adapters for Canon or Nikon lenses on GH 4

[vulture]

Hi all,

does anybody know of a lens adapter for Canon EF or Nikon lenses giving full GH 4 camera control of ALL lens features (not just aperture!) ?

[eronald]

Be careful, some adapters work well with the Blackmagic but not with the GH4, in the GH4 there is the shutter ...

[Hywel]

I'm pretty disenchanted with lens adapters. I've never found a single one which wasn't a hateful, error prone thing. I think the issue is that tolerances on the imaging chain are pretty damn tight and it doesn't take much to screw something up.

I've got a speedbooster EF to m4/3. It sorta works, but the communication with the camera is a little iffy- once in a while it'll decide the lens isn't correctly mounted. Using the screw thread on the booster when on tripod helps counterbalance the weight on both sides, but it still cannot be relied upon to just work in the way a native lens on a native lens mount can. Plus there are focus shifts- just enough to wreck critical focus with my Tamron 11-16 which has a hard stop an infinity, preventing it from quite hitting infinity focus on the GH4, sometimes. (It seems to be temperature dependent- if I was going to continue using that lens I'd see if I could get the hard stop removed just to give me a couple of extra degrees past infinity, just in case).

AF doesn't really work with most adapters (although I gather the new Kipon improves on this- but it isn't a speedbooster, so forget wide angles).

I've got a cheap Chinese adapter which physically mounts the lenses, which it does fine, but no control over the lens at all.

Even the official Panasonic 4/3 to micro 4/3 adapter I have on my Olympus 12-160 mm is prone to occasionally deciding to pretend the contact has been lost, requiring unmount and remount of lens and adapter- which is easy enough, but not something I've ever needed to do with a native lens.

Since I like the GH4's small size, ergonomics and video capability I've given up and just bought Panasonic 7-14 mm, 12-35 mm and 45-200mm. I'll probably complete the set with the 35-100 f/2.8 or one of the Olympuses and be done with it. I do like having a full lens set in a trigger case on the side of the rucksack!

Cheers, Hywel.

[AllMankind]

I have the Metabones Nikon G to MFT adapter as well as the Metabones Speed Booster Nikon G to MFT adapter.

One (I forget which now) is off by a lot on infinity focus, the other is off by a little.  So even the expensive Metabones adapters have infinity focus issues.

Both, by the way, hit infinity early, so are still useable.

[spidermike]

Both, by the way, hit infinity early, so are still useable.

So why is this an 'issue'?

[Hywel]

Because it doesn't always happen early- with mine it happens late, and that makes the adapter close to useless for landscape work. Either way, the lens is not focussing where it is supposed to- so if it happened early, it might wreck the close focus of the lens. But the fact that there's focus issues and that they are different for different people/lenses/situations means you can't rely on the adapted lens combo.

In my unscientific experience it also seems to be temperature dependent, as I've had acceptable infinity focus from the lens-speedbooster in some conditions (eg north of the arctic circle) and not in others (in wet but warm Wales), and temperature was my best guess as to the difference.

Either way, I stand by my earlier comment- I have yet to find an adapter which is anything close to as useable and reliable as a native lens mounted on a camera it was designed to work with.

Actually I'll make one honourable exception- the purely mechanical adapters I have for M42 vintage all-manual lenses to Canon EF seem to work fine. I gather there's some possibility of them shorting contacts but the eBay ones I've been using proved themselves through a whole feature film shoot on my RED EF mount digital cine camera.

Cheers, Hywel

[vulture]

I am using the Redrock LiveLens Active Lens Mount for my Canon EF lenses on the GH 4.
It works, no problems with optical rendition, but I've never seen such a clumsy design for more than $ 500,-- and the handling is a drag.
There is only aperture control with a power supply by a 9V battery. The unit draws massive power and takes a minimum of 3 seconds after switching on to become operational.
To change battery you'll need 1-2 tiny screwdrivers to open the battery case, change battery and close it again.
You may imagine the joy one has to use this adapter for wiildlife.
Redrock gave no reasonable reply to my complaints and I couldn't find any alternative.
If anybody here has one...please!

[eronald]

there's a new gh4 speedbooster out -

[vulture]

Thanks for the hint. Looks promising.

[vulture]

I also saw a new adapter the manufacturer claims will maintain autofocus and IS of EF lenses.
No glass and additional crop factor:
Kipon Auto Focus AF Adapter for Canon EOS EF to M4/3 MFT GH4/Panasonic.
Price $ 295