The parts of this series (including this one) are at:
Adapting Nikon lenses to Sony Alpha: Monster LA-FE1 autofocus adapter
Monster Adapter LA-FE 1 (2): AF-C for moving subjects
Monster Adapter LA-FE 1 (3): Another go with the Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 E FL
Monster Adapter LA-FE1 (4): Revisiting birds in flight
Monster adapter LA-FE1 (5): firmware v04
If you want to see more pictures, rather than reading all this text :-) I’ve set up an album on Flickr of pictures taken using the Sony A1 and Monster adapter LA-FE1 with various Nikon AF-S lenses at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthonybaines/albums/72177720303620120
I’ll be adding more pictures to it as time goes on.
Considerations
Earlier this year, I described how I had tried the combination of the Sony A1 with the Nikon 500mm PF lens adapted using the Monster Adapter LA-FE1 autofocus adapter. In the last couple of weeks, I've decided to give that combination another go for birds in flight.
Since I first tried that combination, I've bought the Sony 200-600mm lens: this is now my standard wildlife lens. It is bigger and heavier than the Nikon 500mm PF lens, but it has the added flexibility of a zoom, delivers excellent image quality, and generally extracts the full potential of the A1 in terms of fast, accurate focusing and full frame rate at 30fps. In that context, the 500mm PF has been relegated from first-choice use.
So, why did I get it out again? For various reasons, but mainly size and weight. It is noticeably lighter than the 200-600mm (1460g vs 2115g), and it even fits in a smaller bag with the camera body and adapter attached. On a comfy sling strap (I use the BlackRapid Sport Breathe Camera Sling) its weight is more-or-less un-noticeable for photography by wandering about (PBWA!) a wildlife reserve.
In my original blog, I noted: "Setting up to photograph birds, I found that the lens seemed to track them very nicely using wide-area focus mode; the focus points followed them across the screen. Even so, not all the pictures were sharp. The 'keeper rate' was significantly below what I would get with a D500." Also, "I was in wide-area mode, which in retrospect may have been suboptimal."
Over the last few months of using the 200-600mm lens, I've worked a lot more with the focus modes to try to establish a set that works well for me with the kinds of birds I find in the environment of places such as Oare marshes. In general, with back button focus and AF-C, two modes — Zone and Spot S — cover nearly all my needs, and I have these programmed on the C2 button so I can switch between them instantly.
Flock of pied avocets hurtling past
Results so far
So, now that I have more experience using the A1 for birds, how does the 500PF–LA-FE1 combination measure up?
Quite well is the answer. First, you must accept that you'll never get the same keeper rate as with a native Sony lens. You're also not going to get 30fps. OK - that's a given. But, actually, the focus pick-up is pretty quick, and the rate of in-focus pictures is pretty high. Eye autofocus seems to work well when birds are large enough in the frame.
As a f’r’instance, on a recent PBWA visit to Oare, I took 489 pictures in all. Of, these, Exiftool tells me that 441 (about 90%) were taken in Zone focus mode.
Shelduck in flight
The shelduck shown here is an example. It flew along Faversham Creek towards me, then crossed over the sea wall in front of me to fly into the East Flood. I picked up focus using Zone when it was quite a long way out, and tiny in the frame. I took a series of short bursts of pictures over 14 sec using Continuous High. The one shown is from when it crossed in front of me. Looking at the pictures at 200% view on my computer screen, I'd say around 80% or so are sharp on the bird's eye. (Don't generalise this number: it applies to one bird photographed on one occasion, under one particular lighting condition, etc! n=1) Of those that fail, they are all misfocused rather than completely out of focus, with the focus seeming to rack across the width of the bird's wings. In any case, I had plenty of sharp images for any particular wing position I'd choose. Yes — a lower keeper rate than I'd probably get with the 200-600, but more than enough to choose from.
For perched birds, I tend to use single-point focus if the bird is buried deep in some foliage or branches. If Zone does not pick the bird up, then I'll go to Single and it works fine.
Two landings: (above) little egret (below) stonechat
v02 firmware — for now
Monster Adapter has released a firmware update for the LA-FE1. v03 is supposed to bring substantial enhancements to the autofocus performance. However, the comments online about it have been ... umm ... mixed would be the polite way of putting it.
According to their Facebook page, "Firmware v03 of LA-FE1 now adds new focus drive algorithm: G Driver, which improves the autofocus performance of F-mount lenses on Sony mirrorless cameras (including AF-S single AF and AF-C continuous AF tracking). According to our tests, the focusing speed is shortened by about 25% on average, and the maximum can be shortened by about 60%."
The first comment under Monster's post from Emin Kuliyev says of the Nikon 105mm f/1.4 lens "I feel it improved the speed of adapter at least for 50%"
Sounds great — but! Various other comments are negative on Twitter as well as Facebook. It seems as though LA-FE1/v03 struggles on anything other than an A1 with a fairly recent Nikon lens. Certainly, third-party lenses don't seem to do well.
My 500PF and 70-200mm f/2.8 E FL should both be fine with v03 firmware and they are the only lenses I generally use with the LA-FE1. The thing is that v02 works well enough. The big bugbear with upgrading from v02 to v03 firmware is that it is a one-way street. In other words, there is no way of reverting to v02 after upgrading. If the upgrade doesn't work for you, you are stuffed. One post on DPReview indicated that Monster is working on v04 firmware, so I may well wait to see what that brings.
A flock of goldfinches making some nice shapes (and a couple of intruders!) These were going up in the air and down again very quickly, so there was very little time for the camera to acquire focus.
Summary
My prior expectations for the LA-FE1 were not high. Nonetheless, the first trials I had with it were potentially promising, although, at that stage, I had not worked out my best settings for bird photography. Now that I have a set-up that I trust, I think the Sony A1–LA-FE1–Nikon 500PF lens combination is workable. I seem to get good sharp pictures at a consistently usable rate, with the benefit that it is smaller and lighter than the A1–Sony 200-600mm combination. I'm pretty sure that with more experience of it, I can get this to work better still. Overall, I'd say my prior expectations have been well and truly confounded: it works much better with birds than I had ever expected. As I've shown previously, the same applies to aircraft.
Note as always, my comments apply to a Nikon shooter who has the 500PF and is looking to move to or add Sony. The LA-FE1 will give you options as I've described if you get an A1 (I can't speak for other Sony bodies). But if you are a Sony shooter already, I do not recommend going out to buy this lens and the adapter: stick to native Sony lenses.
Oh — and one last thought. If I like the 500PF so much, why am I not continuing to shoot it on a Nikon body? The D500 is a fantastic DSLR, for my money the best APS-C DSLR ever made. But mirrorless has so many advantages. Among others: I use zebra stripes to judge exposure (ie expose to the right as far as possible before blowing the highlights) which is a much better way of getting optimal data than possible on a DSLR; there is eye autofocus; tracking modes are there when I want, even if I don't use them all the time; the A1 has 50MP full frame and 21MP in APS-C crop whereas the D500 is intrinsically in crop mode; the A1 is smaller and lighter. I think that is enough!
Two more pictures with the adapted 500PF (Above) Black-headed gull finding a worm in the mud (below) two black-bellied brent geese floating on the Swale