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Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott and I am here
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today to give you my review of the
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newest of Megaaps adapters. The ETZ21
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has gone through first the the original
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and then the Pro iteration and now it is
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the Pro Plus. And the main thing that's
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being addressed here is a pretty common
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complaint that people had about the ETZ
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uh Pro, and that was that it lacked any
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kind of weather sealing. And so, if you
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were going even using like a high
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quality G Master lens, as I'm using
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right now, I'm using my 50mm f1.4 G
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Master lens and using the ETZ Pro Plus
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on my Nikon Z8 to do this review.
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Previously, you wouldn't have had
0:49
weather sealing in that really important
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seal point between the lens or in this
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case the adapter and the actual camera
0:57
body. Most cases, you're probably okay,
0:59
but it does create a potential point
1:01
where potentially moisture could get
1:03
into your camera itself, which none of
1:05
us want. And so, the ETZ21 Pro Plus adds
1:09
the weather sealing gasket to the actual
1:11
adapter, but then on top of that, it
1:13
also adds a few other updated features.
1:16
It allows you to have uh like manual
1:19
focus confirmation even if you're using
1:21
adapting lenses without any kind of
1:23
electronics. So, that's a nice addition.
1:25
There's a few other features that we'll
1:26
detail in just a moment that have been
1:28
updated as well. But the primary thing
1:30
is that now, of course, I'm out shooting
1:32
in negative weather here at the moment,
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and I'm not having to worry about any
1:36
kind of moisture getting into the camera
1:38
itself because it is now weather sealed.
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Now, how well does this adapter work?
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Well, frankly, it works pretty much like
1:45
the previous editions, which is to say
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it increasingly gets better and better
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as it goes. And this is the first time
1:51
that I've actually been able to use
1:52
Viltrox lenses and adapt them. Though,
1:55
as always, the quality of the focus
1:57
you're going to get, the end result is
1:59
going to really depend a lot on the
2:01
actual lens itself. And so, some lenses
2:03
are fantastic. My Sony branded lenses. I
2:06
find actually that Samyang lenses work
2:08
really well. Typically, Sigma and Tamron
2:10
work well. And of course, now to get
2:12
some performance out of Viltrox is a
2:14
nice step in the right direction. So
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today, we're going to jump in and see
2:17
how well all of this works. All right,
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let's talk details here. First of all,
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we'll take a quick look at the adapter
2:22
itself. You can see that this is a very,
2:24
very slim, basically just looks like a
2:27
lens mount is all that is there. But now
2:29
we do have that weather sealing gasket
2:31
on there. You'll also note as a part of
2:34
that that there is an improvement to the
2:37
actual uh lens release uh button on
2:40
there which gives you a little bit more
2:41
confidence in that. Outside of that,
2:43
it's basically a 2 mm thick piece of
2:46
metal. And when I put it on my scale, it
2:48
weighs in at just 45 gram. So, right in
2:50
the vicinity of the ETZ 21 Pro. And on
2:55
what you have is electronic contacts on
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both sides. And inside this little
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adapter, there is a bit of a processor
3:00
there that is helping to translate the
3:02
