PDMOVIE, known among videographers for its Live Air series of autofocus (AF) lens adapters, recently announced the Smart Fusion, a forthcoming ‘smart’ adapter for Sony E-mount bodies that unlocks the camera’s full range of AF capabilities for manual focus PL lenses.
The Smart Fusion is designed for Sony Alpha and FX cameras and will sit between the camera body and lens, acting as a connection between the PDMOVIE Live Air 4 Smart lens adapter and the camera.
With the Smart Fusion, PDMOVIE is pushing a novel way of adding AF to manual focus lenses with a view to giving users increased control over focusing with greater convenience.
Through a single button, users will now be able to switch between native Sony camera AF modes and the LiDAR-driven AF of the Live Air 4 Smart lens adapter.
While the AI-driven and LiDAR (laser)-driven AF modes of the Live Air 4 Smart lens adapter already give flexibility over choosing an AF system depending on the distance to the subject and the speed they’re moving at, in-camera AF modes add improved ability to manage focusing in tricky lighting, while retaining the visual look and feel produced by manual lenses.
By combining the AF functionalities of the Live Air 4 lens adapter with the Smart Fusion camera body adapter and enabling users to switch between a combined range of AF modes, PDMOVIE will seemingly give itself a real competitive edge over other brands' manual lens AF adapters.
Like the Smart Fusion, competing AF lens adapters such as the yet-to-be-released Viltrox NexusFocus F1 (recently raised funding in Kickstarter) and the recently released Tilta Nucleus rely on the camera’s phase detection AF data to work, but users are locked into using the adapter's focusing methods.
The Smart Fusion is also designed to work with third-party E-to-PL autofocus adapters, which could see PDMOVIE capture even more customers.
The PDMOVIE Smart Fusion AF adapter for Sony E-mount cameras will be available through the PDMOVIE website "soon," although the company hasn't shared a launch date. Pre-orders are expected to be $169 (approximately £120 / AU$230). Existing Live Air 4 Smart users can get the Smart Fusion for $139 (approximately £100 / AU$200).
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Check out our hands-on reviews of the Sony FX2 and Sony FX3, solid camera options for entry- and mid-level videographers respectively.
