science

Sony E-mount

Sony E-mount is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sony E-mount rather than just read about it. In short: The E-mount is a lens mount designed by Sony for their NEX ("New E-mount eXperience") and ILCE series of camcorders and mirrorless cameras. The E-mount supplements Sony's α mount, allowing the company to develop more compact imaging devices while maintaining vignetting with 35mm sensors.

Key takeaways

Sony E-mount belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sony E-mount to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sony E-mount from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The E-mount is a lens mount designed by Sony for their NEX ("New E-mount eXperience") and ILCE series of camcorders and mirrorless cameras. The E-mount supplements Sony's α mount, allowing the company to develop more compact imaging devices while maintaining vignetting with 35mm sensors. E-mount achieves this by:

Minimising mechanical complexity, removing mechanical aperture and focus drive. Shortening the flange focal distance to 18 mm compared with earlier offerings from Sony which used 44.5 mm. Reducing the radius of the flange. Relying on software to correct vignetting The short flange focal distance prohibits the use of an optical viewfinder, as a mirror box mechanism cannot be included in this reduced distance. Therefore, all E-mount cameras use an electronic viewfinder.

History Initially, E-mount was implemented on the Sony α NEX-3 and NEX-5 consumer-targeted devices with APS-C sized sensors. E-mount integration into Sony camcorder products was provided with the Sony Handycam NEX-VG10. On 24 August 2011, new products were announced, specifically the NEX-5N as a successor for the NEX-5, and the NEX-7 as a prosumer product, as well as the NEX-VG20 as the successor to the NEX-VG10. The Sony E-mount was brought to the 35 mm video camera market with the Sony NEX-FS100. The first third-party camera to use the E-mount was the Hasselblad Lunar, announced at Photokina on 18 September 2012 and released in early 2013. In September 2013, Sony announced the first model from new ILCE series, the Sony α3000. In October 2013, the first models with full-frame sensor size were released, the Sony α7 and Sony α7R. On 19 April 2017, Sony revealed their new model Model ILCE-9, the Sony α9, characterized as a professional mirrorless camera system. In September 2017, Sony revealed its VENICE high-end digital cinema camera, which records in 6K 16-bit raw format.

Available bodies

The following table is a list of Sony E-mount cameras and their specifications.

Available lenses

Third-party lens manufacturers

On 8 February 2011, Sony announced the release of the specifications for the E-mount lens system, allowing for third-party lens makers to create lenses for NEX cameras without having to pay royalties. The mount specifications have been released to registered parties since April 2011. Getting a license for the specifications requires approval by Sony and the signing of a non-disclosure agreement. The construction of full-frame manual focus prime lenses without any electronics is relatively easier and less costly than the construction of electronic full-frame autofocus lenses of any kind. This has encouraged lesser known lens companies to construct full-frame prime lenses with an E-mount. Numerous affordable sharp full-format manual prime lenses with big apertures are available with an E-mount.

List of manufacturers of third-party lenses Yongnuo 7Artisans Anhui ChangGeng Optical Technology Company AstrHori Carl Zeiss AG Cosina Co., Ltd. Handevision Irix Lens Samyang Optics / Rokinon Sigma Corporation SIRUI Lens /Astra FF Anamorphic/Aurora FF AF/Nightwalker MF CINE/Sniper AF APS-C/Saturn FF Anamorphic/Venus FF Anamorphic/Jupiter Macro Cine Shenyang Zhongyi Optical and Electronic Company (ZY Optics) Shenzhen Neewer SLR Magic Tamron Co., Ltd. Tokina TTArtisan Venus Optics Viltrox Voigtländer Yasuhara Zunow

Adapting lenses to Sony E-mount

Due to the short flange focal distance of the Sony E-mount, many lenses can be adapted to be used on the Sony E-mount, although a crop factor will have to be taken into account for all cameras with APS-C or Super-35mm sensor format. Additionally, with the introduction of in-camera image stabilization to Sony's newer mirrorless cameras, any adapted lens (regardless of age, brand, or lens mount) can be image stabilized. Nearly all manual lenses can be attached with simple ring-like adapters to Sony's mirrorless cameras, such as for Canon FD, Minolta MC/MD, Leica M, and many others. Manual focus lenses that transmit Exif data will require an adapter with electronic contacts, which are generally more expensive to produce. Adapting autofocus lenses to Sony's older E-mount cameras (such as the Sony α6000 and α7) can often be ineffective due to the inability of the camera body to effectively lock-on to a subject, resulting in either hunting or missed focus. This has largely been remedied in recent years with improved lens adapter performance, as well as the introduction of faster, more accurate autofocusing systems to Sony's more recent cameras (such as the Sony α6500 and Sony α9).

Sony LA-EA adapters

Most A-mount lenses can be used via the Sony LA-EA1, LA-EA2, LA-EA3, LA-EA4, or LA-EA5 mount adapters, which provide electronic contacts and mechanical aperture control. They allow the camera body to control the aperture of the lens and provide automatic exposure and Exif data support.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sony E-mount

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sony E-mount claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sony E-mount before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sony E-mount ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sony E-mount

In research: Sony E-mount appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sony E-mount in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sony E-mount is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Camera lenses introduced in 2010, Japanese inventions, Lens mounts, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sony E-mount outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sony E-mount in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sony E-mount means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sony E-mount out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sony E-mount in simple terms?

Why does Sony E-mount matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sony E-mount?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sony E-mount.