I do own a macro lens (Sigma 150mm 2.8) that I use for most of my product shots on this blog, but I rarely take it out for shooting as it is quite bulky and heavy. Nevertheless I like to take a close up shot from time to time so I decided to try out the Kenko and Fotodiox Pro extension tubes, to turn my Loxia 85mm 2.4 into a macro lens.
Since a few people asked this is a short how-to on how I tune my adapters. As you will notice I am far from a perfectionist but so far my method has worked well for me and I think it could solve issues for some of you as well.
Correcting Infinity Focus
The Issue
Most adapters, not only the cheap ones, are a bit too short. This means that the markings on your lens are off and you can focus your lens behind infinity so the infinity hard stop of your lens won’t work. It makes sense for adapter manufacturers to make their adapters a bit too short because your Sony’s flange focal distance varies a bit and so does lens calibration. If their adapters were exactly as thick as specified there would be quite a few cases were people couldn’t focus at infinity which is way more annoying than a focus scale which is a little off.
But a too short adapter can also have negative impact on the image quality if you use a lens with floating elements. Especially with fast wide angle lenses you can get serious field curvature issues as many users of the Metabones Canon EF adapters have found out.
Important notice: This fix only works if you can focus at infinity and beyond! If you can’t reach infinity the fix will only make matters worse.
The lens is focused as infinity but the focus scale is way off because the adapter is too short
I was looking for the smallest and lightest notebook possible to accompany me on my trips. It needed to have a great screen, allow me to move files from one external device to another and to do some minor photo editing from time to time. I was looking at the Ultrabooks at first, but they were still to big and heavy for my taste, so I decided to give this unusual device a try…
A manual lens needs to be focused manually? Think again! The Techart LM-EA7 turns about any manual lens into an AF lens. For the extended explanation and an in-depth assessment check out this post.
Specifications
Weight
133 g
Mount
M-mount
Extension
4.5 mm
Weight limit lens
700 g
Compatible cameras
Sony a7rII, a7ii, a6300, a6500
*update* Please read this thread over at FM carefully. It seems that there is a design fault which will eventually lead some wobble of the adapted lens. Until this issue is fixed by Techart I would advise against buying the LM-EA7.
*update 2022*
Comment by User Yukito: “If you plan to update it maybe you can mention the fact that the Techart Pro works only up to A7RIII. It stopped working (still moves but never gets the lens in focus) with A7RIV, A7SIII, A9.., A1. I think that’s imputable to the PDAF system these new cameras have. A pity Techart seems not to be updating their firmware.”
The Techart PRO LM-EA7 sell for $379 at amazon.com* or ebay.com*. In Germany you can buy it at ebay.de* for 449€.
Classic rangefinder lenses focus much less close than their SLR-counterparts because of how the focusing with rangefinder cameras works. With the Voigtländer VM-E adapter you can focus these lenses much closer when using them on an E-mount camera. The adapter is not only a Leica-M to Sony E adapter but also a variable extension tube. It has its own helicoid by which you can focus your lenses much closer than with a conventional adapter. I have been using the Voigtlander VM-E close focus adapter for more than a year now and it has become a valuable addition to my kit.
Sony α | Leica M | Nikon F/Z New article every week
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