Problems with Metabones EF to NEX Adapte: Lens doesn't work until battery is removed

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ejdge

Well-known member
Anyone else experience this or do I have a faulty adapter or body? I'm using a mark 3 metabones adapter but sometimes the camera doesn't see the lens until I remove/reinsert the battery. I've only been testing the camera and would hate to have this happen on a shoot.
 
I've seen this anomaly as well, although intermittently. Re-seating the lens & adapter seemed to do the trick, but there's definitely a problem. Also, I'm not getting autofocus on ANY of my Canon lenses.
 
Yeah that works for me too. AF works on the lenses I listed above but the AF is very slow.
 
Try powering off the camera before changing lenses. The contacts could be brushing against the wrong ones as you twist the lens on and causing confusion to the camera. My Sigma 18-35 did this the first time I used it but hasn't done it since.
 
Yeah I actually power it off everytime (although it would be nice if the a7s is hot swappable!). I'm going to be returning the adapter today because it totally stopped working after a battery change.
 
OK it was definitely the adapter. Got a mark 4 and it works everytime now. I'm a bit worried if this is happening to others. Mine stopped working altogether and this would be a nightmare if it was on a shoot... It's a shame they're so expensive or I'd buy a backup.
 
Bad news, it happened again but only once out of the entire hour. Reseated the lens and it worked again. Going to return email a7s on Tuesday to see if that's the problem.
 
I've posted about this on my blog and all over forums. The Metabones adapter is amazing when it works. But it's a little 'hinky'. I have had it do the same thing you are talking about . I have got 3 different adapters and tried them on three different NEX cameras (FS100, FS700 and VG20). I have sent the adapters back to be firmware upgraded three times. I have used a variety of lenses, but mostly Sigma and Tamron. In every case, I would eventually have the problems you talk about. Two lenses will no longer work with the adapters at all. Others will work but sporadically have this problem. My conclusion is that third party lenses and the Metabones don't play nice. Some people are lucky and haven't had issues....yet. I say this because every one of my adapters eventually had an issue with one third party lens or another. Sometimes different adapters would work with different lenses. For example, one worked great with Sigma but not Tamron and another worked with Tamron but not Sigma. I guess it kind of makes sense as there are so many third party lenses constantly coming out.
 
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Man that is terrible news. Looks like I'll have to invest in a backup one. Are there any alternatives to these adapters that are more reliable?
 
There's the commlite ones - less than $100 - not sure if they are less or more reliable, but they are supposed to work exactly the same.
 
We just got an Image-Center2012 Chinese $100 adapter and I cannot even get it to mount on the a7s, Canon lenses mount on the adapter but the adapter will not mount on the camera.
 
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wallrc said:
There's the commlite ones - less than $100 - not sure if they are less or more reliable, but they are supposed to work exactly the same.
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you know the word "less" and "reliable" never go with each other right? :) i've tried every single chinese brand back to the day when i start with FS100 and now i'm with metabone. Even with metabone, not all lenses work so don't have too much expectation when it comes to adapter.
 
I wonder a little if Sigma and Tamron have some kind of fundamental difference in the way they work in Canon EF mount? The first issues I had, were with the
Metabones periodically just 'adjusting' the iris on Sigma lenses. I would set the Fstop and it would randomly suddenly just change the Fstop. But it worked
great with Tamron lenses. After multiple firmware updates, the adapters now seem to work great with my Sigma lenses, but now will not communicate at all
with my Tamron lenses. As I understand it, these things are kind of 'reverse engineered' as opposed to being officially given the communication protocols
by Canon, so who knows what kind of problems may arise? Currently my Sigma 18-35 and 50-150 work and my Tamron 17-50 and 28-105 do not work.
 
Having personally gone through 3+ metabones adapters(2 due to internal malfunctions, and 1 due to to cold weather) all of them had to go back to the factory and required a replacement. In my experience ALWAYS keep 2 in your bag, they are just not a reliable piece of equipment.
 
Thanks for all the info guys. Can't believe reviewers don't mention this kind of stuff when they talk about adapters. It's a shame they only have 1 year warranties as well.
 
It's possible that hot-swapping is the issue. I had to send my A7s back today for exchange, the custome white balance feature was not working on the body I received, so I can't test this today. But according to reports the RJ adapter has this issue, and it sounds like it has to do with what the camera wants to find when the power is turned on. To change lenses, power down, remove the adapter and place it on the new lens, attach the lens-adapter combo, then power up. This may take care of the OP's issue.
 
The Metabones ver III adapter that I just purchased from B&H came loaded with firmware 30. The company tells me that there is a firmware update (31). But they fail to say if this will address the problems, and I have to return the adapter to Hong Kong at my expense, plus I have to pay them $35 for return shipment. Really?

I think I'll just return the adapter to B&H. I ordered another brand from Amazon that costs a lot less (they are all made in China, after all) and I'll give that a try.

There's also this one (also Chinese) that gets a good review on YouTube and CheesyCam: http://www.rjcamera.com/ocart/index.php?route=common/home
 
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