Your experience with Sony a6000+adapter+Nikon F lenses

[mibadt]

Hi,

I'm considering adding the a6000 as a second, light-weight system, to my Nikon set (D800+various Nikkor/Sigma/Rokinon F mount lenses). It's main intended usage will be travel/landscape (less sports, no video).

I've done some search and, if I'm correct, there (still?) is no adapter which will provide full (metering, AF, aperture control, data exchange etc) functionality.

I'd be glad to know:

1. If I'm correct

2. What's the current available adapter/functionality?

3. If possible, post the examples with above "combo" (preferably stating lens used)

4. A6000 experience from a (former?) Nikon DSLR user.

4. Recommended A6000-compatible HQ lenses for landscape & portrait (f<= 100mm)?

Thanks a lot upfront!

 

[dragion]

I might not be any help, but coming from a Nikon D7000 and now a Sony A6000 user I would like to share my thought.

As you already mentioned, there isn't an adapter that has electronics for the Nikon lenses.

I have the Fotodiox Pro NIK(G) to NEX (non click) adapter...which has an aperture adjustment ring.

It works with all Nikon F-mount lenses including (G) lenses.

Here is a sample test shot with the AF 50mm f/1.8D wide open SOOC JPG.

This was shot in very low light.




A6000 : AF-50mm f/1.8D : Fotodiox PRO NIK(G) to NEX Lens Adapter



I hope this helps.

--

Novice with a passion for creativity
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dragion

 

[Thomas_Krueger]

I switched from a Nikon D5100 to the A6000 using the Sigma 8mm fisheye for 360° panorama images. Once found the needed diaphragm I taped the adapter since I use it only with this lens. Switching between various Nikon lenses the current adapters are not very practical but they will work. For native HQ lenses with NEX-E mount you have to go with Zeiss Touit lenses.

 

[darklamp]

I'm considering adding the a6000 as a second, light-weight system, to my Nikon set (D800+various Nikkor/Sigma/Rokinon F mount lenses). It's main intended usage will be travel/landscape (less sports, no video).

So you have a full frame (FX) system.

Your lenses will then presumably be full frame also.

To use these and get the same field of view as a D800 you'd need a focal reducer type adapter ( also referred to as Speedbooster, Lens Turbo ).

With a standard ( glassless ) adapter you would only get a DX crop.

I've done some search and, if I'm correct, there (still?) is no adapter which will provide full (metering, AF, aperture control, data exchange etc) functionality.

No. And don't expect one.

However metering is actually done for you anyway, you just need to set aperture using either an aperture ring on the lens or (less precise) using an adapter with a ring that will adjust aperture on Nikon 'G' style lenses.

Either way the camera will meter the scene and adjust exposure settings ( ISO and shutter speed ) for you. You can, of course use manual exposure.

For focus you will find manual focus with focus peaking and a magnified focus view very effective for more-or-less static subjects.

I'd be glad to know:

1. If I'm correct

About ?

1. What's the current available adapter/functionality?

Four types :

• Dumb "tube" adapters. Cheap and cheerful on eBay and giving a DX crop from full frame lenses. Nikon lenses without an aperture ring need an adapter with a turnable ring that will allow some control of aperture.
• Focal Reducers. ( Speedboosters, Lens Turbo ) These have optics to "squeeze" the full frame field of view onto the crop frame sensor in the A6000. Works well. Again Nikon 'G' type lenses will require an adapter with a turnable ring.
• Helicoid adapters. This are essentially extension tubes with a variable length extension controlled by the helicoid ring. They might interest you if you like macro, but I'd not encourage you to get them for anything but fun.
• Tilt/Shift adapters. Not really practical for serious use, but possible for fun they let you apply tilt and/or shift to a lens. Not something I'd use myself.

1. If possible, post the examples with above "combo" (preferably stating lens used)

Flickr will provide an enormous number of such examples.

1. A6000 experience from a (former?) Nikon DSLR user.

Not the A6000 but an NEX F3 with an EVF. Works fine and should be essentially the same.

