How to mount a Sony-E lens on a Nikon F-Mount Camera?

[Erik Lund]

Les, your suggestion just rang a bell how I stumbled on the female adapter rings.

When looking for macro extensions of course 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Macro-Extension-Tube-Ring-for-Sony-NEX-C3-NEX-5C-NEX-7-NEX-6-NEX-5R-A7-A7R-A7S-/172258537724?hash=item281b68b0fc:g:w34AAOSwRQlXdNG8

Find one with a common thread like M42 for which you can very easily find the male Nikon F mount.

Yep that will work

[richardHaw]

if focusing all the way to infinity is not important then the extension ring method is the best way 

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

Sony-E lenses have a 18mm back focal length, whereas Nikon lenses have 46.5mm, so there is a lack of
46.5mm - 18mm = 28.5mm to bridge. That means it is like bringing a Sony-E mount lens forward by using
a 28.5mm extension ring on a Sony-E mount camera, when using it on a Nikon camera. So even at infinity
setting, this means using that Sony-E mount lens on a Nikon is working at a very serious macro distance,
if that "adapter" would have zero optical length!

Doable of course, by cobbling some adapters together, which will actually increase this mentioned distance
even significantly more, so if that would be useful then, I have serious doubts...

One will end up with a lens that even at its infinity setting will start to work from some guessed magnification
of 2..3x onwards, that means an object size of about 6..12mm height will completely fill the frame. Ants will
be about the largest one could photograph with such a setting....nothing larger.

When I'm in the mood later, I may want to do the math... :-)

[Alaun]

Is this a case, where a relay lens adapter would come in handy?

[pluton]

In theory, a relay lens arrangement could work, but for exacting image quality requirements the relays would have to be custom designed for each different prime lens....and they still wouldn't image as well as the prime by itself.  Richard Branson or Jeff Bezos could afford the cost.

[Alaun]

Would it be for every lens or for every back focal length only?

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

Is this a case, where a relay lens adapter would come in handy?

a) To achieve the same quality as the intended Apo Lathar main lens, it would have to be at least as good as the main lens
b) the total lens speed will always be slower as the total transmission is the multipliction of the individual ones (so if both have say 90%, the total will be 81% only)
c) one has to deal with an inverted viewfinder image, not easy for most shooters

[Alaun]

c) one has to deal with an inverted viewfinder image, not easy for most shooters

unless you use a "Inverted Equal - Magnification Relay Lens" ? ? ?

(as in a recent Nikon Patent Application described, look for this one: 20170192209
It also includes a fresnel-lens.)

[Les Olson]

Another option, if the intended use is with the subject very close, is simply to use a BR-2A reversing ring plus a step-up ring if needed and reverse mount the Sony lens on the filter threads.  The lens still needs to have an aperture ring.  Edit: There is a way to change the aperture of reversed Nikon G lenses: put the lens on the camera and adjust the aperture normally, then press the DoF preview button and remove the lens from the camera with the DoF preview button pressed.  The aperture stays at the set aperture.  I don't know if this works on Sony cameras.

[Oskar O]

An elegant but realistic adapter would add roughly 35 mm of extension, which would give a minimum magnification of less than 1:2 for a short tele, so not that impractical just considering the magnification. What problem it solves is another matter; getting to that magnification with existing options for the F mount is not hard. And in any case, lack of electronics severely limits lens options for adaptation.

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

An elegant but realistic adapter would add roughly 35 mm of extension, which would give a minimum magnification of less than 1:2 for a short tele, so not that impractical just considering the magnification. What problem it solves is another matter; getting to that magnification with existing options for the F mount is not hard. And in any case, lack of electronics severely limits lens options for adaptation.

I'm sorry, this may sound elegant, but simply won't work as it neglects optics/physics. Read my contrib above.

[Toby]

Interestingly enough, I find it possible to mate a Sony E mount male bayonet with a Nikon F female mount, but not vice versa. I have only tried this with Nikon manual extension rings, never directly to a Nikon body. There may be coupling levers, etc. that get in the way.