The bagful of mount adapters that occupies a corner of my closet is a reminder of something of which the pundits often remind us: lenses work best when fitted to a camera of the same brand.
Well, most of the time…
Lately I’ve done a good job of following that advice, mostly with good results, too. R and SL glass on L-mount, and—more recently—F and Z on Z-mount. Same brand, yes; but R on L and F on Z send me back to the bag in the closet. So, I figured, why not R on Z?
Like the SL2 with the R-Adapter-L, the Z7 won’t record EXIF unless I use its proprietary adapter, the FTZ. Unlike the SL2, I can enter a focal length in the camera’s menu and get excellent stabilization for the lens.
I started with the 180mm APO-Elmarit-R + APO-Extender-R 2X. It’s about 15% shorter than the 300mm PF with 1.4X, but noticeably sharper even without pixel-peeping. Hmmm, maybe time to try manual focus with the 300mm PF…
Anyway, the photo below was shot with that combination. Later in the day I tried the 280mm f/4 APO with the APO 2X, also with excellent stabilization, even though 600mm is the closest camera setting to the actual focal length.
To be fair to the pundits, though, nothing beats the SL 90-280mm on the SL2. But until there are some longer focal length options for Z-mount, the adapter bag won’t get much rest.
