Megadap ETZ21 Pro E to Z Mount Adapter Review: Viable But Not Vindicated
If you have a Sony E-mount camera body, the world is your oyster when it comes to lens selection. If you have a camera in Nikon Z-mount, you’d better like Tamron and Nikon glass. With all the excellent third-party lenses being manufactured, Nikon users can feel a little left out. But what if you could mount E-mount lenses onto your Nikon body? Megadap decided to allow just that, and we got our hands on the $249 ETZ21 Pro to see if E-mount lenses play nice with Nikon bodies.
Sony E-mount lenses have a very narrow physical lens mount diameter, but they also focus with a longer flange back than Nikon lenses. Nikon happen to have a gaping maw of a lens mount, which means that E-mount lenses can fit, with a very thin adapter, and still focus properly on the sensor plane.
Although we planned to purchase an ETZ21 Pro adapter for testing, we were fortunate to have a fan of the show donate one to us for our video. Additionally, I did try to evaluate the ETZ21 Pro alongside the Viltrox adapter, however, the firmware updating process is dubious and the adapter failed to load properly. We also found that, very curiously, Viltrox-branded E-mount lenses wouldn’t actually lock into place on the Viltrox adapter. Regardless, the Viltrox adapter was not fit for testing after our slough of errors, so we are sticking to the Megadap on its own.
Megadap ETZ21 Pro E to Z Mount Adapter Review: How It Feels
There isn’t much to the adapter itself. The unit is very thin, largely relying on the knurled release switch to rotate the adapter on and off. There are electrical contacts that connect to both the Z-mount camera body and the E-mount lens contacts, and a controller board that handles the translation of info between the two. Updating the ETZ21 adapter was very simple, using the camera body itself as an intermediary.
The adapter locked into place firmly on the Nikon Z8 that we tested and all lenses that we tried across a variety of brands snapped solidly onto the adapter ring. I did not notice any worrisome jiggling or looseness between the adapter and lenses.
Not only does the ETZ21 allow for autofocusing but it also transmits EXIF data to the image file properly. It worked perfectly with the aperture rings on appropriately equipped lenses.
I wanted to confirm that focusing was working properly, so I used both the Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 Sport and Sony G Master 70-200mm f/2.8 II for an autofocus trial. Both lenses were shot at the 200mm mark at f/2.8 to see if they could track a fast-moving object accurately with face and eye detection intact.
Megadap ETZ21 Pro E to Z Mount Adapter Review: How It Shoots
With Jordan Drake running at full tilt, I shot a series of bursts at 10 frames per second using 3D tracking and human subject detection. Both lenses did a great job of locking on, tracking, and allowing high burst rates throughout the testing.
However, there are some caveats.
The ETZ21 Pro does not impose a limitation on maximum burst rates but if the focus release setting is set to anything except release priority, the lenses cannot keep up with the action. To be fair, they did a fine job even though accurate focus was not the priority, but you’ll want to set the focus priority as stated. At a distance, both lenses did well, achieving a high hit rate of keepers. However, it is when the subject gets to medium and close distances that the adapter cannot move the lenses fast enough or accurately enough to get good focus.
I also did a test with a studio flash to really check the precision of focus without the subject moving. What I found was a propensity for the adapter to hunt and second-guess focusing, even with a stationary subject. Sometimes the focus would drift or jump slightly off the iris, and I had to take multiple shots to up my chances of getting a good frame. The subject detection is compatible, but the results reminded me of an earlier generation mirrorless camera, which would often be just in front of or behind the eye on occasion.
The entire focusing experience was positive but everything felt just a little slower and just a little less reliable than a native lens attached to the body would.
Viable But Not Vindicated
Perhaps someone is dumping their Sony cameras to switch to Nikon, but still has a significant investment in E-mount glass. Or maybe they are lucky enough to have both systems and want to mix and match glass a little. The Megadap ETZ21 Pro makes a lot of sense in these situations and is relatively inexpensive. Sigma lens fans wanting to mount lenses to their Nikon bodies will also find good utility in this handy little adapter but it all has to be done with the idea that the focusing experience overall will feel like 80% of what it should be. Personally, this is too big a hit for me to enjoy using the adapter, beyond playing around with lens swapping in a casual manner.
Many photographers are looking to adapt premium Sigma optics for wildlife or studio applications and, unfortunately, I just don’t feel like the current status of the autofocus performance will live up to expectations. I’d stick to Nikon or Tamron glass until Megadap or the other myriad adapter manufacturers find a way to break the code and bridge the focusing speed gap. Or perhaps Sigma and Nikon will eventually find a way to built that bridge and open up the lens mount instead.
The $249 ETZ21 Pro is a handy little tool that works better than expected and if you are enamored by the idea of forcing the Z-mount open to other brands, the Megadap will make it possible.
Are There Alternatives?
Viltrox and Neewer also make adapters that are even more affordable than what Megadap offers. I have yet to test them (not for lack of trying with regard to Viltrox) and can’t speak to the efficacy, but any viable adapter will need to be fast focusing and reliably functional to make it worth it.
Should You Buy It?
Yes. If you really want to mount E-glass onto Nikon bodies, the Megadap works surprisingly seamlessly, as long as you don’t need absolutely perfect autofocus every single time in every possible circumstance.
