Ming Thein's Gear of the Year

[Mike Farley]

I have linked to this article not because I agree with Thein's choices, upon which I cannot really comment having not having used or even seen most of the kit*, but what he says at the end about using adapters to mount lenses from any manufacturer on any camera. This is already happening in the Sony mirrorless world where last year Sony itself was promoting the use of Metabones adapters both to encourage DSLR users to switch without having to discard their investment in existing lenses and compensate for its limited range of native lens options. It is early days and a bit clunky at present, but it might be one way either that DSLR users will transition or to continue using favoured lenses. It also gives new life to older manual focus optics when mounted on a mirrorless body which has focussing aids such as peaking.

http://blog.mingthein.com/2015/12/01/xm ... are-picks/

By coincidence, Imaging Resource has also announced the introduction by Commlite of a new Nikon F to Sony E adapter. I have not looked at the entire video, but AF performance seems to be an issue on the pre=production unit which was tried. Sure, matching electronics from different manufacturers is an issue, but not irresolvable I would have thought.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/20 ... -autofocus

* The Leica Q is the main exception, as I used one for a couple of hours on a midge infested beach in Scotland a while back. If you like the focal length of its 28 mm fixed lens, it's a good camera which is easy to use and produces the top quality images you would expect from a high end Leica. But £2,900? No thanks.

[Mike Farley]

Coincidently, Michael Reichmann has written about using adapters on the now paywalled Luminous Landscape website. The action is bsically with the Sony A7 series of cameras, which due to not having to accommodate a mirror for the viewing system have a very short back focus. This allows space for an adapter when mounting a DSLR lens and Sony is still encouraging users to do this. Apparently the Metabones adapters did not work that well at first, but it is now possible to use a Canon lens on a Sony body with no loss of functionality. Sony gets to sell bodies and presumably lenses as and when users decide they want to add those with a native mount.

https://luminous-landscape.com/lens-mounts/

This is a solution which is open to Canon and Nikon, who will be the primary losers of Sony's approach, as and when (or if?) they decide that mirrorless systems are the future. For me, the position is more complex than that as we have at least three systems which were designed for digital from the outset; Nikon 1, m43 and Fuji X. The main driver for the Nikon 1 system seems to be a requirement that it should not disrupt Nikon's DSLR sales, which has meant the use of a relatively small sensor and Nikon not promoting it as much as it could. The other companies have no such concerns and for me the m43 and APS-C sensors they use hit a sweet spot for digital. Yes, full frame sensors have benefits as well, but the trade-off is larger and heavier gear. As ever, you pays your money .......

[Mike Farley]

I suppose that I should also mention Canon's EOS-M mirrorless system, which in its own way is as half hearted as Nikon's efforts. Basically it is the technology from Canon's low end cameras with a new lens mount. a few native consumer level lenses and no viewfinder. What it does suggest is that Canon might not see full frame as being the way forward, differing from Sony's approach. Currently, of course, that is full frame with ongoing support for cameras with APS-C sensors being uncertain. This is Sony, which has not been a byword for consistency, so it could all change again tomorrow.