Sony A7 original + Leica M Lenses + Focus Peaking?

[ColSebastianMoran]

I have tried Sony vs. Fuji for manual focusing with various legacy lenses.

I liked the Sony implementation better.

Generally, I will use magnification along with peaking. Then with a half-press, you are back to the full viewfinder image.

No comments on Leica lenses with the sony gear. I'm using mostly SLR lenses, a variety of makers.

 

[newst]

And tempting as I find this, there are issues with the adapters with slight wear causing miscalibration across the image frame. It's a genius idea (Leica mount AF on a Sony) but the engineering is still at beta phase.

Interesting. I have seen posts on this issue by TAP owners (I have no reason to believe they are trolls) but nothing backed up by photographic evidence. A concern, yes, yet I have not seen any such degradation with my TAP and I was an early adapter.

If I had to guess, the issue is aggravated by the use of too heavy a lens (Techart recommends an 850 gram maximum). This wouldn't be a problem with most rangefinder lenses. Still, the TAP requires an A7II, A7SII or A7RII to function in full frame, a more expensive proposition than an A7.

I would also recommend researching the Kolari modification if it is intended to use wide and ultra-wide angle rangefinder lenses. I decided not to apply this to my A7II but I rarely use rangefinder lenses wider than 35mm.

 

[dugrant153]

I have tried Sony vs. Fuji for manual focusing with various legacy lenses.

I liked the Sony implementation better.

Generally, I will use magnification along with peaking. Then with a half-press, you are back to the full viewfinder image.

No comments on Leica lenses with the sony gear. I'm using mostly SLR lenses, a variety of makers.

I'm using a Fuji setup right now and it's not bad. I have an XT10 tho so the LCD is kind of hard to see.

Any suggestions for adapters that aren't too bad but not super cheap? Look at the Voigtlander one to mount VM to E mount...

Battery suggestions would also be appreciated 🙂

 

[baader]

I have 35mm Nokton SC that I use both on Epson RD-1 and A7.
I think I have much better success rate on a7.
(epson has really short rf base, and Nokton has significant focus shift)

It´s pretty easy to nail focus on either just focus peaking or with magnification if I shoot wide open.

 

[johannielscom]

I use focus peaking on the original A7 with all my lenses. Really great! I shoot 50mm and 35mm LTM lenses and a whole bunch of SLR lenses, including a 17mm Tamron (no smearing at the edges) and Canon FD 1.2L glass (focus on the mark when used with peaking).

I have dedicated a button to the rear of the camera to activate it. Fast moving objects? I'm a slow shooter, so the lag on the original A7 EVF screen doesn't bother me.

 

[dugrant153]

I use focus peaking on the original A7 with all my lenses. Really great! I shoot 50mm and 35mm LTM lenses and a whole bunch of SLR lenses, including a 17mm Tamron (no smearing at the edges) and Canon FD 1.2L glass (focus on the mark when used with peaking).

I have dedicated a button to the rear of the camera to activate it. Fast moving objects? I'm a slow shooter, so the lag on the original A7 EVF screen doesn't bother me.

I guess with some practice you can easily and quickly zoom in to focus to ensure you're in focus, even if you're wide open?

AF will be quicker I think but in some cases not necessarily faster. .. especially when the light goes down.

 

[Emile de Leon]

If you want to be 100% dead sure what you want is in total focus on A7..its magnify and manual focus..there are no blown shots using this method..on static subjects..

 

[dugrant153]

Thanks. I was just using this on a Fuji XT10 and agree... if you can magnify, you can nail focus on things pretty quick. The funny thing is that I think it's quicker (and much more accurate) than AF on my canons... which sometimes miss!

I may plunk some change on the A7 "classic" ... and is it just me or is the Fuji XT1 and XT10 have much better EVF's than the A7 classic?

 

[johannielscom]

I guess with some practice you can easily and quickly zoom in to focus to ensure you're in focus, even if you're wide open?

AF will be quicker I think but in some cases not necessarily faster. .. especially when the light goes down.

Fun fact: the resolution of the EVF is slightly too low to fully show a perfect image. On places where the focus is highest, the EVF minutely falls short in showing the contrast, and as a result you can see some contrast noise!
So, if you use the EVF un-zoomed, the sharp object shows minute digital noise. It's hard to see at first, but once you've become accustomed to seeing it, it's quite apparent.

