Sony tech - Using A-mount lenses on E-mount cameras

This article is about using (vintage) Minolta/Sigma/Sony/Tamron/.. A-mount lenses on contemporary Sony E-mount cameras.
Since the Sony LA-EA5 adapter has been released I have been answering dozens of the same questions about compatibility issues from both retailers and end-users. Some questions & personal experiences with the different adapters were special, so I have tested some combinations and made a small list of my findings.

Yes, at first -back in 2021- I wanted to make this into a Youtube video.. alas I don't like looking at myself so I stopped editing it. And then in 2023 I glued some of those old clips together into: https://youtu.be/-VLe6eBQpME

1. Sample images are in this Flickr folder (always making more sample images)

2. Gear Used:
2.1. Adapters: LA-EA3, LA-EA4, LA-EA5
2.2. E-mount cameras cat1: A1, A7SIII, A7IV, A7RV, FX30, ZV-E1
2.3. E-mount cameras cat2: A9II, A7III, A7RIV, A7C, A6600, A6400, ZV-E10 (also goes for A7RIII, A9, A6100)
2.4. E-mount cameras cat3: A6000 (also goes for the other older models like A7II or A6300 & A6500)
2.4. A-mount camera: A77II (as SLT/DSLR reference model to make sure the lenses did not have an AF-issue)
2.5. Some of the A-mount lenses:
    ▷ Konica Minolta 17-35mm f2.8-4,
    ▷ Minolta 135mm f2.8, 16mm f2.8 Fisheye, 28-135mm f4-4,5 "Beercan", Plannar 85mm f1.4, 24mm f2.8,  200mm f2.8 APO, 100mm f2 (these last 2 both tested by Genaro Diaz)
    ▷ Samyang 8mm f2.8 Fisheye II (DT/MF)
    ▷ Sigma 50-500mm f4.5-6.3 DG APO OS HSM "Bigma", 24-70mm f2.8 DG HSM EX, 105mm f2.8 macro DG
    ▷ Sony 85mm f2.8, 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 G SSM (DT), 70-400mm f/4-5.6 G SSM II, 300mm f2.8 G SSM II, 135mm f1.8 Zeiss
    ▷ Tamron 90mm f2.8 Macro, 10-24mm f3.5-4.5 (DT), 

(DT means: designed for APS-C / Super 35)

3. What does an adapter do?

 3.1. First of all it adapts the flange focal distance (FFD). Simply put: this is the difference in  distance between lens and the camera sensor that exists between all camera brands and between DSLR's/SLR's and mirrorless cameras. The adapter creates an extra distance so that they are at a workable distance. This article explains it.

3.2. Secondly an adapter also adapts the different interlocking systems of connecting a lens to a camera (different "baljonets")

3.3. Both above mentioned reasons to use an adapter are important for both AF (Autofocus) and MF (Manual Focus).  lenses. (Nowadays there are adapters to use almost all brands of lenses on most mirrorless cameras, yet mostly MF) Remember these 2 abbreviations: AF/MF.

3.4. For AF-lenses however there is more. An AF-adapter can best be described as a "translator" between the language of the lens and the language of the camera-body. Imagine you use a Canon lens on a Sony body, then the adapter should translate orders from the camera given in Sony-an into Canon-ian for the lens to understand. Same goes when using A-mount lenses on E-mount bodies. It's like the new mirrorless Sony camerabody speaks modern Japanese and the Sony DSLR A-mount lens speaks 15th century Japanese and the even older Minolta A-mount SLR lens would speak 8th century Japanese. Would you understand these ancient variations of your language? Hence it needs a translator to communicate.

3.5. Some adapters like the TechArt LM-EA7 can even give (limited) AF to MF lenses.

4. The 5 Sony A-to-E-mount adapters.

 4.1. An overview of existing adapters on the Sony sites
    4.1.1. Before you ask: no there are no adapters to use E-mount lenses on A-mount camera bodies.
    4.1.2. To adapt Sony/Minolta A-mount lenses to a Sony E-mount camera very cheaply there are manual focus adapters from brands like K&F or Urth and probably even more. These are cheap alternatives to the Sony LA-EA3 in most case and do NOT have autofocus abilities.
    4.1.3. To adapt even older Minolta MD lenses to an E-mount body you can use a MF adapter like this one.

