Author: PanoTwin Jürgen

In a recent article I described, why the E-mount of the Sony ILCE-7 is so interesting for people with legacy lenses and how to configure your Sony ILCE-7 to assist when taking pictures with these lenses. In another article I also described, how to get rid of the magenta cast in the corners when you are using ultra wide lenses on the cameras which incorporate the Sony E-mount.

And here is another example of a legacy ultra wide lens adapted to the E-mount.

Originally this lens was constructed for the M39 screw-mount of early Leica cameras. So you could either use an Novoflex NEX/LEI adapter or you use an M-Bayonet Adapter and the Novoflex NEX/LEM adapter. Depending on your other lenses one of this options should suit your needs. Personally I use the second option and I don’t have any problems while focusing.

If you’d like to read an intensive review of the lens then take a look at this page.

The lens mount of the Sony NEX camera system is called E-mount. The E stands for Eighteen, as the flange focal distance of the Sony NEX camera series is exactly eighteen millimeters. Most interchangeable lens systems use a longer flange focal distance and therefore you can adapt nearly every available lens to the E-mount of the Sony NEX camera system.

In this case I used the NEX/LEM adapter from Novoflex to adapt an Voigtländer Ultra Wide Heliar 12mm/5.6 to a Sony A7 (ILCE-7). As this camera incorporates a full frame sensor this setup equals to a focal length of 12mm.

You must be aware that this combination only allows manual control. But the Sony A7 (ILCE-7) camera assists in the use of manual lenses if the camera is proper configured:

1. Make sure you enable the shooting without a lens: Menu → Custom Settings (gear icon) → 3 → Release w/o Lens → Enable
2. Set the Focus Magnification Time using Menu → Custom Settings (gear icon) → 1 → Focus Magnif. Time → No Limit
   You can choose between No Limit — 2 Sec — 5 Sec.
3. Set the Peaking Level using Menu → Custom Settings (gear icon) → 2 → Peaking Level → Mid
   You can choose between Low — Mid — High.
4. Set the Peaking Level using Menu → Custom Settings (gear icon) → 2 → Peaking Color → Yellow
   You can choose between Yellow — Red — White.

Switch your camera to A- Mode (aperture priority) and use the Focus Magnifier function to get a perfectly sharp picture even when shooting a fast lens wide open. The default configuration of the camera assigns the Focus Magnifier function to button C1 (Custom Button 1). You can reassign the function using Menu → Custom Settings (gear icon) → 6 → Custom Key Settings.