Sony VAD-PEA Lens Adapter

The Sony VAD-PEA is a lens adapter designed for the Sony DSC-P92 and DSC-P72 digital still cameras. This lens adapter can be used to attach accessory lenses and filters. It has a front 30 mm screw thread for attaching 30 mm conversion lenses, filters, or protectors. Sony manufactures a number of accessories that can be attached to this lens adapter (see Related Links).

Note: Sony also produces a similar lens adapter for the Sony DSC-P8, DSC-P10, and DSC-P12 digital still camera. The model number of this lens adapter is Sony VAD-PHA (see Related Links).

However, I already have so many accessory lenses, filters, and lens hoods that all I needed are some step-up rings. Most of my accessories have 52mm, 58mm, and 77 millimeter threads, so I have 37mm-52mm, 52mm-58mm, and 58mm-77mm step-up rings. I purchased a Tiffen 30mm-37mm step-up ring with the Sony VAD-PEA lens adapter to complete this set-up.

Using the lens adapter with the step-up ring, I was able to attach my entire 52mm wide-angle converter lens and teleconverter lenses collection. These included a Kenko KVC 0.5x Pro Video Wide Angle Converter, an Olympus C-160 1.45x teleconverter, and an Olympus C-210 1.9x teleconverter. These lenses worked wonderfully with this lens adapter on my Sony DSC-P92 digital camera. It makes the Sony DSC-P92 point-n-shoot digital camera feel like a SLR digital camera with interchangeable lenses.

I also have an obsolete lens hood from my excellent Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX Macro lens (see review article elsewhere on this site). The lens hood is made out of metal and is really very sturdy. I attached the lens hood to the lens adapter with a 30mm-37mm, 37mm-52mm, and a 52mm-58mm step-up rings. The combination worked by keeping out stray lights.

The lens adapter attaches to the camera quite rigidly with almost no play on the camera body. However, the simple L-shaped latch does not have a locking feature, therefore is very easy to touch and detach the lens adapter. On my recent trip, the lens adapter came of numerous times while I was removing the camera from my backpack. Once, the latch was loose and the lens adapter and the attached heavy conversion lens fell toward the pavement. I was fortunate enough to catch it in mid-air. If Sony ever redesigns this latch so that it locks, I would definitely buy one to replace the one I have.

The optical viewfinder of the digital still camera cannot be used when the lens adapter is mounted. Instead, the LCD screen has to be used as the electronic viewfinder. This happens to suit my purpose perfectly. I am so used to what-you-see-is-what-you-get shooting style of a single-lens-reflex (SLR) camera that I never use the optical viewfinder on the DSC-P92 digital camera.

The VAD-PEA lens adapter also came with a nice carrying case. It is made out of white semi-transparent plastic. But the lens adapter has been attached to my camera all the time and I never remove it, so the plastic carry case is really an useless item to me.

The Sony VAD-PEA lens adapter is so versatile and useful that I cannot imagine ever using a point-n-shoot camera without such a device. With ability of using virtually all my filters, macro conversion lenses, wide-angle conversion lenses, telephoto conversion lenses, and lens hoods, this lens adapter makes the Sony DSC-P92 a viable secondary digital camera for me next to a primary interchangeable lens SLR digital camera. It is truly a god-sent item for point-n-shoot cameras.

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Specifications

Screw thread: M30 x 0.75
Dimension: Approx. 65 x 70 x 65 mm (2 5/8 x 2 7/8 x 2 5/8 in.) (width/height/depth)
Mass: Approx. 40 g (1.5 oz.)