WARNING! Sony Adaptor Anomaly, Caveat Emptor!

Brownie

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Maybe this could be pinned for a while to make sure people are informed.

Bought a used LA-EA4 from KEH in November. It worked fine with my 28-135 and 100-400 but noticed that it worked intermittently with my 35-105. By 'intermittent' I mean it worked at both ends of the zoom and lost contact in the middle. I figured it was probably the lens but contacted KEH to let them know and said I'd test a few more lenses before I sent it back for exchange. Holidays came and got in the way, and since it was working with my EDC lenses, I forgot about it until I bought another A-mount. When I mounted the lens, it wouldn't communicate at all. This led me to check all of my A-Mounts and record the results.

This table shows the results. The far right column shows compatibility with each lens and this camera/adapter combination, and the second column from the right shows how the lens functioned with the A7IV/LA-EA5.

Sony A7RIII and LA-EA4
LensAFApertureW/A7IV and LA-EA5 Sony Compatibility
50 MacroNoNoXX
50XXXX
85NoNoXX
28-135XXXX
100-400XXXX
100-200XXXX
70-210IntermittentIntermittentXX
35-105IntermittentIntermittentXX
75-300IntermittentIntermittentXX
500 RefNoX (fixed @ f/8)XX
80-200 HS GXXXX

The 70-210 was really weird in that it would work at both ends and for a brief zone in the center but would lose contact at about 1/3 and 2/3 zoom.

So, I contacted KEH and they replaced it under warranty. (yay!) The new one arrived yesterday. This morning I tested it with the 28-135 and 100-400, which both worked before, and the 85/1.4, the 500AF Reflex, and the 35-105. Everything works as it should. I'll check the other lenses in a few days to be certain, but I don't expect any more problems.

Caveat Emptor! If you decide to buy one, I recommend that you test it with as many lenses as you can lay hands on or buy it from a place that has a return policy. I don't blame KEH for this, I doubt they do more than a cursory connect with one lens, and unless someone is aware they'd never know to look for it.
 
That's interesting. I found the ea4 worked decently with my A lenses on an a7Rii, but of course the Rii system has superior AF inside. I needed to retreat to the a7ii, and now the ea4 won't acquire focus with my lenses (24-105D, 100-300D Apo, 70-210rs). I'm abandoning the Minoltas and just using fE mount, and K-mount lenses manually. Life's too short for such fiddling.. unless you're a fiddler 🤨🎻
 
That's interesting. I found the ea4 worked decently with my A lenses on an a7Rii, but of course the Rii system has superior AF inside. I needed to retreat to the a7ii, and now the ea4 won't acquire focus with my lenses (24-105D, 100-300D Apo, 70-210rs). I'm abandoning the Minoltas and just using fE mount, and K-mount lenses manually. Life's too short for such fiddling.. unless you're a fiddler 🤨🎻
KEH replaced it and everything works as it should. Still, I am not that fond of the LA-EA4. The LA-EA5 is miles ahead of it, but it only works with screw drive lenses on the more recent cameras. I wish Sony would step back and update firmware for all of them to work with the 5.

BTW, you can get a manual A>Fe with an aperture ring. For that matter you can switch to manual and just use them that way.
 
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