Value-King Viltrox have released a Sony E to Nikon Z mount adaptor for just $99 USD, significantly undercutting options from Megadap, Techart and even budget brand Neewer. But can a product that’s less than half the price of the competition actually be any good?

Disclaimer: This product was bought with my own money and not loaned/provided by Viltrox. All conclusions are drawn from my own experiences with the product and the firmware installed while testing was version 2.10/2.11. Links to purchase the product at the end of the review are Amazon Affiliate links.

Unboxing

Included in the box is the adaptor itself, a Sony-side cap, a Nikon-side cap, a firmware update cable, and a decently-written manual in many languages that includes some good illustrations. It's well-padded and includes all you’ll need.

Fit and Finish

The product itself feels sturdy and well-made. The metal is nicely machined, and it thoughtfully includes some ridges on the outer ring and lens release button which make it much easier to grab onto and remove lenses from. The connection from both lens to adaptor and adaptor to camera feel precise and there’s no grinding or crunching while twisting it on. The connection to the camera is quite tight and requires a bit more force than my Nikkor lenses to get on, but nothing out of the ordinary for a 3rd-party product, and when on the camera there’s no wiggle-room which is much better than it being too loose.

All the pins and electronics have been squeezed onto one PCB which is definitely one of the ways Viltrox have kept the cost down, but even with the supports they’ve added in, I could see this being a possible failure point down the line. I’ve not had any issue with it yet, but to ensure a long service life I’d recommend taking a bit of extra care when clicking lenses into place.

Overall, it's a very solid-feeling adaptor which mates smoothly and confidently with all the lenses and cameras I’ve tried. I’d be very happy with this build quality, even if it was double the price.

Autofocus Performance and Compatibility:

While I don’t have a huge set of E-mount lenses to test, the adaptor performed almost-perfectly with all the ones I tried, including:

• Sony FE 35mm f/1.8
• Sony FE 16-35mm f/4 OSS “Vario-Tessar T* ZA”
• Sony FE 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS
• Viltrox AF 28mm f/4.5 “Chip”
• Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 “ED AS IF UMC” (Fully-manual)

Viltrox includes a compatibility chart in the support section of their website, and while the strange ‘one tick vs two tick’ compatibility rating system is not explained, the list is substantial and I’m sure many lenses not specifically included simply haven’t been tested yet.

Autofocus is fast and accurate in both AF-C and AF-S modes, and is largely indistinguishable from my experiences with native Z-mount lenses. In-camera corrections don’t work but that’s to be expected, and on the other hand EXIF information is transmitted correctly, which is a pain point on some other E-Z adapters. The GIF below was shot with the FE 35mm:

Of particular note are both the manual focus feel and custom button support, with both functioning almost exactly how you’d expect them to on a native lens (albeit without a distance scale on the camera’s display). Previously I’d seen adapters as having too many feature compromises to justify the high prices, but this one does it all without breaking the bank.

Reliability and Quirks

Unfortunately amongst all its incredible positives and value for money, there are a few issues, some that can be fixed in firmware and some that can’t.

I had one or two instances where the AF would simply stop working and the camera had to be switched on and off to get it working again, although these were both with the Viltrox 28mm lens, so perhaps there’s some incompatibility with just that specific lens. One other weird issue only happened once, where removing the lens from the adapter before removing the adapter from the camera freaked out my Z5 enough to bring up a “Error: Press the shutter button to reset” message. In Viltrox’s defence, the manual (that I properly read after this occurred) does specifically say to remove the adapter first and then the E-mount lens, however I wouldn’t expect such an extreme error response from a very common action.

A quirk I encountered was that, while OSS and IBIS are both functional, they can’t be used at the same time. This isn’t really an issue and I already expected this to be the case, however the method of switching between them is a bit of a pain: You have to re-flash the adapter firmware. The firmware updates Viltrox provides include an X.X0 version and an X.X1 version, with the ‘0’ one enabling OSS and the ‘1’ one enabling IBIS. I’m not 100% sure if this is actually possible but, a much nicer solution would be for the adapter to activate IBIS if it detects a lens without OSS, and to activate OSS when it detects a lens that has it, and would be something I’d love to see in a future firmware update.

The previously mentioned firmware issues really are quite minor, and so are the physical ones. First, the E-Mount lens release button is a bit strange to use, as pressing it down pushes the screw holding it in down as well, meaning it’s quite tough to use with a two-finger pinch and usually requires both hands.

Second, the firmware update connection method is a bit scary. It involves resting the 4 pins of the included USB cable inside the designated holes on the PCB. The update process itself is fast and easy, but this just feels like a mid-firmware-update-corruption-from-loss-of-power waiting to happen, and it wouldn’t be such an issue if swapping firmware wasn’t required for switching between OSS and IBIS. But again, these decisions definitely helped keep the cost down and I haven’t had any issues with it personally, so just tread carefully when updating the firmware and you should be fine.

Verdict

This adapter is an excellent product, which manages to be well-made and provide a nearly-seamless experience while costing less than half as much as its competitors. AF is fast, compatibility is good, and everything just works how you’d expect it to. The few issues I did experience are very minor, and most of them have the potential to be fixed in firmware.

Buy this product on Amazon: Viltrox E-Z Adapter

The Good:

• Excellent build quality and tolerances
• Very low price vs similar adapters
• Autofocus performance is near-perfect
• EXIF info works well
• Custom lens buttons are supported
• No noticeable IQ issues vs a native Sony camera

The Bad:

• E-Mount release button is a bit finicky
• Only IBIS or OSS can be used at one time
• IBIS/OSS choice is changed with a firmware update
• Firmware update connection is sketchy
• The occasional bug which required a camera restart

Rating: 8.5/10