algorithm information from the lens to
3:05
now a new kind of camera system and
3:07
different focus algorithms. How well
3:09
does it work? Well, that really is quite
3:12
lens specific. My experience with these
3:14
adapters is is if you have a very
3:17
powerfully focusing lens with very
3:20
strong focus motors and tons of focus
3:22
speed, well, it's very likely it's going
3:24
to translate pretty well over onto the
3:27
uh Nikon Zmount platform with the ETZ 21
3:30
Pro Plus. When I did a review of the ETZ
3:33
21 Pro, I actually compared the Sony
3:36
50mm f1.4 G Master to the Nicor 50mm
3:40
F1.4, which is a native lens. And what I
3:43
found is that very obviously the even
3:46
adapted the GM lens focused faster and
3:49
more confidently. And so if you've got a
3:51
confidently focusing lens, it does just
3:53
fine. I have found that my Sony lenses,
3:56
which I tend to just own the better Sony
3:58
lenses, they all seem to work well via
4:01
the adapter. And likewise, I have found
4:03
that Samyang lenses tend to adapt very
4:06
well. Sigma lenses adapt well. Tamron
4:08
lenses adapt well. And previously, I
4:09
couldn't get my Viltrox lenses to work
4:11
at all. Well, now with the 21 Pro, I can
4:14
get them to uh or Pro Plus, I should
4:17
say. I can get them to uh to focus at
4:19
this point. And the performance really
4:21
varies from lens to lens. And so I
4:23
because I of doing Viltrox, I can
4:25
actually compare a native mount Zmount
4:29
lens to, you know, an E-mount lens that
4:31
is adapted via the adapter. And so, for
4:33
example, with the recent 85mm uh Evo F2
4:37
lens, I found that you can definitely
4:39
tell it's not as fast adapted. And you
4:43
can see it's a little bit more tendency
4:44
to do a little bit of micro pulsing
4:46
there back and forth. And so, focus
4:47
speed not quite as fast and not quite as
4:50
confident. Uh, when I compared the the
4:53
85mm uh pro f1.4 four lens uh to again
4:57
from Sony E-mount to the the native one
5:00
definitely I again I felt like there was
5:02
just a less confidence in the adapted
5:04
lens. Now when I used the lab 35mm f1.2
5:08
too. I actually felt like it focuses
5:11
quite fast and f quite confidently, but
5:13
again, it's got the quad hyper VCM focus
5:15
motor. So, kind of like the G Master
5:17
lenses, it's a little bit overpowered in
5:19
terms of its focus system and that
5:21
translates well adapting over and so I
5:25
your performance is really going to vary
5:26
from lens to lens to lens. And but at at
5:30
the same time, it's pretty rare to
5:31
encounter something that doesn't work at
5:32
all at this point. So, at the end of the
5:34
day, I feel like your satisfaction with
5:36
the adapter is going to depend in some
5:38
part on your expectation. For me, having
5:42
used a lot of previous adapters in the
5:44
past, I feel like for the most part,
5:45
we're getting quite good performance
5:47
here. And the fact that it also works on
5:48
video, just for the fun of it, for this
5:50
segment, I threw on the E-mount version
5:52
of the 85mm F2 uh EVO lens from Viltrox.
5:56
And so, that way we got away from just
5:58
using a a high-end high-powered Sony
6:01
lens. Now, of course, you can get this
6:02
lens in native Zmount, and if you own a
6:04
Zmount camera, that's what makes the
6:06
most sense. But I wanted to show you
6:08
that you can use this even for video and
6:10
get good, stable, uh, confident video
6:12
autofocus in a setting like this. So, I
6:15
think that for actually using it out in
6:17
real world situations, I don't think
6:19
that it's always 100% as good as a
6:21
native lens, but really depends on the
6:23
native lens you're comparing because
6:25
you're going to get some variation of
6:27
performance. But I would say that my
6:29
consensus is is that performance is
6:30
really surprisingly good. And I often
6:33
think when using a lens like the LK
6:36
Samyang 14 to 24 millimeter f2.8, I
6:39
think, wow, this is pretty much like a
6:42
native lens. And so it's a lens that
6:43
actually gets play on both Sony and
6:45
Nikon because it's so versatile and I
6:47
really like the lens. And so if you have
6:49
a lens that you really like on Sony, it
6:51
performs well there. Well, there's a
6:52
good chance it'll perform pretty well on
6:54
Nikon with the adapter. Okay, so let's
6:57
see how well it actually does in
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focusing here while shooting video using
7:02
an adapted Sony lens on my Nikon Z8 as I
7:05
approach the camera. So, here I've
7:07
gotten quite close. Let's see what
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happens if I step out of frame
7:11
and I come back in. How about off to the
7:14
side, out of frame and back in.