The G type adapters are not going to give you accurate control of aperture. Ideally use lenses with aperture rings and a non-G type adapter.

1. Recommended A6000-compatible HQ lenses for landscape & portrait (f<= 100mm)?

Can't help you. Would prefer to use a 50mm f1.8 or f1.4 for portrait and for that I use either Pentax or Nikon lenses. For landscape I use stitching more often than not and I use whatever lens I have with me.

 

[W5JCK]

I'm using several old Nikkors from the 35mm film days (1970s and 1980s lenses) in non-AI and AI mounts. These are of course fully manual lenses. I use a cheap $20 Fotodiox adapter since all these lenses have aperture rings built into them. I actually like these old manual lenses for their ease of controlling the aperture, and since I mostly do night sky photography I use MF anyway. I use these lenses on my a6000 and a7.

https://flic.kr/p/odDAty

 

[D Cox]

I'm using several old Nikkors from the 35mm film days (1970s and 1980s lenses) in non-AI and AI mounts. These are of course fully manual lenses. I use a cheap $20 Fotodiox adapter since all these lenses have aperture rings built into them. I actually like these old manual lenses for their ease of controlling the aperture, and since I mostly do night sky photography I use MF anyway. I use these lenses on my a6000 and a7.

https://flic.kr/p/odDAty

I do the same with an NEX-5N.

The 55mm Micro-Nikkor makes a good portrait lens on APS-C.

I work in A mode with a fixed (not auto) ISO setting, but everyone has their own preferred methods. My approach is to simply open the aperture up for focussing, then close it until I like the look of the shutter speed.

 

[SmoothGlass]

Hi,

I'm considering adding the a6000 as a second, light-weight system, to my Nikon set (D800+various Nikkor/Sigma/Rokinon F mount lenses). It's main intended usage will be travel/landscape (less sports, no video).

I've done some search and, if I'm correct, there (still?) is no adapter which will provide full (metering, AF, aperture control, data exchange etc) functionality.

I'd be glad to know:

1. If I'm correct

2. What's the current available adapter/functionality?

3. If possible, post the examples with above "combo" (preferably stating lens used)

4. A6000 experience from a (former?) Nikon DSLR user.

4. Recommended A6000-compatible HQ lenses for landscape & portrait (f<= 100mm)?

Thanks a lot upfront!

 

[mibadt]

Thanks a lot!

 

[40daystogo]

Check out the Sony Alpha A6000 images thread. Many of the samples indicate they were taken with legacy lenses and adapters.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1288669/16

Also see the corresponding A7 image thread.

Sony FE Images Thread - Sony Forum - Photography - FM Forums

Join the Sony Forum photography discussion: not the best start of an image thread but anyway - here are some pictures [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/birnenbaumgarten/10959120774/][img]http://farm8.s

www.fredmiranda.com

It might convince you to get an A7 instead which would connect to your Nikon and FF lenses without cropping.

 

[MarsObserver]

Hi,

I'm considering adding the a6000 as a second, light-weight system, to my Nikon set (D800+various Nikkor/Sigma/Rokinon F mount lenses). It's main intended usage will be travel/landscape (less sports, no video).

I've done some search and, if I'm correct, there (still?) is no adapter which will provide full (metering, AF, aperture control, data exchange etc) functionality.

I'd be glad to know:

1. If I'm correct

2. What's the current available adapter/functionality?

3. If possible, post the examples with above "combo" (preferably stating lens used)

4. A6000 experience from a (former?) Nikon DSLR user.

I came from the Nikon D700. I mostly shoot with the A7 and A6000 now. The IQ from the A7 is every bit as good, or better, than the D700 IMHO.

Cons: AF lens options are limited compared to Nikon of course, and AF is slower on the A7 (though quite snappy on the A6000).

Pros: the general/typical advantages of mirrorless, and in particluar for me 1)the lighter weight and 2) being able to see / fine-tune exposure in real-time 3) Zeiss lenses

4. Recommended A6000-compatible HQ lenses for landscape & portrait (f<= 100mm)?

For landscape... from what I've seen the Sony 10-18mm f4 and Zeiss Tuit 12mm f2.8 look quite good (unfortunately I don't own either)

For portrait... it's hard to be the Zeiss 55mm f1.8 (my favourte lens)

Thanks a lot upfront!

