EF lenses could work on a mirrorless body, right?

[ScottyP]

I don't have this wrong, do I? If they made a mirrorless body that wasn't super thin, but rather the same basic thickness as a DSLR, then there would be no problem? The adaptor that lets the M camera use EF lenses is really just a spacer to get the lens farther from the sensor, right?

If so, given the huge line of EF lenses that the DSLR makers all have, couldn't they go mirrorless without needing to create all new M lenses, and making EF lenses obsolete? I don't think most serious amateurs would really want cameras to get small. A lot of folks say they like the bigger cameras because they are the right size for handling. .

 

[Albi86]

Yes, as long as the flange distance stays the same, mirror or no mirror wouldn't matter.

 

[Tugela]

A DSLR becomes a mirrorless camera when the mirror is raised, so there is no reason why not.

 

[ajfotofilmagem]

I can not predict the future, but I think the only way to mirrorless cameras be a sales success, would maintain full compatibility with EF / EF-S lenses without adapter. Just that the distance between the lens mount and the sensor is equal to the current DSLR. Obviously, the AF system needs to be faster than the current mirrorless. In this sense, Dual Pixel AF, or perhaps Quad Pixel AF has a promising future.

 

[donsullivan]

I'm actually experimenting with a variation on this concept now. I've been disappointed with the DR on my 5D3 for landscape shooting (not a fan of HDR for this stuff). To deal with that I picked up a Sony a7R a few weeks ago and with the addition of a metabones adapter, I'm able to use nearly all of my EF glass on the Sony. It's kind of slow but everything on this body is slow and with the exception of the 50mm f/1.4 (too old) everything works just fine with full functionality.

In my case I'm using this as a bridge in hopes that Canon comes out with something like the D800 feature set in the next year or so. I was very close to switching platforms late last year and thought I'd try this out to see if it gave me what I wanted. It's not ready to be a replacement platform by any means but at least now I have a higher resolution, better DR body to attach to my Canon glass for landscape shooting. Definitely not a solution when you need fast focusing and the like but for tripod based landscape stuff I'm really impressed so far.

So bottom line, it could be done but most folks looking at mirror less seem to be going that way for smaller size of everything including the lenses. I was just after better DR and this option happened to be mirror less.

 

[KBStudio]

I'm actually experimenting with a variation on this concept now. I've been disappointed with the DR on my 5D3 for landscape shooting (not a fan of HDR for this stuff). To deal with that I picked up a Sony a7R a few weeks ago and with the addition of a metabones adapter, I'm able to use nearly all of my EF glass on the Sony. It's kind of slow but everything on this body is slow and with the exception of the 50mm f/1.4 (too old) everything works just fine with full functionality.

In my case I'm using this as a bridge in hopes that Canon comes out with something like the D800 feature set in the next year or so. I was very close to switching platforms late last year and thought I'd try this out to see if it gave me what I wanted. It's not ready to be a replacement platform by any means but at least now I have a higher resolution, better DR body to attach to my Canon glass for landscape shooting. Definitely not a solution when you need fast focusing and the like but for tripod based landscape stuff I'm really impressed so far.

So bottom line, it could be done but most folks looking at mirror less seem to be going that way for smaller size of everything including the lenses. I was just after better DR and this option happened to be mirror less.

Don - Are you finding the shutter bounce to be a problem? I am following the same logic set as you and have yet to make up my mind. Came close but talk of shutter bounce at anything under 125th of a second and the variable performance of each Metabones adapter has made me wait. What has been your experience?

 

[donsullivan]

Don - Are you finding the shutter bounce to be a problem? I am following the same logic set as you and have yet to make up my mind. Came close but talk of shutter bounce at anything under 125th of a second and the variable performance of each Metabones adapter has made me wait. What has been your experience?

I too read the reports of shutter bounce but so far I have not noticed it to be an issue for me. I've also only had it for a couple of weeks and I'm still running it through a range of shooting scenarios and conditions to see how it holds up.

I ordered the wrong Metabones adapter (Speed Booster) at first and had to swap that out for the proper one (III) and now it's fine. So far I've tested 14mm f/2.8L II USM, 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM, 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM, 70-200 f/2.8L II USM (also with a 2x extender III) as well as the 8-15mm f/4 Fisheye and all work with full functionality (albeit slowly) on the metabones. The only Canon lens I own that did not work is my really old 50mm f/1.4 which I knew going in was not supported due to the age of the architecture.

I'm still working through the use cases to confirm which camera body is best suited for which of the types of shooting I do. Right now, any type of landscape shooting I do either handheld or tripod is likely to be on the A7R and anything handheld that needs fast performance will use the 5D3.

For example this past weekend I shot an airshow and have another one coming up on Sunday. I won't even bring the A7R with me for that sort of condition since it's way too slow all the way around but the 5D3 can handle those conditions just fine. However I've got a sunset/dusk cityscape shoot planned for this weekend and A7R will be the primary tool for that shoot since It'll be on the tripod the whole time and I want the greater DR it's sensor offers.

For me I think it's going to be about picking the right body for the proper use case and having the metabones adapter gives me the option of using my large investment in L-glass either way. A friend of mine described it the other day as being like I had the option to 'swap backs' behind the lenses based on the shooting conditions.

lots more testing to do and lessons to learn but so far I'm quite happy with it.