The image on top shows you the LAEA2 A to E-mount adapter. According to a very trusted sources there will be a new LA-EA FF adapter that will be announced along the A7/A7r cameras on October 16/17.
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124 Responses
I hope it’s mirrorless, but with screwdriver…
That would be great.
That’s the only reasonable development. What’s the point with a mirroless camera if the adapter (like the present) has a mirror? Can might as well use an SLT then…
No screwdriver? No support for old glass. Screw that adapter.
Hmm, that buries all hope for super fast on-sensor PDAF, which
would make the SLT-Adapter obsolete…
Not if LA-EA4 is like LA-EA1 – without SLT mirror. Basically it will be just a dumb adapter to fill the gap between e-mount 18mm flange distance and A-mount.
Then why a new one?
The need for a new adapter is caused by the APS-C sized opening of the original adapter. The sensor area outside the APS-C rectangle would be obscured in part or completely.
The LA-EA3 already does exactly this for the VG900.
That one doesn’t have a screw motor.
Yeah, I know. But he said “dumb adapter to fill the gap” and this is already available. 😉
there need to be a motor in there as well for screwdrive lenses. don’t know how much bulk that would add though.
Probably the exact same bulk as on the LA-EA2. Apart from the mirror, that’s the difference between the first two models.
No, because only the 24MP camera will have PDAF. Maybe the new adapter is needed only for the 36MP camera.
Hmm, make sense.
Great, fourth adaptor. I understand that it will have translucent mirror for AF and AF engine, right?
surprise, surprise…
the interesting question is: will it have a motor for the old minolta lenses or will af only work with sam/ssm lenses?
and what about translucent mirror and “old style” pdaf?
Sure it will have a screw drive motor. Why wouldn’t it?
Of course it will support the ‘screw’ AF lenses – Sony are still selling lenses which use this mechanism!
Yep, but they haven’t released any screw lenses for a long time. If they remove the screw drive motor, that will reduce some of the bulk, so it is possible Sony will take this path.
if 85 ZA and 135 ZA mkII both SSM. i am also sure that slt-like af may be even better then only onsensor one
still big and bulky though
Ahhh… The future of the a-mount, living on as an adapter.. :/
If the A7r really doesn’t have OSPDAF this may be SLR like the LAE2–and probably pretty big! If the camera really is RX1 sized I have to agree with the haters that it will be pretty imbalanced.
When the camera was still going to be 20% bigger than the NEX-7 and have OSPDAF I though this could be good mediator for Sony’s divided house.
Soon Sony will have more adapters than E-mount lenses :o)
good point
Why develop lenses if you can make good profits with simple adapters? This is the Kenko business model.
LOL
Hahahahaha.. you made my day.
Plus, the adapters are more expensive than some lenses.
hahaha
Good one! 🙂
Lets hope it has on sensor PDAF as good as olympus em-1 and the adapter is for full frame screwdrive lens too but without SLT. Probably the lateral part would be there for the screwdrive motor.
If only they can make the mirror flips…
The pieces appear to be putting into place for the eventual demise of the native A-mount.
Only if there will be a lens selection to at least match A-mount. Until then, thanks, but no thanks, you can keep your adapters…
Sony are dumb enough to believe that adapters will “do” for us A-mount users. A bit like the flash mount adapter, the one that the F58 slips off and crashes to the floor. They are idiots and are perfectly capable of continuing to be idiots!
Andrea,
is there possibility to see LA-EA3 in the market as independent product?
New LA-EA Adapter is going to be without optical element or with SLT technology?
Best regards, WZ.
Dear Sony,
I reject your a-mount adapter. That’s it, that’s all I have to say. Just wanted to make it official.
Ff adaptor with stabilizer inside…
Well I guess only future alpha will adopt 5 axis stabilizer…
No thanks… it’ll change the field of view and add aberrations too 🙂
I don’t think they can fit a mirror I’m there, covering the hole ff area while tilting enough to have it work like the la-ea2. so it needs to be different somehow. ospdaf?
wish they had a adapter that had image stabilization for A-mount lenses since most E-mount will have it built in.
new LA-EA4 will have a bigger opening for FF and:
-either an SLT mirror,
-or AF motor,
-or both,
since LA-EA3 adapter for FF already exists without those, and will probably work naturally with A7’s OSPDAF. I think Sony will push LA-EA4 along with A7R since it doesn’t have OSPDAF and will need a way to improve AF. A7 could use its motor for screw driven lens though.
You realize the above photo is of the older, existing adapter, right?
I guess you just look at pictures and don’t read? 😉
The caption clearly states the photo is of the LAE2. Do you have something to add?
