I have been doing a ton of testing lately with the new Sony A7RIII and adapted lenses. One of the true pleasures of using a mirrorless camera is the ability to adapt glass. With Sony’s new lineup of cameras, getting decent autofocus is now a real possibility when adapting glass, which makes the experience even better. I spent some time testing out the Sigma MC-11 adapter, 35mm and 50mm Art lenses, and the A7RIII. I used the A7RIII with Sigma lenses in both photo and video modes, and was able to get some great results. See the video below for more.
I was pleasantly surprised that the A7RIII with Sigma lenses performed, in my opinion, just as well as the Metabones Mark IV adapter with Canon and Tamron glass. In photo mode, the A7RIII with Sigma lenses locked on in both face recognition and eye autofocus. Eye autofocus was also great when shooting in continuous autofocus. Please be aware that I tested this in a controlled environment. However, lighting wasn’t optimal, and my ISO hovered around 1250, so I suppose that shows that eye autofocus does well at least up to that ISO.
For portrait shooters, I really think that the A7RIII with Sigma lenses is a great option if you don’t want to fully migrate away from your Sigma Art series lenses. These lenses are extremely sharp, and really resolve a lot of data on the A7RIII’s beautiful 42MP BSI sensor. These primes also aren’t heavier than the 24-70mm GM, so weight shouldn’t really be of much concern.
A7RIII, Metabones, Canon & Tamron Lenses Test
In video mode, I was surprised to see continuous autofocus working as well. Just like the Metabones adapter, the autofocus area seems to be limited to the central portion of the frame. Placing your subject in the rule of thirds doesn’t seem to work very well. In certain conditions, this could be of use, but I don’t think that video autofocus on the A7RIII with Sigma lenses is quite ready for professional applications, as control is an issue. Regardless, isn’t nice that we are getting closer in that area.
Check out some of the photo results below.
Stay tuned for more tests with the Sony A7RIII!
