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I am thinking about switching from 5DMIII to Sony A7r.

In terms of lenses, I have Canon EF lenses (16-35, 50, 70-200), and a Tamron 24-70 VC. Will the electronics of those lenses work with the camera (autofocus, stabilization, etc..)?

I'm mostly interested about landscape and studio photography.

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    \$\begingroup\$ You can find answer to all of your questions on adapter page metabones.com/products/details/MB-EF-E-BM4. TL;DR it's going to work, but poorly. \$\endgroup\$
    – Andrew
    Sep 8, 2014 at 16:50
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Bob - one thing you might consider, if available, is renting the camera and adapter before you buy. I've done that before. Also regarding the A7r, there really isn't that much space to be saved after you attach an adapter and the lens. Also, you really need to be sure you are going to benefit from the extra Megapixels. For the record, I'm not trying to dissuade you, as a matter of fact I'm totally stoked about my new A7s, but you should know what trade-offs you will make. \$\endgroup\$
    – B Shaw
    Sep 9, 2014 at 2:13
  • \$\begingroup\$ @BShaw Thanks for the info. I am mostly interested about more megapixel for creative cropping. I don't quite understand what Canon is waiting for. \$\endgroup\$
    – zzzbbx
    Sep 9, 2014 at 2:20
  • \$\begingroup\$ @BShaw the megapixel advantage is not huge, it's only 63% more, but the increase in dynamic range is much more significant: 428% (about 2.5 stops) \$\endgroup\$
    – Matt Grum
    Sep 9, 2014 at 11:11
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Bob Canon is waiting to recoup the investment in their current sensor fab or until they begin to lose a significant amount of sales before upgrading their 0.50 µm process to a 0.18 µm or smaller process that is required to be able to increase pixel counts without compromising on fill factor (and thus high ISO noise levels). \$\endgroup\$
    – Matt Grum
    Sep 9, 2014 at 11:18

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Most recent Canon lenses will work in AF mode with the Metabones smart adapter (even the 50 f/1.4, which is not reported to work but I've just tried mine and it does :) Your Tamron is reported to work.

"Work" is however a relative term, autofocus may function but it will be incredibly slow and can be unreliable. Other electronic functions such as automatic aperture, IS and EXIF reporting work fine.

On the plus side manual focus is a breeze on the A7 series compared to Canon DSLRs due to focus magnification and peaking. For landscape and studio work you should be ok, for events or sports it will take skill and practice to get good results with the A7 and Canon lenses.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I don't know which camera you were using before, but would you switch from 5DMIII to A7r? \$\endgroup\$
    – zzzbbx
    Sep 9, 2014 at 1:37
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Bob I did in fact just sell my 5DIII and managed to buy an A7R + Metabones adapter and still have money left over. It's a totally different shooting experience which is not for everyone, I'm using manual focus 99% of the time, and taking much fewer shots but at the same time not deleting any images that are out of focus or poorly composed. The resolution advantage is nice but not massive, unlike the increase in dynamic range. The reduction size weight is really nice too, but some will struggle with the ergonomics / controls if they have large hands or want to shoot wearing gloves. \$\endgroup\$
    – Matt Grum
    Sep 9, 2014 at 10:59
  • \$\begingroup\$ people complain about two major drawbacks. One is the shaking with long lenses (studio work), because canon IS apparently does not work, and the other one is that you are slow in a studio environment (mostly for manual focusing). Is that actually true? \$\endgroup\$
    – zzzbbx
    Sep 9, 2014 at 17:40
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Bob The A7R has an issue with shutter shock when using long lenses mounted on a tripod via the lens collar (nothing to do with IS, which works just fine). It's probably not ideal for wildlife photography with superteles. Whether or not it's too slow in the studio depends on what you're shooting and how good you are at focusing. If you are reliant on autofocus then you will need to wait until there are more native autofocus lenses available. \$\endgroup\$
    – Matt Grum
    Sep 10, 2014 at 12:43

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