 

[munchmeister]

I've been a Nikon D80, then D90 shooter for quite a while and have several lenses and just purchased an A6000, hopefully it will be here by the end of the week. Also bought the Metabones adapter for G lenses, hoping to try my favorite big gun, the Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8. It is a tank so I got a Barska hand grip to attach to the tripod foot so I can hold the lens, not the camera but not sure how I will manage the focusing. Oh well, I don't shoot sports. I also have a Nikkor 16-85 zoom and a Sigma 18-250. I'll try them all out before my return period runs out to see if this A6000 can work well, or should I say, if I can manage to work all this aperture selection and focusing. The focus peaking looks like it should help immensely.

Any more reports on A6000 and Nikon lenses??

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming. ;-)

 

[MizBrown]

Hi,

I'm considering adding the a6000 as a second, light-weight system, to my Nikon set (D800+various Nikkor/Sigma/Rokinon F mount lenses). It's main intended usage will be travel/landscape (less sports, no video).

I've done some search and, if I'm correct, there (still?) is no adapter which will provide full (metering, AF, aperture control, data exchange etc) functionality.

I'd be glad to know:

1. If I'm correct

Correct -- Adaptors Nikon to e-mount are just the tubes.

2. What's the current available adapter/functionality?

3. If possible, post the examples with above "combo" (preferably stating lens used)

Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 on Sony a6000, natural light.

4. A6000 experience from a (former?) Nikon DSLR user.

My lens is a completely manual lens that I used also on a D300. My other manual lens on that system was a 24mm AI Nikkor, which I suspect would be a good lens for the a6000 if you didn't want to blow the $1K on the Sony/Zeiss 24mm f/1.8. My feel for the a6000 is that it focuses as fast as I remember the D300 focusing.

4. Recommended A6000-compatible HQ lenses for landscape & portrait (f<= 100mm)?

Since nothing automatic is going to work, I'd look at older manual AI/AIS lenses. TTL works just fine (my 50mm lens is an old Yashinon MX that I found in a Nicaraguan second hand store). I went with cheaper adaptors -- they've been fine, too.

I love the 105mm f/2.5 with the large rear element. 85mm lenses are also classic Nikon portrait lenses. Moderate wide angle suits me best, so I blew the money on the Sony/Zeiss but if I'd kept my Nikkor 24mm, I'd probably be using that. The world is full of 50mm lenses -- poke around used camera stores and anywhere else camera lenses might show up.

Thanks a lot upfront!

--
Regards,
Michael Badt
Photos gallery: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mibadt/

 

[munchmeister]

I took delivery of the a6000 late Monday evening and had a chance Tuesday to do some test photos, nothing scientific, just wanted to get started trying this camera out before making a decision to keep it. One of the most important aspects for me is adapting it to use my Nikon glass, especially my favorite lens, the Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 macro. I got a Metabones "G" adapter (with the tripod foot) and took these photos of what was at hand. These are SOOC, run through Lightroom with no adjustments made, just importing into LR5, exporting to hard drive and uploading here, with a max long side of 2400 pixels, to stay within DPReview guidelines. There are a few more in my DPR gallery, a6000 album, if you're interested. Again, not trying to do a "review", just provide the results that I will use to evaluate. So far, I like what I see. The camera is very, very light compared to my D90 with vertical grip and I like the EVF and its position on the left side of the camera. I also like articulating LCD screens and this one works fine with a Manfrotto QR plate on the bottom. It's got a lot of options, which I have to learn. I do like the panoramic sweep option, too. The only gripe so far is the battery life. I'm gonna need a couple more in the camera bag. But that is easy enough to deal with ($$). Also need to upload some taken in the park with the kit 16-50, which I also found to be a very decent lens. Stay tuned ! :-D

Oh yeah, one more thing. LOVE the focus peaking !! With a macro lens, it is the ideal setup. Makes using adapted lenses very compelling.