Sony A6000 and manual film lens

[BADGER.BRAD]

I've been using my Sony A6000 with manual film lenses (M42) just lately to get a little more reach on the cheap but I have noticed when I get correct focus by eye ( using focus magnification) it gives the edge of things in the image a silver outline ,is this focus assist telling me it is right ? ( I'm guessing so) I've not used it in this mode much to have noticed it before.

Thanks all

 

[Stephen L]

I've been using my Sony A6000 with manual film lenses (M42) just lately to get a little more reach on the cheap but I have noticed when I get correct focus by eye ( using focus magnification) it gives the edge of things in the image a silver outline ,is this focus assist telling me it is right ? ( I'm guessing so) I've not used it in this mode much to have noticed it before.

Thanks all

That’s called focus peaking and the intensity of the halo shows the clarity of the focus. I find it easier to change the colour to red. You can also switch it off completely.

 

[the black fox]

If your talking about the uploaded image ,then that’s a oversharpening halo

 

[BADGER.BRAD]

No Jeff it's on the display of the camera when manual focusing, I've just changed mine to red Stephen, not the best test as it's in a darkened room under electric light but it does seem to stand out more. I'll give it another go tomorrow but it's got to speed up focusing by a mile !

 

[Faldrax]

The other useful setting for manual focusing is MF Assist (in the menues, 'cog' menus set, Page 1, second entry). This changes the EVF display to show a magnified view of the what you are focusing on - you can move the position within the frame of the magnified point using the dial on the back, clicking the centre button on that dial switched between two levels of magnification.

 

[woof woof]

I find focus peaking to be a help and to be quite accurate at wide apertures when not much is peaking but less useful when stopped down because too much will be peaking.

 

[Stephen L]

I find focus peaking to be a help and to be quite accurate at wide apertures when not much is peaking but less useful when stopped down because too much will be peaking.

However, in those cases it can be useful for showing the approximate range of depth of focus.

 

[woof woof]

However, in those cases it can be useful for showing the approximate range of depth of focus.

I just don't trust it except at wide apertures as it's likely that your main point of interest won't be sharp if you look closely. For small prints and whole image viewing at a distance without zooming in it's ok, but that's all IMO and don't expect eyes or even facial features to be sharp, IMO no better than zone focusing.

 

[BADGER.BRAD]

Never thought about DOF ! I'll still use focus magnification if the subject requires a specific thing in it to be in focus .

 

[woof woof]

Never thought about DOF ! I'll still use focus magnification if the subject requires a specific thing in it to be in focus .

I use manual lenses a lot. If the subject is static I use the magnified view and focus accurately but if I need to be quicker or if moving people or things are involved I prefocus, zone focus or use hyperfocal. All have their uses but if you have a main point of interest and want focus to stand up to close viewing then maybe focusing using the magnified view is the thing to do. Assuming you have time to do this it's maybe the most accurate way to focus and arguably more accurate than AF, for static stuff.

 

[BADGER.BRAD]

I find auto focus quite challenging sometimes as it will just not focus on something mid way into the image if there are other things in the nearer view. Manual focus comes in here a treat. I must admit I've never tried it with the Sony kit lens as It just feels awful in comparison to the better build quality of the film lenses. That said the Sony generally does well with it's focus. Is it just one particular camera you use Alan ?

 

[woof woof]

I started using manual lenses back when I had a film RF but in digital days I started to use them on my Panasonic MFT camera (G1) and my Canon 5D but I didn't like using them on the 5D as there were no focus aids. These days I use them mostly on my Sony A7 and the only one I'd use on MFT now is my Sigma 50mm f2.8 macro. Back when I had Canon DSLR's I had a Sigma 150mm f2.8 macro and I liked to take pictures of flowers with that and using the 50mm macro on my A7 doesn't give the same perspective so I sometimes like to use it on my MFT cameras (I now have a GX9 and a GX80, oh and a GM5 too) as it gives an equivalent 100mm perspective, closer to the 150mm I really liked than to 50mm.

I have too many manual lenses but I do try to use them all in rotation. I bought some modern Voigtlander lenses in Sony mount thinking that I'd sell my film lenses but instead all I've done is buy more I do like the different look you can get from some old lenses and as you know they're a joy to use, the modern Voigtlanders are a joy to use too but they give a more modern look so I still have a use for the old lenses.

 

[Winslowe]

However, in those cases it can be useful for showing the approximate range of depth of focus.

No viewfinder will indicate anything about depth of focus (it can indicate depth of field, however).