There is a new MK III version of the Contax G to Sony E-mount AF adapter from Mitakon. The video on top shows you how fast it focuses with the Contax lenses. The new version will be sold online soon (on eBay).
These are the Contax Full Frame lenses you can use on the A7-A7r-A7s and APS-C E-mount camera with full autofocus and electronic aperture control:
Hologon 16mm; 1:8 on [shoplink 16235 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Biogon T* 21 mm; 1:2,8 on [shoplink 16236 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Biogon T* 28 mm; 1:2,8 on [shoplink 16237 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Planar T* 35 mm; 1:2,0 on [shoplink 16238 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Planar T* 45 mm; 1:2,0 on [shoplink 16239 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Sonnar T* 90 mm; 1:2,8 on [shoplink 16240 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Vario-Sonnar T* 35 – 70 mm; 1:3,5-5,6 on [shoplink 16241 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
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I believe they have fast forwarded this video a bit. Cheers!
Agreed, its definitely fast forward
Doesnt seem so to me. Why assume they are so dishonest?
I don’t think so, the traffic and pedestrians appear to be moving at a normal pace. Considering the lens is mounted via an adaptor, the focus speed and accuracy appears very good. Better than expected compared to other adaptations and easily usable for most photographic work.
not bad at all. but still far from good. what we really need is for sony to make more FE lenses!
Or for them to start making AF Adapters which record EXIF data. If Sony did that, I’d buy them.
why does that makes a difference?
seems decent 🙂
more AF options for the emount. good job mitakon!
wow they’ve come a long way considering the speed of the previous versions!
it works 🙂 albeit, a little slowly…
more AF options for the emount 🙂
The Hologon 16mm is a manual focus lens from the beginning
And all the Contax G lenses have a manual aperture ring, nothing electronic like NEX or Canon lenses
Are you sure manual focusing on Contax G lenses isn’t driven by motors?
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No come to think of it, I remember them being screw driven, meaning they should have mechanical manual but with very bad tactile feedback, nothing like good old bronze focusing helicals.
Are you sure about the 16mm Hologon? Can you confirm that?
No the 16mm Hologon can’t be mounted on Nex or FE bodies : the protruding rear would scratch the sensor.
For the 21mm you have to cut the two plastic wings protecting the rear lens.
The 28mm and up are OK.
I don’t know for the zoom : it can be tricky.
I have the Deotech/ techart adapter version 2, it is very slow to focus, but it focus. I like the little wheel allowing MF. but it is a little tricky to switch between AF and MF. it is not done the usual way : you have to set the camera aperture to 25 and switch the camera off and on again.
The two wide Biogon are underperforming on the A7r.
the Hologon does not scratch the sensor but it blocks the shutter.
I have the converted to Leica M version and tried it. The camera said something like “camera error” and stopped. I had to take the battery out to restart the camera. I was lucky, the I did not ruin the shutter, when I unmounted the lens!
Besides that the color shift at the edges makes it unusable too.
here is an image of the rear part of the lens:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dierktopp/10328126414/in/set-72157636630037335
Is this adapter turn MF Contax G lens into AF mode?
G lenses don’t seem to focus at all without electronic contacts, like modern AF lenses.
Seriously? You know how autofocus works, right?
https://www.facebook.com/mxcamera/photos/a.326681700755286.73593.218790944877696/640932745996845/?type=1&theater
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Looks really good. Would be nice if they can get that kind of speed from mirrorless adapters for Canon and SAL lenses as well.
By the way, though, Contax G lenses never had electronic aperture control. Their apertures are totally manual, without even an indication to the camera as to what aperture is set.
+Pancanikonpus, Contax G lenses were born autofocus (maybe except the 16mm Hologon; I don’t have one, so I don’t know). The G1/G2 bodies were unique in being autofocus, rangefinder, interchangeable lens 35mm cameras.
What the adapter can’t do is change Contax G lenses into auto-aperture. There is no mechanical linkage to stop down a Contax G lens when the shutter fires, so what you set on the mechanical aperture dial is what you will get.
Another thing the adapter can’t do is transmit focus confirmation to the camera body. What this translates in to is no phase-detection autofocus (contrast detection only).
I have the DeoTech Mark 2 “Eagle” adapter with the latest firmware updates which (I’m speculating) may be a close relative of the Mitakon adapter. I have Contax G 90, 45, and 28mm lenses and shoot them with an NEX-6 body. Results are very good. The 45mm in particular is capable of spectacular image quality versus Sony E-mount zooms. The focus motor in the adapter is really noisy so — be aware — stills are fine, but video would be unacceptable with this combo.
Make no mistake, a Contax G lens with one of these adapters is no substitute for a native FE prime lens. The adapter adds size, weight, and complexity, and some important features of native lenses are unavailable. On the other hand, you can take darned good pictures. Fast prime lenses plus autofocus plus a compact mirrorless body make a great combo, especially for street shooting. And if you can find a Contax G lens for a reasonable price, or even better, if you already have one on the shelf, why not go for it?
TQ Andy. This is very infomartive. Now i know much more about Contax G and the adapter 🙂
Could you give your comments on that small manual focus ring? Is it usable?
