Viltrox NexusFocus Uses Sony PDAF and Motors to Automate Manual Cine Lenses

Viltrox has launched NexusFocus F1, the world’s first PL-E autofocus control system, enabling AI-powered autofocus when using manual PL cinema lenses on Sony E-mount cameras. With vintage glass all the rage these days, this new adapter could be a massive deal for modern filmmakers.

“Vintage lenses are making a powerful comeback. Autofocus has become the industry standard. Between them, a gap has existed for decades,” Viltrox writes on its NexusFocus F1 Kickstarter. “NexusFocus F1 was created to bridge that gap.”

Essentially, the NexusFocus F1 adapter attaches to the Sony E-mount camera body, and users then attach PL-mount lenses to it. Once the lens is on, users then attach the focus gear to the lens. NexusFocus F1 uses the Sony camera’s phase-detect autofocus system (PDAF) to feed electronic information to the NexusFocus, which then translates that information into precise focus control over the manual lens.

NexusFocus F1 works with a connected smartphone app for setup and comes preloaded with a wide range of lens profiles that help translate the camera’s focusing data into the correct focus ring movements.

“With NexusFocus F1, manual cinema lenses become fully integrated into the camera system,” Viltrox says. “Focus, aperture, and zoom can be controlled directly from the camera interface — no external controllers, no workarounds.”

The NexusFocus F1 has multiple motors. One of them handles focusing, but additional motors can control the aperture control ring on a manual lens and even zoom. In the case of aperture, the motors translate aperture controls from the camera’s command dial to the appropriate data to rotate the lens’s aperture ring. The zoom motor turns a zoom lens into a power zoom, which can be controlled with zoom rocker switches on certain Sony cameras, like the popular FX3.

The system also works with the Sony Monitor and Control app, as News Shooter notes, enabling remote control functionality.

As Viltrox notes, the system supports both still photography and video recording and records full EXIF data.

Further, since the system relies on Sony’s autofocus rather than a LiDAR system, as used in some similar focusing systems, Viltrox notes that the NexusFocus F1 avoids LiDAR parallax problems. There is no LiDAR-based distance estimation here, so Viltrox promises more consistency.

At its core, the NexusFocus F1 delivers the same autofocusing information that a Sony camera typically provides to an AF-equipped lens. However, in that case, the movements are controlled by the camera and lens and are achieved inside the lens by moving focusing groups. These focusing groups are also moved manually using a manual focusing ring, but the “automatic” aspect of focusing is obviously missing with a manual lens. Viltrox’s NexusFocus F1 uses the Sony camera’s PDAF information to physically control the lens’s manual focus ring, ensuring that whatever the selected target is, it remains in focus, even when it is moving. The system also works alongside Sony’s AI-based autofocus features, such as subject detection and tracking, and face-eye detection.

The Viltrox NexusFocus F1 requires power, of course, and works with a variety of different cables. It is a very complex setup, but also one that makes a compelling promise. An early bird kit starts at just over $800 and is expected to begin shipping in March. The triple motor kit starts at around $1,050. Complete purchasing details and an overview of all the risks of Kickstarter campaign crowdfunding is available on the Viltrox NexusFocus F1 Kickstarter page.




Image credits: Viltrox

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