Metabones Canon EF to Sony E-Mount Adapter

Smart Adapter T Mark V

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Performance   Compared   Recommendations

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Metabones Canon EF to Sony E Mount Smart Adapter T Mark V

Metabones Canon EF to Sony E Mount Smart Adapter T Mark V (5.0 oz./143g, about $399) bigger. I'd get mine at Adorama, at Amazon or at B&H.

This all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to my personally-approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Get yours only from the approved sources I use myself for the best prices, service, return policies and selection. Thanks for helping me help you! Ken.

 

July 2017    Sony   Canon   Nikon   Fuji   LEICA   Zeiss   Hasselblad   all reviews

 

Metabones Canon EF to Sony E Mount Smart Adapter T Mark V

Metabones Canon EF to Sony E Mount Smart Adapter T Mark V. bigger.

 

Introduction

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Performance   Compared   Recommendations

New   Good

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This Metabones adapter is the best I've used, working with every Canon lens I've tried on my Sony A9.

I have a lot of Canon lenses, from my classic 1980s 50mm f/1.0 L and 300mm f/2.8 L which use special electronic auto & manual focus, to my newest Canon lenses.

Phase- & contrast-detect AF, facial recognition, tracking and continuous AF all work fine. EXIF data is all recorded and exposure and auto white balance are all fine.

My Sony A9 runs at 20 FPS, and focus tracks just great. It's smart enough to leave the lens' diaphragm stopped down as it runs at this speed.

Both my lens' internal Canon optical Image Stabilization and the camera's sensor-shift stabilization work together.

This adapter has an ON/OFF switch for the camera's stabilization, and your lens has its own IS switches.

This adapter also has its own AF lock button, which is super handy if you need to recompose.

Even better, this is the first adapter I've ever used that's machined correctly for correct infinity focus. Every other adapter, even the German-made Novoflex, are about 0.1mm too short so they can allow any misadjusted lens to focus at infinity regardless of manufacturing slop, but these adapters means you no longer have focus that stays put as you zoom, and often you lose sharpness with modern floating-element lenses. With this Metabones adapter, my zooms stay in focus and my lenses are sharper than with other adapters on my Sony.

 

New

Since the Mark IV adapter:

● Blue/Red status LED lets you know if it's connected and recognizing your lens or not.

● Rear rubber gasket.

● Stabilizer ON/OFF switch for In-Body Image Stabilization (a.k.a. IBIS, or sensor-shift stabilization).

 

Good

● Focus lock button (programmable to other functions).

● Seems to work with every lens with which I've tried it. Seeing how it works with the weirdest old lenses I can find, I doubt that there would be any problems with any common, modern Canon lens.

● Micro-USB port for firmware upgrades.

● Also can work with many off-brands like Sigma and Tamron in Canon mount; good luck.

 

Compatibility

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Performance   Compared   Recommendations

This adapter works with Sony full-frame and APS-C E-mount mirrorless cameras. It doesn't work with any of Sony's DSLR-style cameras.

It works with Canon EF (use the red index dot) and EF-S (use the white index dot) lenses.

Metabones Canon EF to Sony E Mount Smart Adapter T Mark V

Metabones Canon EF to Sony E Mount Smart Adapter T Mark V. bigger.

I tried it with my Sony A9 and these lenses:

 

Canon 16-35mm f/4 L IS

Canon 16-35mm

Scene, 07 July 2017. bigger or full-resolution © file.

I'm impressed, it's actually super-sharp, which is nearly unheard of with adapted ultrawide lenses.

Both the lens' own IS and the camera's sensor-shift stabilization work great together.

AF works fine.

 

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 L II

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 II

Palm, 07 July 2017. bigger or full-resolution © file.

Again impressive is that this combination is pretty sharp and focuses well, and you get the benefit of in-camera stabilization.

This sample is shot wide-open at f/2.8, so of course the lower corner and other things aren't in focus.

 

Canon 28-135mm IS

It works great with my classic 1990s 28-135mm, which was the world's first stabilized lens.

 

Canon 28-105mm USM II

Ryan at the orthodontist

Ryan at the orthodontist, 06 July 2017. Sony A9 with Canon 28-105mm USM II on Metabones Mark V adapter at 1/125 at Auto ISO 320. bigger or full-resolution © file.

 

Katie at the orthodontist

Katie at the orthodontist, 06 July 2017. Sony A9 with Canon 28-105mm USM II on Metabones Mark V adapter at 1/125 at Auto ISO 320. bigger or full-resolution © file.

This 1990s lens usually works well, picking up free in-camera stabilization, but for whatever reason the camera doesn't always recognize the lens immediately. Some times I'll see an " F - - " indication in the finder instead of a real aperture. Even then it still shoots, but at God knows what aperture.

As you can see even with this used $75 lens, it gives super-sharp pictures.

 

Canon 35mm f/1.4 L

Everything seems swell with my 35/1.4, picking up free stabilization in the process.

As with most Canon lenses if you're shooting in silent mode, you may hear a slight tick as the diaphragm stops down for each shot.

