Footnote: Just as I was publishing this the Metabones adaptor was delivered. If the packaging is anything to go by, this is going to be a very good investment. Thats how I finished off The Long Problem: Part 1.
I have now had this adaptor for just over a month and have used it on a number of jobs. Cutting to the chase, it lives up to it’s supurb packaging giving a secure reliable mounting for (in my case) the Nikon 300mm/F4.
In addition to providing a more secure and reliable mount, the adaptor differs from the lower cost items by its graduated and ‘geared’ aperture control. All of these adaptors ‘adjust’ the aperture using the ‘blade’ that potrudes from the older F-Type nikon lenses (and not the newer electronic control of the newer lenses and hence unable to control the aperture on the newer G-Type lenses). The lower cost products link to this blade directly meaning real control is almost impossible with the lever having such a short throw. The metabones product seems to be ‘geared’ having the minimum to maximum about of almost 1/4 turn with a numeric scale marked, (I assume) to correspond with full F stops, meaning full control is possible (if not very precise).
This results in the lens being far more usable (either in aperture prority or full manual modes). In either of these modes the EVF (on the X-T1) gives the correct exposure feedback (as you would expect) meaning the less precise aperture control is manageable.
Focusing the Nikon 300 in this setup is tricky and definatly requires the 2x zoom in the EVF offered by the F.A. Focus Assist button. I also (still) find it far more sensitive to “camera shake” than using the lens on a Full Frame DSLR, I could try and compare this with using the lens on a Nikon D200 (cropped sensor Nikon) but it’s probably not worth the effort.
The colours are definatly slightly different through this lens compared to the Fuji products but it is possible to get perfectly good, sharp images.
Overall it’s definatly a usable, although slightly slower to use, solution until the Fuji long lens is released.
Julie Edwards-X 