Adapting non-Canon (EF-mount) lenses to the R6

Hope that word salad makes sense.

I used to have (but sold, which was retrospectively a mistake) an R6, and I mainly used the nifty 50 and, now and then, the 800 f11, which was a blast to shoot with when you could find a situation which warranted it.

As prices are going down, I've started thinking of picking up another R6 to complement my current camera, which is great but somewhat limited in what it can do (a fixed, somewhat slow zoom which tops out at 70mm, and isn't up to much in low light. Also the AF is slow, but I don't shoot fast moving stuff with it, so that's not the end of the world).

As I have up to 70mm covered on that front, I was thinking of using an EF-R adapter on the R6 and trying some of the telephoto zooms out there, but I'm not inclined to splash out a fortune. Sigma seem to have some interesting looking telephoto zooms made for EF mount, which would presumably work when adapted. (If I'm not mistaken, Canon were / still are trying to block other companies developing their own lenses for the R mount, unless there's been some progress on that story).

What I'd like to know is if there's anything I should be on the lookout for if I went down this route. Image quality isn't really the issue; most cameras and lenses these days provide more than good enough IQ.  What I'm looking at is compatibility, AF performance, and "handicapping", so to speak (example: some of Sony's mirrorless cameras only allow the full FPS rate with certain lenses, etc.)

Also - probably a dumb question, but can't hurt to ask - I assume that when adapting a lens which was designed for a DSLR to a mirrorless camera, the focal point selection is that of the mirrorless, i.e. covering a great deal more of the area than the average DSLR with its central area.

All advice appreciated!

Shashinka73 wrote:

As prices are going down, I've started thinking of picking up another R6

...... I was thinking of using an EF-R adapter on the R6 and trying some of the telephoto zooms out there, but I'm not inclined to splash out a fortune. Sigma seem to have some interesting looking telephoto zooms made for EF mount, which would presumably work when adapted.

What I'd like to know is if there's anything I should be on the lookout for if I went down this route. Image quality isn't really the issue; most cameras and lenses these days provide more than good enough IQ. What I'm looking at is compatibility, AF performance, and "handicapping", so to speak (example: some of Sony's mirrorless cameras only allow the full FPS rate with certain lenses, etc.)

So worth being aware of the "pulsing" issue reported on the 150-600 Sigma - search out Duade Paton on YouTube.  Does not mean lens unusable.  I tried briefly the 100-400 sigma on the R10 and it worked very well.

You may not always get full FPS - I dont with my R5 and sigma 180mm macro (F/2.8 version) - but it works very well otherwise.

Also - probably a dumb question, but can't hurt to ask - I assume that when adapting a lens which was designed for a DSLR to a mirrorless camera, the focal point selection is that of the mirrorless, i.e. covering a great deal more of the area than the average DSLR with its central area.

Oh yes - and in general EF lenses adapted on a R6 will do much better on even high end DSLR's

Shashinka73 wrote:

Hope that word salad makes sense.

I used to have (but sold, which was retrospectively a mistake) an R6, and I mainly used the nifty 50 and, now and then, the 800 f11, which was a blast to shoot with when you could find a situation which warranted it.

As prices are going down, I've started thinking of picking up another R6 to complement my current camera, which is great but somewhat limited in what it can do (a fixed, somewhat slow zoom which tops out at 70mm, and isn't up to much in low light. Also the AF is slow, but I don't shoot fast moving stuff with it, so that's not the end of the world).

As I have up to 70mm covered on that front, I was thinking of using an EF-R adapter on the R6 and trying some of the telephoto zooms out there, but I'm not inclined to splash out a fortune. Sigma seem to have some interesting looking telephoto zooms made for EF mount, which would presumably work when adapted. (If I'm not mistaken, Canon were / still are trying to block other companies developing their own lenses for the R mount, unless there's been some progress on that story).

What I'd like to know is if there's anything I should be on the lookout for if I went down this route. Image quality isn't really the issue; most cameras and lenses these days provide more than good enough IQ. What I'm looking at is compatibility, AF performance, and "handicapping", so to speak (example: some of Sony's mirrorless cameras only allow the full FPS rate with certain lenses, etc.)

Also - probably a dumb question, but can't hurt to ask - I assume that when adapting a lens which was designed for a DSLR to a mirrorless camera, the focal point selection is that of the mirrorless, i.e. covering a great deal more of the area than the average DSLR with its central area.

All advice appreciated!

As you say IQ isn’t your primary concern, and you don’t want to spend excessively, can I suggest that the R6 is over specified for your needs?  You could consider one of the recent APS-C bodies, perhaps an R10, and combine it with the excellent RF 100-400? Great image quality, amazing AF, no adapter needed, smaller, lighter, lower cost.

Did you keep your RF 50 and 800?