Can’t wait for Nikon to produce more Z-mount lenses? Swapping from Sony to Nikon? This could be the answer...
Techart is an adapter specialist. It already makes adaptors to fit Canon EF lenses to the Hasselblad X1D and Fujifilm GFX medium format cameras, and an autofocus adaptor for manual Leica M lenses on Sony E cameras (yes, really). This latest TZE-01 adapter, however, has the potential to be the most useful yet – and to stir up some rivalries between two of the best mirrorless camera makers.
This super-slim adaptor is just 2mm thick – that’s the difference in flange distance between the Sony E-mount and Nikon Z-mount used on the Nikon Z 6 and Nikon Z 7. Nevertheless, Techart has also managed to cram in the electronic circuitry needed to ‘translate’ the lens and camera data between the two systems, together with the required electrical contacts on both sides.
Will everything still work?
Techart says its TZE-01 adapter preserves the autofocus capability of Sony lenses on Nikon bodies, achieving a world first in the process, and that AF will work for both still photography and video.
It’s claimed the face and eye-detection capability of Nikon’s Z 6 and Z 7 cameras will be preserved, and that lens vibration reduction and phase-detection capability will work too, to ‘guarantee’ AF accuracy and speed that’s close to, if not better than, native Z-mount lenses. The adapter is a great boost for the Nikon Z lens roadmap – increasing the number of lenses you can use on the Nikon full-frame mirrorless models.
The tiny Techart TZE-01 Sony FE to Nikon Z adapter is just 2mm thick.
That’s a bold claim, but Techart does go on to qualify this, saying that functionality ‘may vary’ when different E-mount lenses are used. The company does say that the TZE-01 adapter does support most Sony, Sigma, Tamron & Zeiss AF lenses with Sony E mounts including the Tamron 28-75mm, Batis 25mm f/2, Sony 24mm f/1.4 GM and Sigma 35mm f/1.4, for example.
The Techart TZE-01 adapter is available for pre-order with free shipping (during the promotional period) from the Techart website, with a recommended retail price (before tax) of $249. It should be available from late June 2019.
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Rod is an independent photography journalist and editor, and a long-standing Digital Camera World contributor, having previously worked as DCW's Group Reviews editor. Before that he has been technique editor on N-Photo, Head of Testing for the photography division and Camera Channel editor on TechRadar, as well as contributing to many other publications. He has been writing about photography technique, photo editing and digital cameras since they first appeared, and before that began his career writing about film photography. He has used and reviewed practically every interchangeable lens camera launched in the past 20 years, from entry-level DSLRs to medium format cameras, together with lenses, tripods, gimbals, light meters, camera bags and more. Rod has his own camera gear blog at fotovolo.com but also writes about photo-editing applications and techniques at lifeafterphotoshop.com
