Sony a7R III With Canon Lenses: How Well Do They Perform?

Sony cameras have improved drastically over the years and they have many photographers making the switch. If you are switching from Canon and not ready to make the switch completely, you may be wondering how well do Canon lenses perform on Sony bodies with adapters.

While the a7R III and a7 III have improved over their previous iterations with adaptive lenses, will they perform well enough for your needs? Manny Ortiz tests out how well the Sony a7R III focuses during his photoshoot while paired with the Sigma MC-11 adapter and various Canon L-series lenses. At the end of the video, you can see the view from the camera while it's trying to use Eye AF which is one of their most popular features.

Maybe you want to keep your Canon DSLR and also shoot mirrorless with Sony and figured using the adapter would be a good solution of using your current lenses. Maybe you are not in a position to sell all your Canon lenses and make the switch completely. Will the adapter work for you? Hopefully Ortiz's video helps you make the decision on what's best for you.

Are you a Sony shooter using Canon lenses with the Metabones Smart Adapter instead, do your Canon lenses perform any better than shown in this video? Sigma MC-11 users, are you finding the same results as Ortiz? Let us know in the comments.

Alex Ventura's picture

Staff writer Alex Ventura is a professional photographer based out of the Houston area that specializes in automotive and glamour with the occasional adventures into other genres. He regularly covers automotive related events for Houston Streets & Spekture with some publications in the United States.

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12 Comments

So, the issue is just with Eye AF in low-light situations? Regular AF in low-light is ok?

Even I made my first video on youtube on the same topic, but used canon 135, sigma 35 and Canon 85 1.8 lenses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKJdxzQEANQ

Hey Arun,

Have you tried using it on zoom lenses. I feel the issue is more on Zoom Lenses compared to Primes

Pritham, i have tried with canon 16-35 F4 and its working quite well.
I had alot of missed focus shots on sigma 50mm art and 85mm art though. Eye af was hunting for focus in yesterday's shoot.

Thank you so much. Will buy MC-11 and try my luck with that

a7RIII user here. I use the sigma adapter with the original 70-200 f/2.8L non-IS and 35 f/1.4L with the eye tracking AF, and about 95% of my shots are in razor sharp focus. Granted, I shoot in studio on a tripod, but my in-focus rate is way better than it ever was on my 5DmkIII.

Have you tried both of the Sigma and the Metabones adapters?
I still have a couple AF Canon lenses (85 1.8 and 300 2.8 - they were "ok" with the MB4 ...then MB did a firmware upgrade and the canon lenses work pretty, pretty good with the a7s and a7r2.
However my Sigma 24-105 and 15mm fishy are almost useless, maybe with the Sigma adapter they'll work. But is it worth it?

Just shot an 8 day bike ride with the A7R3. Had mostly Sony glass and a Canon 70-200 on the latest Metabones. Focus was hit or miss with the Canon, but changing from continuous AF to Single shot AF made a huge difference. Will only shoot with Sony glass going forward.

Really?

Eye-AF Battle!! Sigma MC11 vs Metabones V on Sony A7Riii
https://youtu.be/nzQKGYwjhoM

Wondering if some one has tested MC-11 or Metabones V on a Canon 70-200 IS2. I have a a7ii and was using canon 70-200 IS2 and there was hardly any focus issues up until I came up with a drastic decision of servicing my a7ii for camera black out issues during wedding shoots. I have been told that during the service they upgraded the firmware & since then I have been facing severe focus issues. Decided to upgrade the camera and yesterday I purchased a a7iii and I see the issue is more severe when tried the Metabones & canon 70-200 on the new a7iii. Earlier it was a situation of no focus and now the camera says it has nailed the focus (Click sound and the green box over the subject) and out of 10-12 pics I clicked only two were with sharp focus and rest were partially focused. Most of them were clicked with AF-S & Wide focus area(yet to try AF-S & Flexible Spot L or M Focus areas) I picked up the a7iii for the eye focus feature and now in a situation where in i am not able to use it.

Wondering if some one has faced similar issue and is there any work around or switching to MC-11 or Metabones V is the only option.

I am A7RIII user (Recently moved from 5DM3), and using canon lenses and one of them is 70-200 m2 f2.8. Haven't got a chance to play around a lot, but couple of shots I have clicked, had a success of exact and sharp focus on 60% of the times.

Will try few more this weekend and can have better idea.

Metabones 5 is amazing w canon lenses.