The small manual focus ring is a bit hard to use (I have big hands). I frequently have to take my eye off the EVF and use the back LCD screen to get good results in MF mode with the Deotech/TechArt adapter (they are the same, BTW). A good quality G to E-mount MF adapter is a viable alternative to the Deotech if you will be using MF a lot. Avoid the cheap ones, though.
Can anyone with a Contax G2 confirm or deny whether the af speed here is faster than with the G2? Maybe my memory fails me but according to it even my RX1 hesitates compared to the G2 combo of passive and active AF system.
No lab tests here, but autofocus feels somewhat slower (NEX-6 with DeoTech “Eagle” and 45mm ) versus G2 film camera. Still within the realm of usable (IMO; your mileage may vary). Note that G2 autofocus could be fooled by contrasty lighting which digital algorithms in the Sony body can handle easily, so speed is not everything.
Thank you for the report. I don’t remember having problems in contrasty light. Quite the opposite, for me, to be honest. At further than 3m, where the infrared light wouldn’t be useful, contra-light was an issue. Same with my RX1, low contrast is an issue…but not contrast rich scenes.
+HendricktE, see below. The G2 has ignored the figures in the shadow in the foreground and focused on bright objects in the background.
Yes, this was originally shot in B&W. College reunion, shooting 35mm film … if you’re going back, you should go all the way back, I say. 🙂
Do you remember where you placed the brackets when focusing? My choice would have been placing one bracket on the lady’s blouse and the other on her neck. That way, your plane of focus would be in line with her eyes. Also, it allows the G2 to have two contrast reference points at the same distance. For example, the G2 would get confused if you had used her hat as a focusing reference in the case that the lower part of the hat would be taken by one bracket and the upper part by the other bracket. Since the G2 uses an AF rangefinder mechanism, you need to imagine that placing the brackets on two different focal planes defaults to infinity when attempting to focus because it can’t find the plane you want to focus on.
Since I learned how to focus with it from the site below, I do not remember missing more than 5 in 100 photos.
http://www.botzilla.com/blog/archives/000378.html
Hmm, trying again w/picture.
I dont remember the contax g2 af being especially fast or accurate. Would be surprised if better than rx1.
It was fast enough for me that I didn’t think it was slow. Once I learned what the camera liked, it was decisive and accurate.
It was fast enough for me too at the time, but not fast compared to modern camera, like Canon or Nikon; it was more like my A7r.
I own the 16mm, 21mm, 28mm, 45mm and 90mm. The 45mm and 21mm are the sharpest; the 16mm is beautiful too, having an incredibly low distortion. But it has a fixed aperture of F8. The 90mm is nit as sharp, but I suspect that often this was due to the G2 not focusing precisely. I never got the 35mm, because it had a reputation of being a little weaker than the others.
The 28mm, 35mm, 45mm and 90mm can be mounted without problem. For the 21mm you have to cut the protruding plastic wings in the rear.
You can’t mount the 16mm it will scratch the sensor. I don’t know for the zoom, but it can’t be mounted on MFT bodies.
Beware that the 28mm and 21mm are Biogon and they get smeared corners with strong vignetting and color shifts on the A7r.
just tested the 28mm and 90mm on 2 fuji cams the X-E2 and Xt1 and they worked great, no color issues or smearing at all. Nice surprise!
Wow, that’s actually quite good for an adapted lens
I have an eagle contax g AF adapter from MXcamera and I don’t use it because its so buggy. I always reach for a manual focus adapter now when using contax g lenses.
wow…Now the prices of Contax G lenses will go up like hell.
Any idea about the price for the adapter?
why don’t they make adaptors for screw-driven lenses for K, F, A mounts?
It´s because this started as a DIY project by a Chinese amateur. He only had Leica M lenses and Contax G lenses with his NEX camera, so he only made AF adapter for Contax G.
Someone should make an M-Mount adapter that moves lenses back and forth rather than waiting for the supposed Z-Shift move the lenses instead.
That’s a good idea, although I am not sure if some Leica lenses have parts moving in opposite direction or at different speeds when focusing (I think floating elements) and these might not work with Z-shift.
The adapter in the video is a Techart one, see the capture below. It can be bought from eBay under the brand name ‘Techart TA-GA3″ since May 20th. The best price I have found so far is USD 265.
Not going to lie, that is really impressive AF speed from a third party brand. I remember using a SAL3518 with LA-EA1 on my old NEX-5. It took 3-5 seconds to focus. We’ve come a long way when 3rd party manufacturers are outperforming Sony themselves.
If the focus is accurate, it looks good. I own G28, 45 and 90. I use them exclusively on my Nex5N and the results are great, especially the G45 and 90. Not sure about A7 though. Has anyone used them on a A7? Share your experience here please 🙂
The Contax G 90/2.8 (no idea about AF!) on A7r is very sharp. I am not very fond of its bokeh though (despite the “Sonnar” designation).
Any experience with this adapter and the 16 F8 Hologon? This article lists the 16 F8 as compatible, but other articles are saying that the 16 F8 doesn’t work. Anyone tried the A7 or A7R 16 F8 combo? Looking for a second opinion before buying…
Thanks for the information. I Just received the latest version, TA-GA3. G45 and G90 work pretty well with my A6000. Focus is accurate even in low light situation, and I was able to get very sharp images. Manual control works great as well. I am impressed!!