7:17
Hopefully, we have had good effective
7:19
tracking throughout that sequence. Okay,
7:21
we have had an ice storm. So, here's a
7:23
good opportunity to see if the camera is
7:25
able to pick me up even through these
7:27
layers of iced up uh pine boughs as they
7:31
hang here in front of me. And so, we'll
7:32
see if I detect is managing to see
7:34
through this mess and actually picking
7:36
me up even with the adapter on. Okay, in
7:38
all of these outdoor settings, I have
7:40
been shooting just at f1.4. So, really
7:42
putting the the camera adapter and lens
7:45
combination to the test here. Now, one
7:48
of the complaints that I have heard
7:49
people talk about is that you can't
7:52
really effectively use wide angle lenses
7:54
using these adapters. I'm not exactly
7:57
sure where that is coming from. Maybe it
7:59
is something that's lens specific, but
8:00
one of the things that I particularly
8:02
tested was my LK Samyang Schneider 14 to
8:06
24 millimeter f/2.8 wide-angle zoom
8:09
lens. And so I took that out and I shot
8:12
a number of landscapes in a really
8:14
beautiful setting and I got fantastic
8:16
results as you can see here. And what's
8:18
more, I can't really see any kind of im
8:20
degradation in the corners. And so I'm
8:23
not exactly sure where that critique
8:25
comes from, but all I can say is that it
8:27
isn't something that I have personally
8:28
observed myself. And again, you're
8:31
you're dealing with a wide range of of
8:34
lenses and thus any kind of potential
8:36
issues here. And I think that a company
8:38
like MeggaP, they work constantly to do
8:40
firmware updates to try to continue to
8:42
grow the pool of lenses that are
8:44
compatible. And and so, you know, there
8:46
are moments where certain lenses are
8:48
going to work imperfectly. Uh some work
8:50
better than others, some work less
8:52
obviously, but as far as like a
8:55
widespread issue, I certainly can't say
8:57
that I have seen that particular issue.
8:59
So, what's my conclusion? Well, with any
9:01
kind of adapter, there are always going
9:03
to be exceptions to the rule. And what
9:06
matters to me above all is the rule
9:07
itself. And so no, I can't say that
9:10
every lens works perfectly or like
9:12
native using this adapter. However, what
9:14
I do see is a broader level of
9:16
compatibility. And yes, it is true that
9:18
there are some cases where lenses fit
9:20
tighter than what I would like and maybe
9:22
that has something to do with the
9:24
weather sealing gasket on there. At the
9:26
same time, however, though, I'm thankful
9:27
that the gasket is there because I
9:29
haven't had any kind of issue where I
9:30
couldn't mount or unmount a lens. I have
9:32
had a few issues where I needed to kind
9:34
of double check to make sure that it was
9:36
fully rotated and kind of clicked into
9:38
place and so that I could get proper
9:40
contact and get autofocus like I want.
9:44
But at the at the same time, it's pretty
9:46
amazing how well a lot of lenses work
9:49
where they feel a very much like native.
9:51
And for someone like myself who has both
9:53
Sony and Nikon bodies and a lot of
9:56
E-mount lenses, the ability to use those
9:58
also on Nikon means that I don't have to
10:00
double up on Zmount lenses necessarily.
10:03
And the fact that the adapter is so
10:05
slim, adding just 2 mm and so
10:08
lightweight, adding just 45 grams to the
10:10
overall weight means it's not like the
10:12
big clunky configurations that I've run
10:14
into in the past. I also find that
10:16
everything fits together nice and tight
10:18
there and so it doesn't feel like I'm at
10:21
risk in any kind of way. So, at the end
10:23
of the day, I don't necessarily myself
10:25
have a lot of complaints. I understand
10:26
that there are going to be some
10:27
complaints out out there because this is
10:29
an imperfect system where you're
10:31
adapting lenses from one mount to
10:34
another, but considering what's
10:35
happening there and considering my
10:37
experience with a whole lot of adapters
10:39
previously, I'm pretty impressed by how
10:41
well the Megaap ETZ 21 Pro Plus works.
10:45
And at the end of the day, it's just
10:47
it's more of a good thing. It works
10:49
better. It has a little bit more
10:50
functionality. Gives that weather
10:52
sealing. also works with uh you know the
10:55
manual focus lenses to get that focus
10:57
confirmation. All of that is good stuff.
10:59
And so if you are someone who owns Sony
11:01
E-mount lenses and you've got a Nikon
11:03
Zmount body for 250 bucks, this is a
11:06
pretty fantastic way to double up on
11:09
what you've already invested in and get
11:11
more value in it on a new platform as
11:13
well. And also of course on Zamount, it
11:15
helps to plug some of the holes of areas
11:18
that are missing on this platform. So,
11:20
at the end of the day, I'm pretty
11:22
pleased with it and I suspect that you
11:23
will be as well. As always, thanks for
11:26
watching. Have a great day and let the
