My old Metabones MK1 adapter is not suitable for full frame lenses on the new Sony A7s. So in anticipation of the arrival of my A7s I ordered a cheap CommLite full frame autofocus ready adapter on ebay. This adapter (CN-EF-NEX) was only $90 USD so I thought I would give it a try, much cheaper than the metabones.
To be honest I wasn’t expecting much, but now I have the adapter in my hands I am pleasantly surprised. It appears well made and very solid. It even carries a CE mark. It works just fine on my NEX5N and FS700. On the NEX5N I have working autofocus. If the lens has image stabilisation this works too. I have tried a wide variety of Sigma and Tamron Canon EF lenses with it and they all work. Even my new Tamron 16-300mm works with this adapter, this lens doesn’t work with a number of other adapter.
Autofocus is a little slow, especially if the light is bad. Having not used the MK3 Metabones I don’t know how this compares but certainly this adapter works and is quite useable. It’s said to be compatible with full frame lenses on the A7, but as yet I have not been able to test this. The little mounting post is easily and quickly removable, but a real boon on the NEX5N with bigger lenses. For the price, you can’t go far wrong, really quite impressed considering how little it cost.
Hello Alister,
Glad to hear the CommLite adapter works with the Sigma and Tokina lenses. Would you believe it’ll also work with the Zeiss ZE primes? I will be happy if just the aperture can be controlled … I was thinking to order one but a little skeptical so far …
Hi Alister!
Just a short question. I have a FS700 + Tamron 16-300 combined with Metabones Adapter (MarkII) … this combination does not work (aperture cant be changed). So it is possible with this 99 $ adapter? Thank
Thanks for the heads up on the inexpensive gear! One question about using EF lenses with the A7s – seems that it will use only part of the sensor, not full. True?
Hi Alister,
I’m hoping you will give us a full review of the A7s soon. I’d love to know what you think about it. (good and bad)
I just got mine 3 days and I’m completely shocked about how good it is.
I specifically would love to hear your take on “dynamic range” and it’s 8 bit implementation of S-LOG 2.
Keep up the great work!
I will be writing it all up with some focus on how to handle 8 bit Slog2.
So would I I’m getting ready to buy one.
Hi Alister
I just got this adapter for my A7s and could not get it to activate image stabilization on those lenses that normally supported it. It did drive the IS on my FS700, but there were other problems like lack of autofocus and auto iris (error message from FS700). Have you tried out the Commlite with the A7s and image stabilized lenses? My older metabones with the A7s does activate the IS on these lenses with some quirks. I have heard it does support IS so I ordered a replacement, hoping this was just a bad copy, here are my testing results:
—-
FS700: Note: FS700 generic error message (ErrMsg) on some functions:“Cannot execute functions because of the condition of the lens”
Using Sony E-Mount 18-200 zoom:
IS: OK; AutoIris: OK; AutoFocus: OK
Using Commlite (note: in all cases Manual Aperture worked ok)
Canon 17-55 EF-S 2.8: IS: OK; AutoIris: ErrMsg; AutoFocus: ErrMsg
Canon 24-105 L 4.0: IS: NG; AutoIris: ErrMsg; AutoFocus: ErrMsg (note: this lens it seems AF isn’t working at all even on Canon C100 body)
Canon 18-135mm: IS: OK; AutoIris: ErrMsg; AutoFocus: ErrMsg; Note: This lens cannot manually focus with this adapter
Tamron 28-300: IS: OK; AutoIris: ErrMsg; AutoFocus: ErrMsg;
Using Metabones V2
Canon 17-55 EF-S 2.8: IS: OK; AutoIris: OK; AutoFocus: OK
Canon 24-105 L 4.0: IS: OK; AutoIris: OK; AutoFocus: NG (note: this lens it seems AF isn’t working at all even on Canon C100 body)
Canon 18-135mm: IS: OK; AutoIris: OK; AutoFocus: NG; Note: Manual Focus OK
Tamron 28-300: IS: OK; AutoIris: OK; AutoFocus: NG;
Using Metabones Speedbooster (v1?)
Canon 24-105 L 4.0: IS: OK; AutoIris: ErrMsg; AutoFocus: ErrMsg(note: this lens it seems AF isn’t working at all even on Canon C100 body)
Tamron 28-300: IS: OK; AutoIris: OK; AutoFocus: ErrMsg
A7s Results
Using Commlite (note: in all cases Manual Aperture worked ok)
Canon 17-55 EF-S 2.8: IS: NG; AutoIris: OK; AutoFocus: OK (though it tries it doesn’t really autofocus)
Canon 24-105 L 4.0: IS: NG; AutoIris: OK; AutoFocus: OK
Canon 18-135mm: IS: NG; AutoIris: OK; AutoFocus: OK; Note: This lens manually focuses but requires a lot of spinning with this adapter
Tamron 28-300: IS: NG; AutoIris: OK; AutoFocus: OK;
Using Metabones V2
Canon 17-55 EF-S 2.8: IS: OK; AutoIris: OK; AutoFocus: OK (though it tries it doesn’t really autofocus)
Canon 24-105 L 4.0: IS: OK; AutoIris: OK; AutoFocus: OK (though it tries it doesn’t really autofocus) Note: IS activates in Auto mode when half pressing shutter- in auto mode but sometimes works???
Canon 18-135mm: IS: OK; AutoIris: OK; AutoFocus: NG; Note: Manual Focus OK
Tamron 28-300: IS: OK; AutoIris: OK; AutoFocus: NG; Note: IS activates in Auto mode when half pressing shutter- in auto mode but sometimes works???
—
Thanks much for any info! -Keith Moreau
I don’t have the same lenses as you, but IS is working on the A7s with all of my lenses (mainly Sigma and Tamron). Even the brand new Tamron 16-300 works OK. IS only works when the camera is in the dedicated video mode or when the shutter button is pressed.