SimonPJ
Well-known
I have had a Sony A7Riii for the past couple of years, which I bought as a long lens companion to my Leica MP240 for theatre photography. In that use it has excelled, it’s high iso file quality and reliable low light autofocus with a 70-200 f2.8 lens allowing me to capture valuable close shots to complement what I can get with a 35 or 50 on the MP240. The large file size is also a boon to allow cropping shots which are often taken in haste to capture key moments in the drama.
But I have not taken to the A7Riii for any other use apart from theatre work. I bought several adapters to allow me to use my longer Leica M and R lenses, etc., but found that manual focus via zooming in the whole screen view to show a magnified image of a portion of the picture goes profoundly against my instincts as a longtime rangefinder user to need to see at least the whole picture, and preferably some context around it, as I’m preparing to take a photo. The A7Riii’s manual focus mode of zooming in the whole view to get enough magnification to nail focus feels like a doubling of what’s already a claustrophobic SLR view of the world - from a rangefinder user’s perspective.
I think I saw that the Leica SL gives a magnified portion of the image to use for manual focus - almost like the old split image / microprism focusing spot - whilst still allowing you to see the whole image around it. Is that right? How have people found it?
Are there other high-spec mirrorless cameras which allow this approach for manual focus of adapted lenses?
Best wishes in these unprecedented times. Stay safe.
But I have not taken to the A7Riii for any other use apart from theatre work. I bought several adapters to allow me to use my longer Leica M and R lenses, etc., but found that manual focus via zooming in the whole screen view to show a magnified image of a portion of the picture goes profoundly against my instincts as a longtime rangefinder user to need to see at least the whole picture, and preferably some context around it, as I’m preparing to take a photo. The A7Riii’s manual focus mode of zooming in the whole view to get enough magnification to nail focus feels like a doubling of what’s already a claustrophobic SLR view of the world - from a rangefinder user’s perspective.
I think I saw that the Leica SL gives a magnified portion of the image to use for manual focus - almost like the old split image / microprism focusing spot - whilst still allowing you to see the whole image around it. Is that right? How have people found it?
Are there other high-spec mirrorless cameras which allow this approach for manual focus of adapted lenses?
Best wishes in these unprecedented times. Stay safe.
SimonPJ
Well-known
I may have been mistaken in thinking that the Leica SL allows you to see a magnified area for manual focus within a wider view of the whole picture at normal magnification.
But it seems that the Panasonic S1 cameras do offer this.
But it seems that the Panasonic S1 cameras do offer this.
analoged
Well-known
I have the original A7s I use for adapting all my vintage manual focus lenses, what I do is shoot B&W jpeg and Raw simultaneously. This makes the viewfinder B&W and with red focus peaking helps a bunch. Not perfect but works for me!
Huss
Mentor
The Fuji X-Pro3 allows you to use the optical viewfinder with frame lines in conjunction with a small EVF in the bottom right corner in magnified view. It also allows you to move around the focus square so the EVF portion sees where that is placed.
So this way you get to see the whole scene, anything that is on the periphery as well as being able to use a magnified EVF portion all at the same time.
X-Pro2 also does this but has a lower Rez EVF.
So this way you get to see the whole scene, anything that is on the periphery as well as being able to use a magnified EVF portion all at the same time.
X-Pro2 also does this but has a lower Rez EVF.
Huss
Mentor
FYI I have found the SL easy to focus with manual lenses w/o needing a magnified view.