LA-EA2 is the old version.
I’ll add that BlackLegSanji can read and knows Sony products!
I’ll add that BlackLegSanji2 and I wrote the same thing and that you made an ass of yourself. If you are going to instruct someone on the merits of reading, try doing it yourself first to prevent said ass-itude .
Hopefully the new one will eliminate that foot on the bottom and be more compact.
It will come with a SLT mirror and probably costs around $450. The positive side being that we now have more than two compatible FF lenses. Oh well.
Now it has become perfect for my usage, all my Zeiss primes and zooms can use on A7 with this adaptor whenever I need high IQ. Sony is the One and Only camera manufacturer that can actually give 100% of what I need. Thank you Andrea for the excellent work here.
Good information for those who own A-mount lenses. Will my speed booster work on the A7(r)?
why do you need a speed booster on FF??
I don’t think so – as I understand it, the speed boosters rely on concentrating the light for full frame into an APS-C sized image circle.
It’s a focal reducer. 35mm lens will become 24.5mm.
image circle will shrink.if you put a focal reducer on that camera, the sides and corners of the sensor would be dark. a focal reducer shrinks the image circle to cover aps-c. 35 will not become 24. it will stay 35mm but cover a smaller area of the sensor. think about it.
It can’t do both. Ether it stays at 35mm on the full sensor or it will be reduced to 24mm on the half sensor (aps-c size pic).
You will g
You will get vignetting
You will get a square sensor!
no it wont. The point of the adapter is do get more light and bring a full frame lens close to its original focal length, so if the camera is already full frame there will be no wasted light to capture and the lens will already be at its native focal length.
I tried several Leica R lenses on NEX 5N. Only 35mm/F2.8 has slightly vignett. The 50mm, 60mm, 135mm and 250mm don’t have vignett. I’ii test those lenses on A7 when it become available.
I don’t need “adapter”.
I need a A-Mount camera.
Simple that.
There are currently four bodies for you to choose from.
So what? I have one with over 2 years of use.
just curious – what features are you hoping for with the upcoming upgrade that you can not have with current models?
What is the difference between an A99 and an A7 with a PDAF adapter?
I can’t see what people here are whining about. People were screwing all kinds of old lenses onto Canon bodies long before the NEX line was ever born. I personally know a few who use only Leica R glass on their Sony/Canon bodies. There used to be adapters with mirrors that allowed usage of SLR lenses on rangefinders, this concept is nothing new at all.
Before the LA-EAs you had a big camera with big lens, and a small one with small lens. Now you can ditch the big camera and still have two excellent lens systems. Why is that bad in any sense? I sincerely hope that Sony simply drop the a-mount and concentrate on high-performance e-mount bodies.
“I sincerely hope that Sony simply drop the a-mount and concentrate on high-performance e-mount bodies.”
And then I sincerely hope that once you have a native lens collection built up that they drop the E-mount and decide to do something else, leaving you high and dry.
If you don’t understand the difference between a native mount camera and one with adapters, then you clearly aren’t an A-mount shooter. Adapters are a flexing point and a weak spot with larger lenses. A-mount shooters also lose stabilization because no E-mount body supports it. And it remains to be seen whether this will even support AF with all FF A-mount lenses or just a subset like the SAM/SSM lenses. For all we know it might be MF only!
It’s not whining; there are clear advantages to a native A-mount system and this is a step backwards for the A-mount shooters. But yes, by all means, enjoy your NEX toys with your adapters.
+1 to redfern. A-mount FF is for serious work, A7 for tour compact. How to balance a 24-70mm f2.8 Zeiss (1kg) or a 70-200mm f2.8 G (1.3kg) on A7?
I use the 135mm f2.8 stf and Canon 70-200mm f2.8 with a NEX7 with no discomfort. Sure it is a bit front-heavy, but when I work with them I usually use a monopod or bracket.
Try using that combination for a wedding! Sony knows too well A-mount & E-mount must co-exist & complement each other, and this is precisely what they are doing now, please take a look at the f-stop of all the current E-mount lenses.
Both are not wedding lens, though. I suspect the actually desirable wedding setup (70-200G, 85 1.4ZA, 50 1.4ZA) would be much easier to use.
BTW the last time I shot a wedding I was using a borrowed M9 with my Leica 35mm and 90mm. I could have used the NEX-7 with similar output quality, though.
I think we’re talking about two different things here, I’m referring to being the official photographer on assignment it is just not possible to use Nex body with adapted lenses.
