (which is ideal) but may seem strange and unintuitive if you aren’t used to this behaviour. There may be an option to change this behaviour that they aren’t aware of… Or it could simply be a bug.
There is zero people here that will purchase the FS7 so why is this news here ?
“Dan Chung PRO 1 day ago
The FS100, a7S and every other Sony
small NEX cam I tested do not have the same level of sluggish behaviour.
This is way less responsive than on my FS100.
Myles Thompson Plus 1 day ago
I have an FS700, never had an issue with iris responsiveness.”
Well, I’m looking to buy the FS7. Not at all interested in news about RX10 or A77s and what not.
Dan it just stupid test . A lens does not have any stabilization NO ANY OSS . How you imagine to work with them ?
Neither do most lenses used in cinema… you are welcome to figure it out for yourself.
3 axis stabilization rids and 5 axis. They make some great ones, even with OSS still looks so shaky. Either way Video OSS is a digital form no?
Why 18-105 f4 is so useless in video ? Why there is so much distortion ? Why they label it with G ???? Why fs700 ,fs100 users can not work with this lens ?
Because it’s a $600 constant f4 18-105mm? There are certainly lots of better ones on the market…
G has nothing to do with (anti-)distortion or with video. It just means: good glass.
They’ve promised a firmware upgrade to the FS700 to. Make it compatible with the 18-105. It’s probably coming out when the 28-135 starts shipping cause I’m sure Sony would love to sell that lens to FS700 owners.
Except the Zeiss Loxia lenses as it comes with mechanical aperture rings 😛
And the 28-135mm and the 35mm f1.4.
They can be de-clicked for a smooth iris.
Yup
Just got my A7 in the mail….not liking it….crap.
Didn’t you check it out in a store before ordering?
I did. I’m just adjusting I guess. The 135mm 1.8 is a monster on this thing. I forgot how small it was- it was about a year ago I tried it out in the store. All my old minolta MD lenses are pretty solid on it. It’s not the size I have an issue with at all…it’s the dang grip. It should pretrude out further. Because of the EVF hump I can’t add a thumb grip. It sounds stupid but that thumb grip completely changes the ergonomics of the camera. I can carry my EP5 olympus with the 135mm hanging of the end like nothing with it. I just had to adjust I guess. I see a lot of small manual lenses in my future with this. It doesn’t replace an A mount DSLR though, at least I’m not thinking that way right now.
Last time I wrote about that this camera is for asian/small hands I didn’t make friends here. To hold this camera a day long can be a real pain!
I use the grip from Sony with A7 and 135. It is not fantastic but very usable. My only gripe is that the focusing control wheel is a bit too far when the grip is used in portrait orientation
Hahahaha, nice bashing attempt. As if you would ever buy a Sony camera… LOL
Kiss my assss…..
You will feel nervous carrying this camera on your neck or your shoulder. I attached FD 85 1.2 and I was holding the lens body to carry the camera just to make myself relaxed about not damaging the mount.
And BTW, since you got yours yesterday do you have play when you attach native FE lenses? Mine has a lot of play with the 28-70
One Word: DUH
Are we going to hear any A-mount rumour this month?
Yes. Sony is secretly working on an updated version of A-mount to be pre-announced in 2019 for an early spring 2021 release. Internally it is tentatively referred to as “B-mount”, but on request of Sony’s movie division and with the needs of filmmakers in mind, the official name at release will be para-mount. This has always been plan C in case E-mount should fail to replace A-mount and very-mount. Also, there will be 2 versions of para-mount, one for the northern hemisphere and one for the southern hemisphere. The northern para-mount will lock clockwise and the southern para-mount will lock counterclockwise to counteract accidental LOL (loss of lens) due to Coriolis forces. When moving towards the equator, cameras must accordingly be turned upside-down. We are told that the ambitious 2019/2021 schedule may have to be moved back 2 to 5 years.
You good sir, you are a flourescent pudding brain =)
stop trolling admin.
аt first the aparature of alpha lenses have 9 blaids, but E-mount have only 7 blaids and maximum apature 4 instead of 2.8/ i think it is a significant fact and must to be notifyde
The number of blades has nothing to do with the mount. There currently are FE lenses with 7, 9 and 10 blades. A-mount lenses are mostly 7 or 9 blades.
My hair is braid and my skirt is plaid! Lots of love!
Metabones, why are we still waiting for an AF capable A to e-mount speedbooster?
For video work a more fluid aperture is desired in semi auto or auto mode. In my opinion this is a big plus, not minus!
How about the Zeiss Touit and Loxia lenses diaphram controls????