Sony to release an NEX camera that will autofocus with ANY lens!?? This could be a game changer!

I had to make a post about this! Andrea at Sonyalpharumours has hinted that Sony are working on a camera that will enable users to achieve autofocus with Canon and Nikon lenses! This is an amazing revelation, this kind of cross format compatibility from an original manufacturer would be unique, adapters to use the lenses from other brands are usually the work of third party manufacturers and poorly implemented!

But there's more! And this is the really exciting part, Andrea hinted that autofocus may be achieved by SHIFTING THE SENSOR forwards and backwards! If this turns out to be true it will be a complete game changer and revolution for the users of manual focus legacy lenses, you could turn any lens into an autofocus lens! Imagine using old lecia primes with AF! Or M42, Pentax K, Canon FD, Contax/Yashica and even those weird and wonderful C-mount lenses!

It remains unclear if this is actually how the camera is going to work but if it turns out to be true it will be a very exciting piece of technology, even if you have to manually get a lens nearly in focus and then let the camera do the fine tuning by moving the sensor it would still be revolutionary!

I can barely wait to find out more!

Pentax Q and C-mount Lenses = A predictable disappointment!

I did have my doubts about using adapted lenses on the new Pentax Q and they have just been confirmed by DC Watch.

Whilst the very small sensor promises full frame coverage with most C and D-mount lenses it's important to remember that the photosites on the sensor are incredibly tiny and most lenses simply cannot resolve enough detail to keep up. One combination in particular that had me salivating was the Q mated with the Pentax 8-48mm F/1.0 which would equate to a 46-267mm F/1.0 (in terms of light gathering) but it just isn't going to deliver any sort of usable image quality.

The camera does better with SLR lenses that tend to be capable of much higher resolutions so there is still some potential for interesting combinations, a 200mm F/2.8 would become an 1100mm which could have some interesting applications although even with SLR lenses I suspect only the very sharpest would be up to the job. If you're not interested in extreme telephoto then you're still best off using SLR lenses with 4/3 or larger sensors with all the associated benefits such as lower noise and shallower depth of field.

I would expect that modern megapixel CCTV lenses would perform somewhat better but they cost as much if not more as native Q lenses so what's the point? It's a shame really but I was expecting it to happen, there's just no way these old video lenses can deliver enough resolution to feed the tiny pixels in the Pentax Q It's still a cute camera and I know that the native lenses are very decent but it terms of using it for all those c and d-mount lenses that won't work on your 4/3 cam I'm afraid it's a no go!

Here's the link to the DC Watch article where they test several lenses all with disappointing results.

http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/review/special/20111020_484895.html