Ah, +1 to Victor as I’m using a similar setup and find no discomfort using it for any duration under 2hrs. Above that and my left hand get a little shaky from fatigue though that doesn’t pose a problem in daylight.
I do concur with Varn in that this is no setup for people who try to feed themselves with it. Lose shots, lose meals. I kind of pity these people.
Hang a rock… 😀
You can always add more weight but not the other way around…
+1
One of the reasons I switched to alpha is the IBIS. If Sony drops a-mount for e-mount sans IBIS, I’ll probably go back to shooting / buying exclusively Canon. I don’t particularly care if it is technically possible to create an e-mount body with IBIS, I need to see it. Plenty of things are technically possible (just ask Barry about sensor resolution), it doesn’t amount to anything without a shipping product.
I’m all for an slr-style hybrid camera however – without needing that monstrous adapter above.
The current APS-C adapters already support the full kit, although without IBIS. You are effectively turning an NEX-7 into an A77 with the LA-EA2. I don’t see why Sony will not do the same with an FF adapter.
The current lack of IBIS is because Sony does not have a single crop body with IBIS. On sensor IS is almost useless with long lens anyways, which simply means that Sony needs more stabilized lens instead of relying on IBIS.
FYI I am an A mount shooter with the LA-EA2.
So basically your solution is that A-mount shooters should buy new A-mount lenses with IS, if and when these ever get made? Well, they’re unlikely to be. And as Christopher said, it’s not about what could exist, it’s about what does. As in my 18 A-mount lenses which will no longer have IS on a NEX with an adapter.
For A-mount users, this is a step backwards.
Also, a NEX-7 with an adapter is NOT the same as an A77. Take, for example, the A77 with a Sony 16-50 2.8. That’s a weather-sealed combination. Will your NEX-7 with LA-EA2 offer that?
Or, for that matter, will it offer 12fps with full, fast AF? These cameras are night and day apart, and have completely different uses. There is nothing wrong with the NEX line — I have the NEX-6 and love it as a travel body — but it’s not a complete replacement for a native A-mount camera and no rumor or official announcement so far seems to indicate otherwise.
The LA-EA2 has a 15 point AF-system with 3 cross sensors, compared to A77’s 19 AF points with 11 cross sensors. A difference in number, and a difference in everyday use.
“will no longer have IS on a NEX”
+10
Well it is certainly possible to get paid and still use a manual kit. Depends on your level of training in using an RF, of course. With a DSLR I don’t know what shots the AF missed unless I chimp, and I hate that during weddings.
I wouldn’t use the NEX7 for weddings, but it’s more down to the looks and not the performance…Maybe a more “pro-looking” NEX will solve the problem.
I don’t get this “how it looks” argument. If you’re a professional, I suppose you get judged and paid by your work, e.g. the results, not by the looks of your equipment.
“leaving you high and dry.”
Which part of fully supporting A-mount lenses means leaving one high and dry? Victor was talking about the future… and Sony can incorporate IBIS in to an E-mount body, even if it means the IBIS only works for adapted A-mount lenses. Again, what’s high and dry about that?
Also this whole thing about the adapter being a weak point is a completely moot point. When a lens is much heavier than the body, the lens is likely to have its own tripod foot so it doesn’t matter whether it’s an A-body or an E-body. I’ve used heavy lenses on my Nex-5 bodies this way without any problems too:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/genotypewriter/4856429147/
Care to explain the specifics of the problems you’ve had using your A lenses on E bodies? Or are you guessing?
I’m completely with Victor on this one. I too sincerely hope that Sony ditches all native/limiting A-bodies and focuses on E-mount bodies and adapters for A-mount. There won’t be a need for duplicated R&D and we all will have a more sensible line-up of bodies to choose from.
This is good news for people who already owns the Zeiss A-mounts.
Adapters: necessary, but unwanted. I have zeiss glass, but would rather wait for a compact A mount solution that will likely never happen than buy an e mount camera and use an adapter. I realize there are people that don’t mind buying multiple systems,but it’s not for me. Oh yeah, fix the #@$ing flash system, and video quality.
A compact a-mount solution will happen out of shere necessity. I have no doubt we’ll see an a-mount FF next year. I also think it’ll be cheaper than the current a99.
I sincerely hope you’re right, and that the rumors start to suggest something other than the A-mount only being accessible through adapters on E-mount cameras soon.
Provide an aperture ring so I can shoot live in stop down mode.
1 – Allows accommodation for focus shift.
2 – Removes exposure inconsistencies of spring aperture.
3 – Allows working live depth of field.
4 – Reduces wear on lens by not flapping aperture.