 

Canon 50mm f/1 L

Canon 50mm f/1

Plant, 07 July 2017. bigger.

While everything works with my classic ultra-ultraspeed f/1.0 lens, autofocus performance isn't very good. AF isn't very fast and can tend to get lost, and it's not very accurate.

Manual focus works swell, and of course this lens is incredible in the dark.

For the best results, focus manually or use the Canon 50mm f/1.2 L instead:

 

Canon 50mm f/1.2 L

It works great with Canon's current ultra-speed lens — a faster lens than anything current from Sony or Nikon or ZEISS. It focuses well and it's sharp, and you get free image stabilization.

 

Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM

It works swell with this new STM lens. It's sharp and focuses well, and you get free stabilization in your camera.

 

Canon 75-300mm f/4-5.6 USM II

It works fine with this old, cheap 1990s lens, again adding sensor-shift stabilization

It's reasonably sharp, too.

 

Canon 80-200mm f/2.8 L

It works great with my 80-200/2.8L, with super-sharp results and adding image stabilization. Whoo hoo!

 

Canon 100-400mm IS L II

Katie at Get Air

Katie at Get Air, 18 July 2017. Sony A9 with Canon 100-400mm L IS II on Metabones Mark V adapter at 227mm at f/5 at 1/500 at Auto ISO 8,000, Perfectly Clear. bigger.

 

Canon 100-400mm

Palm, 07 July 2017. bigger or camera-original © file.

I'm impressed again; this state of the art lens is super-sharp on my Sony, and it focuses well.

The stabilizers in-camera and in-lens work well; I've hand-held this tele at 1/20 of a second!

While AF works well, it doesn't work as well as this lens works on a Canon camera. As adapted to Sony, it sometimes can hang-up or get lost if you're far out of focus, while on a Canon camera it never gets lost. If it gets stuck, just grab the big focus ring to get it in the neighborhood, and the Sony's AF will take it from there and track just fine.

 

Canon 300mm f/2.8 L

Katie in the pool

Katie in the pool, 06 July 2017. Sony A9 with Canon 300mm f/2.8 L on Metabones Mark V adapter at f/2.8 at 1/1,250 at Auto ISO 100. bigger or full-resolution © file.

My classic 1980s fluorite 300/2.8 works GREAT! It's ultra-sharp and focuses well, and I get free stabilization in-camera. Ha!

While AF can get lost if it's far out of focus, in actual use where you have the focus not that far off, it's amazing how well this classic lens works and tracks focus and gives ultrasharp after ultrasharp image at f/2.8 on the newest Sony camera.

 

Specifications

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Performance   Compared   Recommendations

 

Name

Metabones Canon EF to Sony E Mount Smart Adapter T Mark V

Metabones Canon EF to Sony E Mount Smart Adapter T Mark V. bigger.

 

Metabones calls this the Canon EF to Sony E-mount Smart Adapter T Mark V.

Model number MB_EF-E-BT5.

 

Autofocus

Yes, works fine with regular EF, the newest STM as well as the classic electronic manual focus of lenses like the 300/2.8L, 85/1.2L and 50/1L.

 

Image Stabilizer

Works with both Canon's in-lens IS (Image Stabilization) as well as your camera's sensor-shift stabilization.

 

Weight

5.040 oz. (142.8g) actual measured weight.

 

Quality

Made in China.

 

Announced

18 January 2017.

 

Shipping Since

03 July 2017.

 

Included

Metabones Canon EF to Sony E Mount Smart Adapter T Mark V

Metabones Canon EF to Sony E Mount Smart Adapter T Mark V. bigger.

Adapter.

Caps.

Case with two Allen wrenches.

The larger Allen wrench will let you remove the tripod foot.

The smaller one can tighten or remove the lens mount screws on front or back.

 

Metabones Model Number

MB_EF-E-BT5.

 

Price, USA

$399, July 2017.

 

Performance

Top   Intro   Compatibility   Specifications

Performance   Compared   Recommendations

 

Overall   Autofocus   Ergonomics   Exposure

Falloff   Frame Rates   Auto White Balance

Lateral Color Fringes   Mechanics

Sharpness   Stabilization  Data

 

Overall

Performance          top

This is a well made adapter that works surprisingly well.

 

Autofocus

Performance          top

Autofocus is usually fast, and facial recognition and tracking all work well.

 

Ergonomics

Performance          top

The heavily knurled outside makes it easy to grab and mount and unmount, but during actual use it wears down the skin on the upper side of my middle finger with my big American hands.

The AF Lock button is a great idea, but it's in a difficult place to reach.

 

Exposure

Performance          top

Exposure is fine.

This can be a problem with simpler adapters that don't communicate the lens speed and confuse evaluative metering, but all seems fine here.

 

Falloff

Performance          top

Since there are no automated lens corrections, there will be no automated correction of lens falloff at large apertures to which you may be accustomed with Sony lenses.

 

Frame Rates

Performance          top

It runs at 20 FPS, no problems, on my Sony A9.

