Sony Nex 3/5 - using other brand lenses?

[AEJim]

Has anyone with a Sony Nex 3/5 tried the A-mount adaptor with other brand lenses? Any good?

While I've been enjoying getting used to this photography lark over the last couple of months I'm just starting to find the 55mm lens a bit limiting for photography involving any kind of wildlife (ie, animals are grey blobs at the range I can get to them before they run away!) so I'm interested in getting something with a longer zoom.

A friend has a Sigma 300mm and gets very nice results so I'm thinking of buying the adaptor and possibly one of those. I'm not even sure if they're compatible yet so will have to do a bit more research and I've heard using the adaptor slows the auto-focus so this may also be a drawback for wildlife shots... Anyone with any experience comments welcome!

Cheers for any info!

 

[twist]

The official Sony version? Its sloooooow to AF. If you want to use other lenses perhaps look at a MF adapter and a MF prime.

 

[AEJim]

The official Sony version? Its sloooooow to AF. If you want to use other lenses perhaps look at a MF adapter and a MF prime.

Ahh, didn't know you could get non-Sony adaptors too! Been using MF mostly until now anyway so shouldn't be a biggie as long as animals sit still

I haven't looked at the Sony 200mm lens as another option (I can get 50% discount on all Sony stuff through a friend handily!) but I seem to remember it being nothing special when I read reviews so am now looking at 3rd party. Ideally I'd wait until the official OEM E-mount lenses start appearing but haven't seen any news on those aside from Sony releasing the specs a few months back.

 

[twist]

I heard the 18-200 was pretty good, expensive though but with your discount thats a pretty nice price.

Adapter is around £35, Canon, Nikon, Minolta MC/MD fit. I use Minolta for the excellent compact primes.

 

[AEJim]

I heard the 18-200 was pretty good, expensive though but with your discount thats a pretty nice price.

Adapter is around £35, Canon, Nikon, Minolta MC/MD fit. I use Minolta for the excellent compact primes.

Cheers for the info Twist, I'll do a bit of research on that 200mm before I check out the others then, I guess this is where that compact body starts looking a little too compact!

 

[twist]

No problem, you can help me out with some discount some time

 

[stoplis]

I've just bought a Sigma 50-200mm lens (just waiting for the Sony A-Mount adapter to come in the post), I chose this lens because it has optical stabilisation, a must for me, especially when you get upto 200mm. The other plus is the fact it has an autofocus motor in it, under the current firmware the A-Mount adapter can drive the autofocus, but never gets a lock. I'm hoping the next update will fully support it.
The other benefit of using the Sony A-Mount adapter is that it allows the camera to control the aperture.

I'm looking forward to it coming tomorrow, I just hope the weather is ok so I can try it out properly.

 

[Johnmcl7]

As you're probably aware the Nex body will never be able to properly drive the lens as it won't be optimised for CDAF although it should be able to (eventually) get a lock.

John