Otherwise I’ll stick with the cheapo chinadapters. So consistent shot to shot, especially with studio strobes.
5 – Also makes focus peaking work better because some lenses are lower contrast wide open. Stop down just 1/3 stop and peaking is much more effective and accurate.
Or provide DOF button toggle function to allow locking camera in stop down mode. I don’t care how they do it… Just do it… Allow me to shoot in stop down mode.
6 – You could increase FPS 2-3X with stop down mode.
All Sony cams should allow stop down shooting. Consider it an EVF advantage that no CaNiko OVF SLR could ever provide for.
What’s the point of comparing OVF DSLRs to EVF mirrorless? If you want to do stopped down shooting on a OVF DSLR, you can do it in both OVF and live view… I’ve done this on both Canons and Nikons.
+1 for aperture control on the adaptor itself. When using the LA-EA3 + VG900, you need to move your left hand back to reach the tiny scroll wheel to change the aperture, and with any sizeable lens this will unbalance the camera so you then have to move both hands and turn the whole thing on its side… If the control were on the adpator you wouldn’t need to move your hands, so ergonomics would be much improved.
+1
I find it intriguing that all third-party adapters have metal housings, from sub-$50 aluminum ones to $400-900 brass speed boosters, yet Sony’s own adapters are plastic, no matter what the price.
Sony adapters and Kenko macro extension tube set which are also plastic and pricey!
It is becoming ever more evident that this system is going to be primarily based on using adapted lenses. While I applaud Sony for producing full frame mirrorless cameras, I highly doubt this will be a complete system within the next few years. Who the heck wants to use large lenses on a tiny body.
Sony should have designed a balanced system with a set of fast primes. Perhaps things haven’t changed ~ great sensors with subpar camera bodies and insufficient, subpar lenses.
This system will likely be great for those who enjoy using manual focus lenses, as they will be small enough. However, for anyone else, the D600 will likely be a better choice for the short-term anyways.
I hope they surprise us, but it is doubtful!
I don’t mind using large lenses on a small body. I like the small body so that I can go really small when I need to do that, which I can’t do with my current Canon 6D (even with the little 40 pancake). I am used to be big all the time. But with the A7r, I could toss on the 35/2.8 and be very compact or I could go faster and use an adapter with my preferred Sigma 35/1.4 Art. I like choice.
The Sigma 35 f/1.4 ART is a fantastic lens ~ it beats the Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L, which I have. And, if you are happy shooting large lenses on the A7r, then the camera will be great for you. Personally, I would be more excited if they had a full set of high-quality fast primes to go with it, which are balanced with the system. That said, who knows, they may turn out to be great cameras. I, personally, would be much more excited if Fuji were to introduce a full frame X-Pro with a set of fast primes, as the design would be great and the lenses would likely be excellent. Unfortunately, I don’t think that will happen for a while though…
Agree with Sean. People often overlook the flexibility that small e-mount bodies give you. Yes, you lose stabilisation with A-mount lenses, but that is rarely an issue with wider lenses like a 35/1.4.
its to m,ake good on havign FF lens options. till they can make more lens fr market (scratch that its to make more FF lens options so they dont hav eot make more FF lens )
most FF owners have glass they like after al lits not cheap to get into the FF game (from a hobiest stand point)
Why would they release a 50mm 1.4 zeiss is the amount is dead
I think I have moved away from buying the higher end lens for m43 even though I like my EM5. I was tempted by the EM1. But my interest is growing for the A7 or A7r. I like to use two cameras during a shoot and I don’t think I want to carry around two a99s. I am willing to buy glass for two systems (A mount and FE but not a third (m43). Perhaps one of these cameras will meet my needs with the 35mm focal length I like to shoot then the a99 can be paired with my CZ 85 or 135. I have been using the CZ 24-70 less and less lately. Didn’t even take it on the last paying shoot. I don’t need a load of lens.
Adapters are necessary considering the slim lens choices available for nex. However the absence of ibis is probably an indicator that the A mount will be around for now.
I’ve held a nex cam. I can barely hold on. the grip is to small. Even the a3000 is a lousy grip to small for my liking. The nex as it is now is ok if you use a small lens in my opinion. I’m sure it provides great imagines without the mirror in the way. Sony should try and not reinventing the wheel of the slr group of cameras. Why bother buying Minolta if they are just going change everything that was Minolta. They could of made the nex buying without Minolta. They just want to make things smaller, Makes no sense to bring Minolta users on board to just piss them off with the end of the A mount. They’ll just make things smaller until they vanish into thin air. Pretty soon you won’t need a camera, just have a thought and it will appear on the sensor in your pocket.
