TAKE TWO!
For those that don't know, I had an unfortunate experience with my first Fotodiox Fusion Adapter. The first adapter rendered my Sony A6300 inoperable. Shortly after that video was released Bohus from Fotodiox contacted me very concerned over the matter. In a weeks time I was sent a replacement adapter and they gave me the money to replace my A6300.
No extra money or endorsements were given.
In an effort to be fair I told them that I would do a follow up shoot to see if the first adapter I received was just a lemon. By the way the first adapter I paid full price for as well. So on my dime I took a model and my crew out to Oceanside to do a shoot testing out the Fotodiox Fusion Adapter. I want to state again as I did in my original video, the idea that an adapter could adapt my Nikon glass to my Sony mirrorless bodies is very intriguing for me. It's something that I root for....and I always hope for the success of others. Whether it's a fellow photographer or a business I want every honest hard working entity out there to succeed. I don't take any pleasure in people failing.
So we got out to the shoot and before I attempted to shoot with the camera on any body I called Bohus from Fotodiox (I told him he was on camera and he never asked that I not post the video), and I asked him if there was anything specific I needed to know about the adapter to make sure it worked well on my camera. He assured me there wasn't anything specific other than to not turn on the camera until the lens and adapter were securely connected.
So I first tried it out on my Sony A6000 with a cheap 18-55 DX lens. Why? Well if there was a repeat of my first experience I wanted to try it out on my least expensive camera body and lens. Once it seemed to maintain power on the A6000 (it wouldn't focus well at all but I expected that), I decided it was time to try it out on my A7Rii.
So I got my A7Rii, (my favorite camera) and started trying out my Nikon lenses. First I put the cheap 18-55 lens on it to also make sure it wasn't going to short out etc. Once it seemed to maintain power etc. I moved on to actually being able to test the adapter for the first time.
The first lens to try out was the 105mm macro lens that I used to use a lot for portraiture work. It did acquire focus and it did not short circuit my camera. YAY! Success! It did however seem to shift the entire inner workings of the lens though in a very odd manner. It's almost as if the lens was too heavy for the adapter from a load standpoint. I'm no engineer at all....but it was weird.
You can check that out by watching the video. I show the back of the camera so the viewer can see what I saw and experienced. I then did a shoot with the 105mm macro lens and you can see some of the pics below:
I then decided to try it on my Nikon mount Tokina 16-28 f/2.8 lens. When I first put it on the camera just shut off. It wouldn't turn on. This was very concerning to me but I remembered the directions on the website that said (I'm paraphrasing) to just turn the camera off, take the battery out for 10 seconds and then try it again. So I did that...and it worked! The camera turned back on. Why test it with a Tokina lens? Simple really. Many people out there would be very curious to know if it also worked with Nikon mount lenses that weren't Nikon made lenses.
So with the camera turned on and the lens ready to go I started testing it. The lens seemed to acquire focus pretty well, the only issue was that it would only work between 20mm to 28mm. For some crazy reason it would NOT focus at 16mm. This is also illustrated in the video. Below are images taken using the 16-28mm lens:
After I finished shooting with both lenses I took out my D800 and tested these same lenses on the Nikon body to see if they exhibited any of the strange behaviors as they did with the Fotodiox Fusion Adapter. They didn't. They worked perfectly. The 105mm macro didn't make any weird noises that sounded like it was dropping, and the Tokina lens focused well at 16mm.
I tried many other lenses on the adapter as well but they wouldn't work...but in all fairness they weren't supposed to work. These were non AF-I and AF-S lenses. When I put them on the body the adapter didn't even try to focus. It automatically went to manual focus. I could tell it immediately went to Manual Focus because I could see the Focus Peaking on the back of my camera.
All in all, I think it's a toss up. Does the adapter work as well as Metabones or Sigma does with Canon lenses? No, it doesn't. Does it work well enough to give it a try if you're trying to use your Nikon lenses on Sony bodies? Perhaps. But the worries of it shorting out a camera are real. Fotodiox must be willing to stand behind their product if and when others have issues. I'm incredibly fortunate that I have many camera bodies to be able to use. Many photographers simply do not have that option. So if they lost a camera body it would be devastating.
Now for those non Sony shooters out there who aren't familiar with the adapting lenses game and think that us Sony shooters are crazy for even attempting such things, let me know shed some light on using adapters.
"In the 2.5 years that I've been a Sony shooter I've never had another adapter once give me any problems."
I've never had to turn off my camera, remove a battery, etc. They have simply worked. Earlier iterations of the Metabones adapters didn't work well as it related to how they acquired focus, but none of them posed a potential risk to my camera. This isn't a Sony issue, it's a Fotodiox adapter combined with a Sony body and Nikon lens issue.
I truly hope for Fotodiox's sake and for the sake of photographers out there that my first adapter was a fluke and a defect. But only time will tell. If other photographers start reporting problems out there it could be a real issue for Fotodiox. The fact that it caused my 105mm macro to behave in a weird manner, and that it wouldn't focus throughout the entire focal range of my Tokina lens was simply strange.
If you take away the potential danger of losing a camera body because the adapter shorts it out...the actual performance of the adapter is pretty good....IF you use it with the right lenses. It will hunt and will only work well near the center of the frame. It doesn't track very well and it doesn't find focus in the edges at all. It also doesn't work well with Flexible Spot. It doesn't approach the performance level of using Canon lenses on Sony bodies with the Metabones or Sigma adapter. So if you're like me and are used to that you will be somewhat let down.
And as stated in the video. Do NOT try and adapt lenses for auto focus functionality with anything except the A6500, A6300 or A7Rii. If you do you will be disappointed. Let's please make sure people out there understand this...:)
All in all, it was a blast to use my old Nikon lenses again and I'm hoping that companies continue to improve on the technology of adapters so that we can someday enjoy our Nikon lenses on Sony bodies like we are currently able to do with Canon lenses on Sony bodies.
I'm a HUGE advocate of using native and adapted glass on Sony bodies because the opportunities are endless and truly presents an advantage for Sony users over other shooters. I'll be cheering for Fotodiox and others to continue to push hard to make it work better for us as photographers and when it does, I'll be the first to let you all know...:)
Thanks,
Jason