    4.2. LA-EA1 and LA-EA2 are exactly the same as LA-EA3 and LA-EA4 but only for APS-C (LA-EA3/4 work for both APS-C and full frame, hence I have never used  these APS-C ones)

    4.3. LA-EA3 is in 99% of the cases nothing more than a MF adapter. Apparently some of the latest SSM A-mount lenses should get AF on the A7III-series and newer, but it never worked for me. So my LA-EA3 is mostly fixed on a ultra-wide MF A-mount lens from Samyang.

    4.4. The LA-EA4 has a build-in mirror and autonomous focusing system with only a few (15) centralized focusing points. It does not support Eye AF and is rather slow/sluggish when compared to the focusing speed you're used from your native E-mount lenses. The bulky block underneath the adapter makes it often hard to use if your camera is in a cage.

    4.5. The LA-EA5 was released in the Autumn of 2020 and looks like a LA-EA3 (a hollow tube). It is designed to be used on the newest generation of E-mount cameras. It uses the focusing system of the camera body. With every generation of camera bodies the sensors and processors become more powerful and hence they become more capable and can do more with this adapter. The speed of the focussing motors in old vintage lenses will be put to the test with the newest cameras. You can calibrate this adapter for lenses that require micro adjustments.

5. E-mount cameras cat1:
    A1, A7IV, A7RV, FX30, ZV-E1, A7CII, A7CR, A6700, A9III, A7RIV*, A6600*

    ▷ LA-EA5 provides AF + Real Time Eye AF to all (tested) A-mount AF lenses (Sony, Minolta, third party) on the A7IV, A7RV, FX30 & A1 and newer in stills (= photo) mode.
    ▷ LA-EA4 provided AF to A1 but NO Eye AF nor Real Time Eye AF. (reason see point 4.4.) and LA-EA3 only delivered MF. (Note: I only tested this with the launch firmware of the cameras)
    ▷ Even some lenses that refuse to have AF with the LA-EA4 work with the LA-EA5 (Example: the AF of my Tamron 90mm macro does not work with LA-EA4 on A6000, A7III, A7SIII, A1, but the AF works on A77II and on the A1 + A7IV with an LA-EA5)
    ▷ My Tamron 10-24mm DT stopped working on the native A-mount A77II, refuses to focus with the LA-EA4 but works okayish with the LA-EA5 on the A1 (in APS-C modus).  Very strange.
    ▷ A1 + LA-EA5 made focusing on some lenses faster than on the native A77II
    ▷ Remark: The burst speed of the A1 drops from 20-30fps to 10fps on newer Sony A-mount lenses and to 5-6fps on vintage Minolta lenses. I should test it once on the fastest/latest A-mount lenses to see where they max out. (UPDATE: These also maxed out on 10fps.)
    ▷ LA-EA5 allows tracking on A1, A7IV, A7RV, FX30, ZV-E1 and A7SIII (NOTE: on A7SIII some of the tested lenses refused tracking, I'll retest this after the March 2024 firmware update)
    ▷ The old A-mount x2 extender worked just fine on the A1 + LA-EA5 combination but focusing was on several lenses extremely slow and sluggish. A note: in the old days this extender would only work on lenses of f2.8 or faster, with LA-EA5 it works on all lenses.
    ▷ For video the tested A-mount lenses return to manual focus when using the LA-EA5 adapter, which means their internal focussing technology can focus fast enough to allow their use with the LA-EA5 for stills but not for video.
    ▷ A7RV + LA-EA5: Pixel shift mutli shooting works, but Focus stacking (focus bracketing) does not work (idem for ZV-E1)
    ▷ A7IV / A7RV / ZV-E1 + LA-EA4: only manual focus. So backwards compatibility ends with this new generation of cameras.
    ▷ On the ZV-E1 there was more noticeable lag when using the LA-EA5 (for stills) than with the previous cameras. (I should to re-test the A7RV to double-check if there is a difference between the pre-production firmware I had used and the current firmware.)

    ▷ Remark: (*) Eventhough A7RIV is listed on the official Sony overview as fully compatible with LA-EA5, it did not have AF with the tested lenses. More tests with different lenses are needed because it might only work with the few Sony A-mount SSM lenses. (Note: I did NOT test the adapter with the A7RIVa-version.)
    ▷ Remark: (*) The A6600 should be compatible with this adapter with the newest firmware update. I have only tested this with the Minolta 135mm and an updated A6600. However it didn't work, so I can't confirm whether it works with other A-mount lenses (like for example the Sony A-mount SSM lenses).  