I use this to establish a plane of focus with moving subjects, and when the subject comes into focus, hit the shutter button.
Much easier than trying to focus on a moving object!

 

[chris91387]

i have the a7II with metabones adapter and i love shooting my M glass with it. i don't enjoy the focus peaking but rather zoom in tight to focus. i programmed one of the buttons to "zoom" so i click it once or twice and focus real quick and then fire off some shots.

i also have an adapter for all my old nikkor glass. so much fun.

 

[dugrant153]

Fun fact: the resolution of the EVF is slightly too low to fully show a perfect image. On places where the focus is highest, the EVF minutely falls short in showing the contrast, and as a result you can see some contrast noise!
So, if you use the EVF un-zoomed, the sharp object shows minute digital noise. It's hard to see at first, but once you've become accustomed to seeing it, it's quite apparent.

I use this to establish a plane of focus with moving subjects, and when the subject comes into focus, hit the shutter button.
Much easier than trying to focus on a moving object!

Oh cool!
I've been trying to do the same thing on my current Fuji XT10 setup. Maybe screen's smaller or the screen is "too good" that the contrast noise doesn't really register as well. Magnifying is required.

 

[Peter Jennings]

On places where the focus is highest, the EVF minutely falls short in showing the contrast, and as a result you can see some contrast noise!

I just tried this and it is indeed more accurate than focus peaking. Thanks for the tip!

 

[dugrant153]

So just picked up a smokin' deal on an A7ii. My Leica M adapter is going to take a while to get here so picked up a 50mm F1.8 E-mount Sony lens in the meanwhile.

Excited to get some M-mount goodness on this camera though. Drive-By-Wire manual focusing is great but nowhere near as good as a nice manual lens.

 

[x-ray]

With the A7, you do have to watch out for smearing on the edges and corners of quite a few wide angle adapted lenses. Note that smearing is NOT something you can correct in post. If you do intend to adapt M-mount WA lenses on an A7, I would strongly suggest sending the body to Kolari Vision for their thin filter modification.

Does the thin filter modification mess up using Sony lenses? How do Nikon AIs wides work? I'm thinking of the A7 as well.

 

[dugrant153]

Update: I've been using the Sony A7 with the 50mm F1.8 Sony lens and it's been great for autofocus. For the times I've had to manual focus, it automatically magnifies and that's been very helpful and makes focusing very accurate. Just ordered a Fotodiox Leica M to Sony E adapter so we'll see how that goes!

One thing I've found: You really have to customize the custom and function buttons to work for you. The default setup of the camera just didn't work for me.

 

[dugrant153]

Fotodiox Pro adapter

Fotodiox Pro adapter

Managed to get a Leica M to Sony E adapter (Fotodiox). Works well and the fitting is quite tight.

It's great to see the results of my CV 28mm F2. It's a fantastic Cosina M Mount lens but I think it has found it's home on the Sony. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to manually focus quickly and don't think I'm "quite there" yet but there is potential.

The main issue, other than practicing focusing, is that the grip is actually kind of small and the CV 28mm F2 can only be focused by the focus knob. This makes for slightly awkward focusing but probably has more to do with this setup than anything else... and me getting used to it.

 

[kxl]

Which 'Adapter' works Best ??

Hi Helen - for the LTM lens, you have 2 options: 1) get an LTM-E adapter or 2) get an LTM-M mount adapter. This allows you to use a single M-E mount adapter for both lenses.

As for the M-mount to E-mount adapter, do you think you'd need a close focus helicoid, which reduces the minimum focusing distance, i.e., taking macro shots with your M-mount lens! 😀 For that, I would recommend the Hawk's close focusing helicoid. I have the original version but I think they're up to version 4 or 5 by now. You can find them on ebay or the usual stores -- B&H, Adorama, etc... Voigtlander has one as well, but the price is quite steep.

If you do not need the close focusing helicoid, the the usual "name" suspects are Novoflex, Voigtlander and Metabones. Pros and cons to all 3. Plenty of no-name adapters, and with those you take your chances -- some work well, some not so well.

Good luck!!!

