Image Stabilizer or the lack thereof
Sony A-Mount lenses feature no image stabilizer because Sony uses a camera based stabilization (some Sigma lenses do feature an image stabilized, but compatibility is an issue with older Sigma lenses and I never used such a lens).
So while all lenses are stabilized when used with an A-Mount camera, they are not on the A7. The new Sony Alpha 7 Mark II does feature an image stabilizer but I haven’t used it yet.
For many applications this might be an issue, for other applications it isn’t an issue or there are workarounds.
Right now in Germany it is winter and the sun is rarely seen, so I use a monopod which is more flexible than a tripod and stabilizes the lens a lot, I can get sharp images at 400mm even at 1/125 of a second and reliably sharp images at 1/200s .
A monopod also helps with focusing because the previewimage is stabilized by it as well.
Technical Data
Dimensions (approx. mm, W x H x D): 78.5 x 86.5 x 44.5Weight (approx.): 160gPrice: $349.99 in the US (check on Amazon.com), around 250€ € in Germany (check on Amazon.de)
The Adapter
The Adapter is much bigger than adapters for manual lenses because it has to include an AF module, an AF motor and a second motor to control the aperture.
It replaces the older LA-EA2 which wasn’t full-frame compatible and it can be used with APS-C cameras like the Sony Nex-6 or a5000 as well as with full-frame cameras like the Sony a7.
The LA-EA4 uses Sony’s SLT technology, so a semitransparent mirror redirects a some of the light coming from the lens to a AF sensor. This makes it possible to have liveview and fast phase detection AF at the same time. The cost for this is that 1/3 stop of exposure is lost so you have to compensate with a longer shutter speed or higher ISO.
The adapter is compatible with almost every A-mount lens made by Minolta or Sony from 1985 until today, the only exceptions are most Xi lenses and the Macro-Zoom, Sony Australia has a list of incompatible lenses.
It won’t work for older fully manual lenses which carry the MC or MD name tag. For those lenses check out my manual Minolta lenses post.
Видео: Адаптеры Sony EA-LA4 и EA-LA3. Объективы A-Mount (Август 2023)
Видео: Адаптеры Sony EA-LA4 и EA-LA3. Объективы A-Mount (Август 2023)
Адаптер для объектива Sony LA-EA4 A-Mount-E-Mount FF с TMT (прямой $ 349, 99) — это продукт с полным набором названий, но довольно простой целью. Он адаптирует зеркальные объективы Alpha-mount, совместимые с цифровыми зеркальными фотокамерами Sony и Minolta, к полнокадровым камерам Sony E-mount. Если вы уже являетесь стрелком Sony, вы можете использовать имеющиеся у вас объективы с байонетом A с Alpha 7 или 7R.
Адаптер измеряет 3, 4 на 3, 1 на 1, 7 дюйма (HWD) и весит около 5, 6 унций. Это немного громоздко; под креплением имеется квадратная зона, в которой находится специальный датчик автофокусировки для определения фазы. Внизу этой коробки есть стандартная нить со штативом. Встроенное полупрозрачное зеркало направляет небольшую часть входящего света на датчик для фокусировки, а остальная часть проходит через датчик изображения. Дизайн аналогичен старому LA-EA2, но у этого адаптера было меньшее зеркало, которое подходило только для камер NEX с датчиками изображения APS-C.
Адаптер работает как рекламируется. Я использовал его для установки Sony Carl Zeiss Planar T * 50mm f / 1.4 на Alpha 7R. Дисплей автофокуса камеры изменится, чтобы показать систему 15-точечного фазового датчика, которую поддерживает адаптер. Фокусировка была быстрой и точной в сочетании с объективом Planar, а также с телесумом Sony 70-400 мм f / 4, 5-5, 6G SSM II. Sony делает еще один, менее дорогой, адаптер для LA-EA3 ($ 199, 99). LA-EA3 не имеет сенсора автофокуса, и в нем отсутствует механизм фокусировки с винтовым приводом. У нас еще не было возможности протестировать его, чтобы увидеть, как его скорость с объективами с двигателями с внутренним фокусом сравнивается с LA-EA4.
