Unhappy with the current trend in lenses produced by main manufacturers, I saved enough money to buy a FF camera and I'm planning to add some beautiful manual focus lenses. I like the new Voigtländer SLII and some Zeiss ZE/FZ lenses, but I'm also interested in the Samyang, Zeiss C/Y, Nikon AI-S lenses etc.
Now I wonder, what is the best solution to shoot with such primes? I would use the camera mostly for people, landscapes and street photo.
Nikon D600 and D800 attract me with their nice price and amazing IQ, but I'm a bit concerned about shooting at very wide apertures with the unexciting focus support such cameras offer.
Canon 5D2 with EG-S screen looks like a good bargain and it's easy to adapt virtually every old lens. On the other hand I'm kind of scared to invest much in EF-mount lenses, because they can't be mounted almost on everything - I'd be stuck with Canon. The 5D3 offers a nice focus assist with all those cross points so well wide-spread, but I can't find any report from people using it like that on the field. Still, Nikon's better IQ makes me wonder if they're worth their price.
Afaik, 5D MkIII has smaller mirror box compared to MkII and Classic, making it a better choice for MF lens adaptation. It was enough for me to make purchase.
I would love to hear from Nikon shooters on FF body adaptations though..
I guess it depends what you want to do with it. If you will work on a tripod, or with enough time on your hands, and you can really use high resolution (as in: you print LARGE), then the D800 with live view is great.
If you prefer to hand-hold and have access to lenses from a very large number of different brands, then the 5DII would make more sense. The 5DIII doesn't have an interchangeable focusing screen, and makes most sense for people using AF lenses (AF is very much improved). The 5DII doesn't have nearly as good IQ as the D800 when you look at the numbers, but as you can see on this forum, it has more than enough to make great-looking photos all the same.
Krosavcheg wrote:
Afaik, 5D MkIII has smaller mirror box compared to MkII and Classic, making it a better choice for MF lens adaptation. It was enough for me to make purchase.
I would love to hear from Nikon shooters on FF body adaptations though..
Hi, thank you for you answer.
How accurate do you find the focus confirmation at wide apertures like f/2 or f/1.4?
If I was shooting MF only, I'd have a hard time not choosing the A99. Focus peaking and magnification make manual focusing easier than even the best DSLR prisms, IMO.
Douglas, do you already have an A99? While I agree that for anyone who can stomach an EVF it sounds great, I would hesitate to recommend it before having tried it...
carstenw wrote:
Douglas, do you already have an A99? While I agree that for anyone who can stomach an EVF it sounds great, I would hesitate to recommend it before having tried it...
I've been using the same basic EVF in the NEX-5N and then the NEX-7 for quite a while, and I find it easier and more consistent to manual focus than with my A900 using the matte focusing screen. You just can't beat focus magnification for accuracy and focus peaking for speed, despite the other downsides that may come with an EVF.
If I were to shoot an all manual, SLR lens setup, I'd probably choose the A99 and take the pellicle mirror out (assuming it is removable like the other SLT models.) If I were primarily shooting AF lenses, I'd probably choose one of the Nikons.
edit: I should also add, assuming the manual lenses one wants to use can be adapted to the Sony mount.
5DII + Magic lantern firmware is a great not too expensive option. The camera is cheap, you can fit a brighter focusing screen, takes most alt lenses without modification, ML firmware adds focus peaking, IQ still pretty good. I'm not on a hurry to upgrade mine. ...might get an itch when ML becomes available for 5DIII, dunno.
LightShow wrote:
I'm waiting for an EVIL FF(NEX-9) to become available, I will be very happy when it comes.
+1
in the meantime i vote for a tie between the 5dII with egs screen and ML and the new a99 assuming the evf is as good as or has better optics then the NEX-7.
also, you don't need to get eos mount lenses for the 5D you can get the nikkor ZFs and voightlanders and shoot them on an adapter as well as adapting more other different lenses than any other dslr mount.
LightShow wrote:
I'm waiting for an EVIL FF(NEX-9) to become available, I will be very happy when it comes.
What about the VG900? It does stills...
I think the only FF camera that offers total legacy MF lens mounting ability is the new Leica M... but of course, the price will probably be an issue...
rscheffler wrote:
What about the VG900? It does stills...
I think the only FF camera that offers total legacy MF lens mounting ability is the new Leica M... but of course, the price will probably be an issue...
also, who knows how long the waiting list will be once they actually do go on sale.