Blame your jumbo sized hands, don’t blame a compact body.
Besides, m43 bodies have even smaller grips but have bigger lenses sold.
Us men have large hands, I guess you girls can stick with NEX.
I always imagined the FF e-mount to become the second body for lots and lots of full frame shooters. that scenario makes the whole concept seem sensible. no matter what system you’re in, you could get the A7 and one or two primes and use it as a secondary camera when you need your dslr as well, you could adapt all your existing lenses and get the FF coverage on you tiny second body, and you would probably leave your DSLR at home more often than you imagined. the whole concept relies on adaptability. it’s a good thing Sony put effort into making adaptability matter.
Hold on a minute. Why is a new adapter needed? A-mount lenses made for the 35mm format should have the same image circle when using the existing adapters as when mounted on an a900/850, a99 or vintage dynax. Unless of course sony messed up.
If it’s simply a matter of improving the performance over the old model I can’t complain. If there’s an image circle issue my faith in sony has taken yet another hit…
Not sure which points you’re missing.
The LA-EA1/2 have APS-C size openings. The LA-EA3 and this rumored LA-EA4 has a much larger opening for full frame sensors.
Also, the LA-EA3 has no translucent mirror, so the AF is quite slow and was intended for manual focusing with the full-frame E-mount camcorder.
but why? the E-mount bayonet is still the same, as is the A-mount bayonet. The A-mount image circle is still the same. So for the earlier adapter they decided to crop the image circle?
did a search. indeed, they cropped the image circle with the EA1 and EA2. Didn’t realize that.
But is there a good explanation as to why they chose to crop the image circle? or is it just a matter of short-sighted business decisions (I work for a company which seems to expertise in short-sighted business decisions so I know companies do not always decide to do what would serve their customers and long-term business best but rather what would, over the next couple of months or even weeks, serve the shareholders best)?
la ea2 with ff coverage would be a lot harder to make, just imagine the kind of functionality they need to squeeze into that thing. a full fledged af system including motor and mirror and all. remember the adapter is only part of the flange distance of the a-mount so making slt cameras is easier. (adapter thickness is a-mount flange distance minus e-mount flange distance as you might already know).
My quess would be a new LA-EA1 type adapter, so no SLT. Reasoning being the LA-EA2 is already huge and with FF image circle it would be have to be very big and heavy. Simple adapter as small as possible adapter for motored lenses would “grow” nicely with the improvement of OSPDAF.
One thing I have to wonder about the CDAF and OSPDAF at the moment. As they are still not in level with traditional SLR why an earth are we not presented with more software control of the focusing. I shot an airshow with Nex-7 (not really a tool for this, but did it anyway) and 55-210 + 1.7x TC last June and while I got a pile of keepers a simple focus limiter would had made a huge difference in time wasted on hunting. The new USB dock compliant Sigma lenses have right idea on this but this should be rather simple to implement in the camera FW too.
Sony. Please do not take us for fools and think that we’ll be happy with an adapter that either has a mirror or no screw drive motor. If you have any decency and honor (the least to expect from japanese), realease an adapter that:
1. makes all A-lenses 100% compatible (AF speed no slower than on present native A-mount cameras)
2. Does not degrade image quality
3. Has image stabilization IF you do not introduce in the E-mount bodies.
When was the last time Sony released a screw driven lens?
That question is irrelevant. The relevant question is “How many users of screw driven lenses are out there that would lose AF on an E-mount camera if the adapter does not have the motor?”. Tell that to all the 135/f1.8 that their lens no longer will have AF on a new camera
The rumour only states the existence of an adaptor, nothing about how it may operate.
I propose that it has an LED laser range finder to determine the correct focus distance, a new technology magnetic resonance drive that can turn the lens focus mechanism remotely (no need for a physical screw connector). The power to operate all this is provided by a small internal dark matter reactor.
It should also be able to shoot and burn things down with that hi-freq laser, have a tracker beam and stealthy defocusing cloak 🙂
It’s a bugger to keep the phase inducers in alignment though.
Overall, we will have 8 adapters. LA-EA1 to LA-EA8. Why?
Mirror yes/no
Full-frame yes/no
Screw-drive yes/no
2^3=8
So close to the rumored release day (one week) and no images?
Maybe all is wrong, just rumors 🙂
Right, there will be no camera but just a firmware update 😉
This is an old SR5 rumor. With the release of the A7rII, there is now a real need for a mirrorless version of an A-Mount adapter that includes a motor to drive screw driven A-Mount lenses.
When will we get one?