 

[traveler_101]

The A7 is likely the cheapest option for full frame digital and M lenses. I've been using mine with the 50mm Voigtlander Nokton for the last few years as well as the 35mm f2.5 color skopar both are LTM versions. The 35mm is not great in the corners on the A7 but it works for me. I also use my AIs Nikkors on the A7 too.
Overall I have been pleased with the A7 as my manual focus body. Of course I would like a digital M body but I can't and won't justify the cost.
I do use the LTM lens on my M5 and they work great on that too.

In some ways I wish that I would have never tried digital photography though. I do feel that I would have been happier just sticking with B&W film and a darkroom however time moves on and I don't have a permanent darkroom anymore. Setting up and tearing down is a hassle especially for just a couple of hours printing at a time.
So for me the A7 has been a great option, I particularly like the accurate manual focus and I can get the results I want from the A7.

I have toyed with the idea of going this way for some time, though have never committed to it. One problem has been cost of the SONY full frame cameras and uncertainty about which one to buy. So this one would do the trick?http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-Alpha-...3d458fb261c0d473ac5dde&pid=100505&rk=1&rkt=1&

 

[Peter Jennings]

I have a no-name brand close focussing M-mount adapter that I use on my A7. It's at least double the weight of a regular adapter. You should consider whether the added weight is worth being able to focus closer than on your M. I only occasionally use the close focus feature myself.

 

[roscoetuff]

Best lenses for a Sony A7 series camera are... yes, you guessed it: "Sony" lenses. But frankly, I switched from a Fuji X-PRO2 to a Sony A7II because the Sony's IBIS is exactly what you need for adapted lenses.

There's discussion in various places on the net about the Zeiss Loxia lenses, and for my part, they are magnificently sharp. I'm a Zeiss fan anyway and began collecting Zeiss (Contax CY) for my Fuji's, switching systems for the IBIS. But I note that for Leica, a number of pro photographers have transitioned to Sony to shoot their M lenses, only to then switch to Loxia's... because native glass will always have an advantage. Same source has done two or three thin filter conversions trying to fix the wider M lenses, but from what I am told, the Loxia 21mm is still sharper. And assuming that's the look you want... there you are.

There are some good discussions about this on the Luminous Landscape forums... probably the most technical from Paul Roark on the KolariVision "Red" filter as a substitute for his much beloved, now MIA Kodak Tech Pan film. Paul has some amazing work on the net you can find and teaches workshops. Note that you can buy Sony's directly from KolariVision that have already been converted... and that may be a better idea than buying one separately to convert subsequently.

FWIW, I'll add that I've had both the Sony A7II and A7RII and the latter is a far superior camera. The A7II had "issues" with its internal battery not holding the system date (warranty service # 1) and then a mirror issue that caused constant restarting (warranty service # 2)... so I "sold it" to B&H. Second issue was a "known issue" apparently (but not to me). For these reasons, I suggest buying new with these camera-computers, and preferring the "best" you can afford. The menus are different between the two, and while the A7II is good, the A7RII is "wow!" good. My A7II was bought used with a warranty (thankfully) from Lensrentals, and they took care of me, but I'm not sure I'd try to save money that way again. Buying used lenses? Good idea. Used cameras? Maybe less so... especially if they're digital. (Yes I bought my M4-2 and M6 in the last few months so it's not like a rule so much as a guideline). And yes, not only is the A7RII far cheaper than an M10, but it's now cheaper than an MP (film), but you can do Macro photography with it, too.

All depends on what sort of images you're after. Do I like my Leica M film cameras? Yes.... much more fun. Sony's are great machines, and if (and when and where/how) you want digital, Sony will deliver the goods. I shot my Sony's (and still do) mostly as manual cameras with a built-in meter, and yes the 5X and 12X focus peaking is marvelous for getting that extra-sharp digital image... and at 42MP... the Sony A7RII delivers knife sharp ...no razor sharp images that print with an Epson SC P800 as if printed on emerald glass. I don't hesitate to suggest that they ARE the standard.... and even if there menus can be a PIA, all menus and manuals are a PIA. So despite the naysayers out there, as Paul Roark put it (shot Leica M film for decades), there are just somethings that a SLR just does more easily (and better) than a RF, and it's worth a look. Can't fault your logic... and yes, I'm still using my Sony.... even if it's mostly as a DSLR scanner... it's still frequent use. My motto: "Use it, trade it or sell it... a mothballed offers nothing."