Monster Adapter LA-FZ1 (v1.2 firmware) & Nikon 50mm 1.4 AF-D

This article is a quick review of the Nikon 50mm 1.4 AF-D lens in combination with the Monster LS-FZ1 with version 1.2 firmware. It is part of a series of articles I’m writing about this adapter and various lenses I own when shot on my Nikon Zf – you can find the overview article here, as well as the full series here.

I have today also published my mini-review of the Nikon 50mm 1.4 AF-D in its own right, albeit specifically in combination with my Zf and this adapter. After starting that other article intending to include thoughts on the Monster adapter within it, I changed my mind, and ended up splitting the article into two parts. This was primarily as I felt that the thoughts on the Monster adapter would dilute that review, but actually also because I thought the the waffle about the lens itself would distract from the point I wanted to make about the adopter here too.

The Nikon 50mm on the Monster Adapter LA-FZ1

If you have a read of my Nikon 50mm 1.4 AF-D review, you’ll note that I didn’t talk about focusing speed. The reality is, these lenses just aren’t up to the same standards as modern lenses with the various types of motors built into the body of the lens itself. There really isn’t any getting around that fact – it doesn’t matter how good this adapter is, ultimately it’s still going to be hobbled by the older autofocus technology.

When looking at this adapter I quickly came to realise that this is a good place to start in my thinking. Comparing the autofocus in this lens/adapter combination to the AF in my modern Viltrox lenses (for eg) is just going to be unfair on the lenses, and ultimately lead to disappointment. In response to this, when writing my first article I came up with a definition of “working in an expected way”. As I outlined, what this means to me is that when the AF in the camera is activated, I want the lens seek and find focus within a relatively short amount of time without too much issue. I don’t need these lenses to work perfectly quickly or accurately every time, nor do I even need them to work as well as they do on even my F100 film camera. I just want them to be usable. The 180mm lens is only just about usable and definitely comes with caveats. This 50mm 1.4 on the other hand is significantly better – in fact, I would say it’s actually better than I would have thought it could be, though there are some limitations. I will outline my experiences given a few different shooting circumstances.

Camera setup

For reference, this is with the LS-FZ1 mounted on a Nikon Zf. I have the autofocus activation decoupled from the shutter button. Instead I activate it with the Fn button on the front of the camera. I have the AF set to continuous so whenever the button is pressed the AF is constantly seeking focus. I have then reconfigured the video record button to function as an AF mode switch with single centre point, wide AF and 3D tracking as the options. I use 3D tracking almost exclusively. It’s probably also worth noting that the Zf is a superb camera when it comes to its AF capabilities, so to some degree I expect something of a leg up is being given here. Or at very least, the camera isn’t the bottleneck.

Normal focusing conditions

In normal shooting conditions where the light is ok and I’m just taking photos of relatively static subject matter, I rarely find fault with the 50mm on the adapter. It’s plenty fast and accurate enough and works very well even with the way I have the AF set up. Even if I keep the continuous AF in action, it’s very good at making very small micro adjustments to keep the subject in focus.

Due to the nature of the screw drive, it doesn’t of course make a lot more noise than modern lenses, but this is totally expected.

Lower light

Lower light is a little more tricky, but actually it’s still pretty impressive. I suspect that some of this is down to the fact that I’m using the adapter on the Zf. With that said when testing this setup in a low-lit indoor crazy golf course, I did find there to be a little more hunting and missing the desired point of focus. As mentioned, I usually have the camera set to 3D tracking, but in lower light I found myself occasionally needing to switch focusing modes to get it to do what I wanted it to do. I was still overall happy with my hit rate though and the kit collectively worked in what I have defined as an expected way.

Faster subject tracking

Having been really quite impressed with the AF capabilities of the 50mm 1.4 on the LS-FZ1, I thought I was push my luck and see if I could get some photos of the dog running toward me. My usual approach to this is to use my favoured 3D tracking and continuous AF mode combo. With the likes of the Viltrox lenses I have been testing recently, as I think I’ve made clear, I’ve been very impressed with what this camera can do. Given this test I usually get an 80% hit rate at worse. Unsurprisingly, the hit rate here is lower, though not so low that I didn’t get any shots at all – maybe 20%, and the best shots were usually after he’s slowed down a bit.

Bear in mind though, my testing was at 1.4. I suspect if I’d stopped down a bit I could have improved the results. Though, of course, the same can be said of any lens given this sort of test.

Conclusions

The Nikon 50mm 1.4 AF-D works extremely well with the Monster Adapters LS-FZ1 with the firmware at version 1.2. I’ve tried to detail a few different shooting situations here so if they do update its capabilities with this lens, I can be quite specific in where the updates have taken effect. I’m just not sure given the nature of the aging technology in the lens itself it could get much better – it would be nice if there were some slight improvements in lower light and with moving subjects though.

With that said, we are spoiled a little by just how good autofocus has become I think. As I have mentioned a few times in the post series, all I want is AF that works in an expected way. If I need perfect autofocus capabilities, I’m probably not going to choose 30-odd-year old lens technology adapted to a camera with a totally different lens mount and built-in AF technology. I just want to be able to use these older lenses where taking advantage of the lens’s optical characteristics is my priority over perfect functionality. In those terms, the Monster Adapter LS-FZ1 is absolutely a success with the 50mm 1.4 AF-D attached to it. Room for improvement, maybe, but definitely totally workable for my desires as is!

You can find the rest of my thoughts about this adapter here
My review of the Nikon 50mm 1.4 AF-D here
And the adapter on the Monster website here

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