Если вы уже снимаете с Alpha SLR и хотите использовать имеющиеся у вас объективы с одной из полнокадровых беззеркальных камер Sony, LA-EA4 станет полезным аксессуаром. Он обеспечивает скорость фокусировки, которая соответствует D-SLR для адаптированных объективов, и совместима со старыми объективами, в которых отсутствуют двигатели с внутренней фокусировкой. Он стоит дорого, поэтому, если у вас есть только несколько объективов, которые стоит адаптировать, вы, возможно, захотите потратить эти доллары на один из превосходных, компактных, родных объективов Zeiss, выпущенных вместе с Alpha 7 и 7R.
Aperture control
The LA-EA4 has a motor to control the mechanical aperture mechanism of A-Mount lenses, so all camera modes will work without limitation.
Lenses will be stopped down to the selected aperture value in the moment the shutter is pressed.
I have a feeling that this increases the shutter delay a little bit but I have no means to measure it.
You can program one of the a7’s many buttons to DOF preview.
Autofocus
AF is better than I had hoped but it isn’t perfect.
The Adapter has 15 AF sensors of which 3 are cross type.
The area covered by these sensors is rather small, less than 10% of the image is covered when it is used with a full-frame camera. With a APS-C camera like the Sony a6000 the coverage will be around 20% of the frame.
This is an image of the camera screen showing the sensor coverage with the Sony Alpha 7 and the type of sensor.
A vertical sensor will pick up horizontal structures and vice versa.
There are 3 options for the Focus Area
- Wide – the camera can choose from any of the 15 sensors
- Center – only the central AF sensor is used
- Flexible Spot – you can choose one sensor
There are 4 options for the Focus Mode
- AF-S
- AF-C
- DMF – after the camera has found something to focus on, the AF is uncoupled and you can focus manually, also with older screw driven lenses.
- MF
Apart form the coverage the AF itself is great.
I used the Sony 70-400mm F4-5.6 G SSM most of the time and set the camera to AF-C and let it use all AF sensors and was surprised that the AF was really responsive and tracked moving animals like a lynx or a beaver quite well, precise and without noise. No complaints here.
thanks to a fast AF I was able to catch the yawn of this lynx
I haven’t used many DSLR cameras but AF felt more responsive than I am used to from the Canon 5dII with 2.8/24-70L I and 4/70-200L USM.
I also used an 30-years-old Minolta AF 3.5-4.5/28-85 which worked well, it was rather noisy though and not as responsive as the modern SSM lens, but perfectly usable.
AF with my lenses was precise, but it is possible to correct front/backfocus for specific lenses in 40 steps from -20 to +20 (AF Micro Adj.).
Sample Images
Katie at the Luau, 14 July 2017. (Sony A9 with Sony Minolta 28-135mm on Sony LA-EA4 adapter at 110mm at f/4.5 at 1/100 at Auto ISO 100, Perfectly Clear.) bigger.
Doorway, 8:07 PM, 14 July 2017. Sony A9, Sony Minolta 28-135mm at 30mm at 1/8 second hand-held at Auto ISO 4,000. bigger or full-resolution.
Lamp, 8:01 PM, 14 July 2017. Sony A9, Sony Minolta 28-135mm at 135mm at f/4.5 at 1/80 second hand-held at Auto ISO 1,250. bigger or camera-original file.
Sasha, 15 July 2017. Sony A9 with Sony Minolta 28-135mm on Sony LA-EA4 adapter at 120mm at f/7.1 at 1/320 at Auto ISO 100, Perfectly Clear. bigger or camera-original file.
Luau deserts, 14 July 2017. (Sony A9 with Sony Minolta 28-135mm on Sony LA-EA4 adapter at 28mm at f/13 at 1/60 at Auto ISO 100, Perfectly Clear.) bigger or camera-original file.
Seven Palms Oasis, July 2017. Sony A9 with Sony LA-EA4 adapter, Sony Minolta 20mm f/2.8 at f/11 at 1/20 hand-held at Auto ISO 100. bigger or full-resolution.
