A57 with manual lens


huangyong

New Member
Oct 5, 2006
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Firstly i am so excited when i see the result. I have been a fan of old lenses due to their optical quality and affordable price, and the kind of vintage feel you seldom get in the newer lenses. However, the focus accuracy issues always bother me, I have tried split screen in my ealier Pentax K10D, and it works so so. Later i moved on to try Nikon (D300s) and Canon (EOS5 film), and neither of them really helps me to focus manually better although the Canon viewfinder is a lot brighter.

So i decided to try the Sony SLT, as it has the focus peaking and the EVF could tell me directly how my aperture is affecting the DOF, and which plane I am focusing. Plus, it has in viewfinder magnification! just like the NEX i own. i chose A57 because it is so far the best camera that can perform well in low light, and the CMOS performance is proven in Nikon D7k, Nex-5 and Pentax k5.

so i get an adapter (M42) with chip, and put on my old Tamron 135 2.8. You can find out more about the legendary lens here: http://forum.mflenses.com/viewtopic.php?t=24791 . It is a rare lens that only produced in small quantity in ealier years.

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I did some tweaking accoding to the help post here: http://ccvic.zenfolio.com/blog/2013/1/tips...th-the-sony-a57

[1] I change the focus peaking value to high
[2] Peaking color changed to white
[3] Change the AEL button to magnification function
[4] Change the autofocus function button from AF to MF
[5] Switch the dial to either M or S or P is fine, just not A, because the lens aperture cannot be controlled by the camera body.
[6] Turn on the anti-shake function. (you can only do this if you have the converter ring with chip)

Next ready to shoot.

The main problem with manual focus is always about guessing, you need to guess whether the object is really in focus. This is particularly difficult for people like me who are wearing glasses. I have to squeeze my glasses and my face towards the viewfinder so to see clearly, and spend sometime to focus slowly, by the time i make the first shot, sweat!

Sony SLT helps me greatly, by the time i see white color highlight at the edges, I know it is in focus, and I can always double check with the magnification function. In this process, I realized my main weakness in manual focusing; previously i always miscalculate the DOF and caused the image to be blurred.

Now, i can happily say that , out of 10 shots, i can get about 7 perfectly in focus shot.. :hehe: :hehe:

Result of the above Combo at wide open F2.8 & 100% crop

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Welcome to the world of innovation :)

Mods should make such threads a sticky for new Sony users
 

Hmm.. hi I have been using m42 lenses with my a mount bodies.. but I would like to ask a qn or.. to compare notes..

I used my camera in a mode. I know that you cannot adjust aperture on the body but you can adjust the aperture on the lens... so in a mode, the camera will adjust the shutter speed as you adjust the aperture on the lens..

Secondly, unlike some other people I know, I do not set my iso to auto. Setting my iso to auto will have the cam setting its own iso. This is good in s mode or p mode. But I would rather have more control over my iso. Call me old skool but I like to keep my iso on the low.. down low.

Like I said, I am just comparing notes. I think having the peaking color on white is a great idea. I have not try it since I thought I would be more receptive to red. How do you find it when focussing under bright sunlight? Better than red? I will give it a shot...
 

Hmm.. hi I have been using m42 lenses with my a mount bodies.. but I would like to ask a qn or.. to compare notes..

.....................

Hi nsalman, thanks for the reply. I am still experimenting with the settings actually.
To me, P is fine, i like to keep only one parameter controllable (aperture by physical ring) and the rest (shutter speed & iso) decided by the camera itself. Too many variables will make me panic at times, haha..

Regarding the focus peaking color, I have tried red, white and yellow, and overall i think white is still the best by personal preference. Red color sometimes blend in with the background and I have hard time differentiating whether it is background color or focus peaking.

However the focus peaking only works when there is distinctive color difference between objects and it highlight the edges. Example, when I tried focusing on white furry carpet, the focus peaking loses its magic, and I need to switch to zoom focusing, and it works perfectly fine too.
 

I use strictly manual legacy lenses on my NEX. My preference setting most of the time is "S" mode cause I prefer to control shutter speed and aperture as in M mode except now I can set auto ISO. How I wish Sony can allow us to select specific auto ISO range. In situation where the camera choice of auto ISO range exceeds 1600, I will prefer to select my own ISO setting. Then, I may stick to a fixed ISO setting and use EV compensation as my final setting. My experience is that 'white' focus peaking is the most usable.
 

Huangyong, I was at Arab Street this morning and I must say, I am glad I read your post. Setting the peaking color does work, even in bright sunlight. Here, I post 2 shots, 1 indoor (pizza) and 1 outdoor (Bushra). I must say, the focussing was made much easir.

Hmm, I do not remember how to attach images anymore...

Anyway, here is the link.
Pizza
http://www.flickr.com/photos/qathirah/10182406033/

Bushra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/qathirah/10182334295/
 

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wow, great shots !
 

I use strictly manual legacy lenses on my NEX. My preference setting most of the time is "S" mode cause I prefer to control shutter speed and aperture as in M mode except now I can set auto ISO. How I wish Sony can allow us to select specific auto ISO range. In situation where the camera choice of auto ISO range exceeds 1600, I will prefer to select my own ISO setting. Then, I may stick to a fixed ISO setting and use EV compensation as my final setting. My experience is that 'white' focus peaking is the most usable.

I'm hoping that future firmware will allow us to set auto iso range and having auto iso in M mode (thou that kinda defeats the purpose of m mode).
 

got new toy... Yashica ML 50 1.4.. yeah!!

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Any pics?

going for a shooting session this coming saturday, will see how this lens performs. It was said it is the poor man contax zeiss .. haha
 

the result with yashica 50 1.4 is superb.. really superb for this price..

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