    ▷ Update A7SIII: After the the A7SIII firmware was updated to ver. 2.0 (and then 2.11) neither the LA-EA5, nor the LA-EA4 worked a with any of my A-mount lenses. Let's see what the next firmware update brings. For the time being I have removed the A7SIII from this category.

     ▷ Logically all new cameras from this generation of sensor/processor onwards will be able to use the LA-EA5 (the full frame for sure, the APS-C UPDATE: the ZV-E10 has been tested and does not work with the LA-EA5 luckily the FX30 + A67OO both do work. My logic was wrong.)

     ▶ Summary: Use the LA-EA5 for these cameras

6. E-mount cameras cat2:
    A9II, A7III, A7C, A7RIV, A7RIII, A9, ZV-E10, A6100, A6400, A6600

     ▷ LA-EA4 gives AF to most A-mount AF lenses (example: not for my Tamron 90mm macro) and with limited Real-time Eye AF and normal Eye AF. (Limited as in: less reliable and limited to eyes in the range of the 15 focusing points and face recognition)
    ▷ Nearly all A-mount AF lenses become MF when using the LA-EA3 and LA-EA5 adapters.
    ▷ LA-EA3 and LA-EA5 should give AF and eye AF to some Sony SSM-lenses. But I wasn't able to make this work with any of the tested lenses.
    ▷ Remark: The Sigma 50-500mm "Bigma" has AF, Eye AF and Real-time Eye AF on A7III, A9II, A7C with the LA-EA5 adapter, yet it remained MF on the LA-EA3. However: the AF isn't fast or sharp enough to be recommended.
    ▷ Video AF with the LA-EA4 was tested with A7III and A7C and it worked (sometimes rather sluggish).
    ▷ Tracking on the A9II and A7C worked with the LA-EA4, but it wasn't as reliable as with native lenses. Remember that the tracking can only happen between the 15 focusing points of the adapter.
    ▷ The A9-series cameras will not be able to shoot at 20fps with an adapted lens. The real max fps will depend on the lens but expect the recent Sony A-mount lenses to max out around 10fps. Vintage lenses will be even less. Since the focussing speed is dictated by the adapter & the speed of the lens you will loose the advantages of the A9I/II for sports & action with the LA-EA4.
 

    ▶ Summary: Use the LA-EA4 on this generation of camera bodies.

7. E-mount cameras cat3:
    A6000, A7II, A6300, A6500, A7RII, A7, A7R, A7S, A7SII, NEX-3

     ▷ LA-EA4 gives AF to most A-mount AF lenses (example: not for Tamron 90mm macro) but without normal Eye AF. (these cameras do not have Real-Time AF)
    ▷ A6000 + LA-EA4 has autofocus in video.
   ▷ NEX-3 works with the LA-EA4 (tested by ​ @The157ra ) so this hypothetically is true for all old NEX-series cameras.
    ▷ Both with LA-EA3 and LA-EA5 nearly all AF A-mount lenses only have MF on these bodies.
    ▷ Remark: The Sigma 50-500mm "Bigma" has AF on A7II with the LA-EA5 adapter. So will some of the latest Sony SSM A-mount lenses. This does not apply on the other camera models in this category.

    ▶ Summary: Use the LA-EA4 on this generation of camera bodies.

NOTE for all 3 categories: The orange AF assist light does not work with any adapter, but then again, neither does it work in AF-C, nor with the adapters for using lenses from other brands like the Sigma MC-11

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8. Moral of this article
Old & vintage lenses are not worthless, because they get more possibilities with every new generation of camera bodies while keeping their heritage look. Hence vintage lenses gain in value with every generation.

However you must always keep in mind that these old vintage lenses were not designed for the resolutions of cameras like the A7RIV+A7RV (61MP) , A1 (50MP) or A7RIII (42MP). You'll loose details, but still get the colors and little imperfections in your images you're probably looking for in these oldies. Admittedly I adore those little quirks-of-old.

Summary: if you have vintage lenses that are withering away in you attic or basement, gift them to me 😉

The Youtube video: https://youtu.be/-VLe6eBQpME
With subtitles in English (For other languagues - use settings - subtitles - automatic translation)

 
A rather complex compatibility list of Camera/Adapter/Lens from Sony
A list of Minolta lenses.

And here's the super-professional 19sec announcement for this video:
On Clapper 27/1/23  / On Youtube 29/1/23/ On Instagram 20/2/23

A link to this article if you feel like sharing: https://tiny.one/SonyA2E

PS. If you have other questions, feel free to ask or to propose as a topic.