Unocal, 13 December 2013. 2013 Sony A7, Sony LA-EA4 adapter, 1985 Minolta MAXXUM 50mm f/2.8 Macro, 1/500 at f/8 at Auto ISO 100. Camera-original file.
Introduction
This lets us use all our or AF SLR lenses on cameras, complete with full-performance autofocus!
This little gizmo lets our mirrorless cameras replace SLRs. Heck, this adapter and the A7 is less expensive and better than the plastic A99 fake SLR!
Specifications
It works with both the screw-focus and electronic focus lenses.
Bottom, Sony LA-EA4 adapter. enlarge.
Price, USA
$348 new, late July 2017 ~ November 2020.
About $225 used in July 2017 and November 2020 if you know How to Win at eBay.
$298, early July 2017.
$350, December 2013.
Performance
It really works!
AF is fast!, limited of course by your camera and lens. I use it on my A7. With the adapter on my A7, it’s at least as fast as the A99.
Sony A7 with Sony LA-E4 adapter and Minolta MAXXUM 85mm f/1.4. bigger.
Compared
The less expensive LA-EA3 adapter doesn’t provide autofocus with screw-focus lenses. It only couples exposure and aperture information. I don’t know if it allows autofocus with electronic focus lenses.
Sony A7 with Sony LA-E4 adapter and Minolta MAXXUM 85mm f/1.4.
Usage
Be careful of the piece of glass in the middle. It’s easy to bang, and if it gets tweaked, AF will no longer be accurate.
Rear, Sony LA-EA4 adapter. enlarge.
Recommendations
There’s not much to say; if you want to shoot your existing or AF lenses on a Sony mirrorless camera, this adapter makes it transparent.
Sony A7 with Sony LA-E4 adapter and Minolta MAXXUM 85mm f/1.4.
Ken Rockwell. All rights reserved. Tous droits réservés. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.
Image Quality
The mirrors used in the first generation of Sony SLT cameras caused some degradation of image quality but Sony claims that the current generation of mirrors has overcome these problems.
As I don’t have a LA-EA3 to test it against the LA-EA4, so I could present you reliable test-data.
But I didn’t notice any obvious optical defects which might be attributed to the and LA-EA4 and couldn’t find any substantial claims that the translucent mirror causes a degradation of image quality either.
So until someone shows me good evidence I assume that image quality isn’t affected by the adapters mirror.
this 100% crop shows good sharpness, despite the longish exposure time and high Iso.
Image Samples
just click on the images to download them in full resolution from flickr.
Sony F4-5.6 70-400mm G SSM | 400mm | f/5.6
Sony F4-5.6 70-400mm G SSM | 400mm | f/5.6
Sony F4-5.6 70-400mm G SSM | 400mm | f/5.6
Carl Zeiss Sonnar 1.8/135 ZA | f/1.8
Other Articles
Minolta MC Rokkor 1.2/58 ReviewTokina 2.5/90 Macro ReviewCanon FD 4/300 L ReviewZeiss 4/24-70 Review
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Adapts Sony Alpha A-Mount& Minolta MAXXUM lenses to Sony E-Mount Mirrorless Cameras
Sony LA-EA4 adapter (adapts or AF SLR lenses to , about $348). enlarge. I got mine at B&H ; I’d also get it at Adorama, at Amazon or at Crutchfield. You also can get them used at eBay for about $225 if you know How to Win at eBay.
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Declaimer:
This product has nothing to do with Sony and the modified LA-EA4 adapter will lose warranty. Improper modification or use may damage your equipment, and the product may not be able to ensure all supported lenses in your hand to be working like they will on native bodies. The risks shall be at your end. Please be aware of all the risks before you place the order.
Also please read our manual ( provided online) carefully in advance to make sure you fully understand how it works.
This product only contains the circuit board for replacement, you need the original LA-EA4 lens adapter (sold separately) for modification.
The item can be returned only with the package seal unopened.
Please beware the customs tax, if any, is not included.