My last post was regarding adapters for using Canon EF lenses on Sony E-mount and M43 systems. Having tested a few lenses I felt I could post again with some more information with a few images to show the results of using those lenses on the Sony E-mount.
Firstly, the Commlite adapter. I've only tested the Canon 40 f2.8 STM lens on a Sony E-mount camera as of this post so I'll probably test some more lenses first before I come back with another, separate, post especially for this adapter. What I can say however, is that it works pretty well with the 40 f2.8 STM. By that I mean it's fine if you're only taking landscape or architectural photographs. If you're looking for an adapter for sports, kids running around the house etc then you'd better be looking for another system. This isn't going to give you that. For myself and my type of photography, it's acceptable, and that's using the Sony A7ii camera. I think I can safely say that the only two cameras that come into question for using these adapters are the Sony A7ii and the Sony A7Rii. Anything else I would just get some native lenses or one could of course change systems. None of the other cameras I've tested don't really work that well at all, and I don't think it's really worth it. Certainly it isn't worth getting an adapter and acquiring some Canon lenses for use on a Sony camera prior to those two I just mentioned. Just not worth it! That's just my opinion of course. The only one I haven't tested is the A7Sii. Things might look differently using that camera but I can't really tell. Enough on the Commlite and on we go to the Metabones.
The Metabones Version IV Smart Adapter (MB_EF-m43-BT2 and the MB_EF-E-BT4).
I bought two versions of this adapter. One for the Sony E-Mount and the other for my M43 system. I just couldn't help myself. Now I'm really glad I did because I had a nice surprise. One thing that really upset me to start with was that the adapter wouldn't work at all on the Olympus E-M1. I couldn't get the camera to AF at all. Not a thing I could do about it. I thought maybe I had a bad adapter or one of my camera settings was wrong. So, I tried it on the Panasonic GX8 and it worked immediately; and quite fast. That ruled out the adapter. What I then did was to update the adapter to the newer Firmware version 0.48 (although Metabones, on their web site, mentioned that if the adapter had version 0.47 installed, there was no real reason to update to the newer version. I also updated the Olympus E-M1 to the newest version available and all of a sudden the camera would now AF using the Canon lenses. And it's just as quick as the Panasonic GX8. I really had the feeling that AF is faster using the M43 system than the Sony A7ii camera. I'm going to have to test those two systems against each other before I can say that 100%, but that was my feeling after the initial tests.
Like I said, I need to do some more testing using my M43 system with this adapter but for now it seems better results can be achieved from the Panasonic GX8 than from the Olympus E-M1. I will do a separate post just for this system using the Metabones adapter.
Since I don't own a Sony A7Rii (yet 
) all testing was done on the A7ii. As I understand it, performance on the A7Rii should be better so whatever the results I get from this camera can only get better with the A7Rii; and that is good news all around.
Testing these things is a very time consuming pastime and we all know that time is at a premium so I've only had time to test 4 Canon lenses so far, and that is only to see if AF was possible and if it was precise. The following images are for that purpose only. Speed wasn't a concern for me because if focusing wasn't accurate then speed wouldn't matter one little bit. The lenses I used wre the 40 f2.8 STM, the 85 f1.8, the 135 f2 and the 200 f2.8 (the latter two being my favourite lenses when using the Canon system). Note that they are all primes but I still have some high quality Canon zoom lenses too, but because of time constraints, I just haven't had time to work with them at all. The zoom lenses are the 17-40, the 24-105 and the 70-200 f4 IS. They will be used at some time or another. I sold the 85 f1.2, the 70-200 f2.8 and the 100-400. They just didn't get enough usage to justify keeping them and my photography has changed from a few years ago when the lenses were acquired. Another reason I sold them was because of the weight of the damn things. Even if I had kept them I wouldn't use them on the Sony cameras anyway. If you're going to be using such lenses then a DSLR body would serve you better.
As I said previously, for my type of photography, speed is acceptable. My landscapes aren't moving anywhere soon. Focus acquisition was quick, but not as quick as a Canon native body. Nowhere near good enough for moving objects. Having said that I was very impressed with image quality. Even the 85 f1.8 seems to be working better on this system than on the Canon body. I would actually term it as excellent. Granted, colour and rendition are different because we're using a different sensor on a different system but that can be fixed in PP. Colour tends to be on the neutral to cool side. This doesn't bother me at all as I also like doing some PP. Adding a little warmth to the files is a 2 second job. Easily fixed.
I know the following images are only 1600px on the long side, with 4 images per page, but I think you'll get the gist of the sharpness you can expect from this system.
[SIDENOTE: I know that sharpness isn't everything and there are a lot of users who feel that way. Many would say that I am obsessed with lens sharpness but I would like to say this. How many photographers do you know that keep a lens because it's soft or unsharp? Personally I don't know any and I doubt anyone else does either. So sharpness does come into play and I like a nice sharp lens because I can always soften the image up in post but getting a sharp image from a soft lens is impossible. Right?]
So, finally we come to the images taken on a Sony A7ii camera with the lenses mentioned previously. The aperture was closed down 1 stop from image to image Read the images on each page from top to bottom and from left to right. I.e. The top left image on the first page will be wide open and the bottom right image on the last page will be fully stopped down.
This won't be the last post about these adapters and I will get around to using my zoom lenses. I will also report back about my M43 system too, as I can see some interest in that system. Hope this helps anyone out there that is sitting on the fence about these adapters.
The images are all from using the metabones adapter on the Sony A7ii camera.
Canon 40 f2.8 STM:
Canon 85 f1.8
Canon 135 f2 L
Taken nearer to the subject
Canon 200 f2.8
Taken nearer to the subject
If you have any request or questions, I'll be happy to answer them for you. Back soon with some more test results.