 

Auto White Balance

Performance          top

Auto White Balance is fine.

On primitive adapters with no electronic communication this sometimes can be a problem, but with this modern electronic adapter everything works as intended.

 

Lateral Color Fringes

Performance          top

Since there are no automated lens corrections, there will be no automated correction of lateral color (corner color fringes).

If you use flawless lenses like the Canon Fluorite 300mm f/2.8 L this isn't a problem, but if your lens has any of these color fringes, the camera won't be correcting them for you as you may be accustomed with Sony's own lenses.

 

Mechanical Quality

Performance          top

Metabones Canon EF to Sony E Mount Smart Adapter T Mark V

Metabones Canon EF to Sony E Mount Smart Adapter T Mark V. bigger.

It's all metal.

 

Front Bumper

None.

 

Front Mount

Chromed metal.

 

Barrel

Metal.

 

Tripod Adapter

Metal.

Standard ¼″ × 20 thread.

 

Rear Mount

Chromed metal.

 

Rear Bumper

None.

 

Moisture Seal at Rear Mount

Yes.

 

Markings

All engraved and filled with paint.

 

Serial Number

None found.

 

Date Code

None found.

 

Noises When Shaken

None.

 

Made in

China.

 

Sharpness

Performance          top

The adapter has no optics; it's just air inside an empty barrel with electronics.

While the adapter does nothing to alter a lens' performance, different brands of lenses may or may not work well on a Sony camera because of sensor particulars.

While film is sensitive to light that hits it from any angle, camera sensors are very particular with the arrangement of microlenses and light-sensitive wells, and different lenses may or my not appear sharp if you look at thngs under a microscope in the corners on a Sony camera, even if the lens is creating a flawless image. You have to try and conform for yourself.

 

Image Stabilization

Performance          top

If the Canon lens has IS, it will work.

If your Sony camera has sensor-shift stabilization, which most do, that works, too. You can turn this off and on easily with the slide switch on the adapter.

 

Data

Performance          top

This adapter passes data.

Your files will have the focal length and aperture logged in the EXIF data.

I haven't seen that the lens model is encoded in the EXIF data for any lens, so while the file will know it was shot at, say, 21mm, it won't log if it was shot with a 12-24mm or 16-35mm lens, even if it's a Sony lens with no adapter.

 

Compared

Top   Intro   Compatibility   Specifications

Performance   Compared   Recommendations

 

Versus Fotodiox

With a Fotodiox adapter, many of my lenses work with my A9, but some lenses, like my 50mm f/1.0, won't autofocus. Most things work with the 50/1, including electronic manual focus — but AF doesn't.

 

Versus Fotga

I bought a Fotga adapter direct from China for $37 if you know How to Win at eBay, and it worked for 30 seconds, and then never communicated with any of my lenses again.

 

Summary

Just get this Metabones adapter if you are serious about this. The others seem too iffy for anything other than just fun.

 

 

Recommendations

Top   Intro   Compatibility   Specifications

Performance   Compared   Recommendations

This is the best adapter I've used. My Canon lenses usually focus very well, are usually very sharp, and every crazy lens I tried worked. On other brands of adapters, like Fotodiox, some of my lenses wouldn't work.

Adapters for Sony were critical back in 2013 when the first full-frame A7 came out and Sony had few, if any, serious lenses available.

Today Sony has a complete line of great lenses, so ideally get the Sony lens you want and it will work even better than an adapted lens. Canon lenses are awesome when shot on Canon cameras, but ultimately a Sony GM lens will work better on Sony than an adapted Canon lens.

Sony's lenses are optimized for the AF systems and sensors of the Sony cameras, so they will focus faster than an adapted lens, and likewise Canon's lenses may be ultrasharp on Canon, but they may or may not be ultrasharp when shot on the Sony sensors which require slightly different optical designs. Sony's GM lenses are always ultra sharp on Sony cameras.

With adapters, your camera may take longer to turn on as the lens, adapter and camera computers try to figure out what's going on. You may or may not get the super-fast turn-on you get with Sony's own lenses on an A9, for instance.

Ultimately if this $400 adapter lets you reuse an exotic lens you already own or isn't available from Sony, like a 300mm f/2.8, this adapter makes a lot of sense. However, if all you're doing is trying to delay the inevitable, which is manning-up and just buying the real pro Sony lenses for your Sony camera that you know you really want, just get the Sony lenses you deserve. The smart money is always on getting the best lenses you want.

If you're wondering how well any of your lenses will work on your camera, no worries. Get your Mark V adapter from Adorama, Amazon or B&H and you can simply return it for a cash refund if you don't love it. There's no reason to guess when you can try it yourself with you own equipment.

This all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. I use the stores I do because they ship from secure remote warehouses where no one gets to touch your new camera before you do. Buy only from the approved sources I use myself for the best prices, service, return policies and selection.

Thanks for helping me help you!

Ken, Mrs. Rockwell, Ryan and Katie.

 

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06-07 July 2017