Multireporter och opinionsbildare. Det som står i min blogg är mina högst privata tankar och åsikter.

Autofocus with M-lenses

Leica M-lenses are usually small, flexible and well-built. It's really nice to work with them. But under certain circumstances, one could wish that they had had autofocus. But that little problem seems to have been solved.

I work as a reporter for a Swedish Magazine. I use Leica and Sony cameras privately as well as in my job. In order to limit my gear and keep it light I often used my M-lenses with a Novoflex-adapter on my Sony A7rII and A6500. But sometimes it's was hard to focus manually when shooting fast moving subjects like concerts.

In order to get round this problem I started to look for a solution that allowed me to use my M-lenses (the excellent 7Artisans 28/1,4 and 50/1,1 are among them) with full autofocus on my Sony cameras. The solution was the Techart PRO Autofocus Adapter. The adapter is a perfect match with my 7Artisan and Leica-M lenses, and the focusing speed is fast enough too capture fast moving moments of time.

If you use Sony and have a couple of M-lenses I can strongly recommend you to buy a Techart PRO Autofocus Adapter. It works perfect even in low light conditions with the 7Artisans 28/1,4, 50/1,1 and the Leica 90/2. It also gives me a better control of the aperture, since I can change it on the lens, and not via a wheel on the camera.

The combination is not as fast as a purpose built autofocus lenses, but it allows me to combine my Leica and Sony equipment. Since the 7Artisans lenses is much smaller than equivalent Sony or Sigma lenses for Sony E they give me more space in my gadget bag. On assignment I often use a Leica M240 and a Sony A6500 or a A7rII with a Techart PRO adapter together with a Zeiss 21/2,8, 7Artisans 28/1,4 and 50/1,1 and a Leica 90/2. And a iPad for taking notes. Everything fits nice into my Billingham Hadley Pro.

I took the photos in the article at the Gullbranna Festival in Sweden. I used a Leica M240, a Sony A6500 and a Sony A7rII and Zeiss 21/2,8, 7Artisans 28/1,4 and 50/1,1 for the pictures.

Text and photo: Mikael Good