/I have to say that I find focusing manually quite difficult (the EVF is nowhere near as good as the Olympus one in this respect) . It’s strange, but I find it quite easy to manually focus native or A mount lenses on the A7r2 but not so easy, in fact downright difficult, to focus legacy lenses, even when the lens is opened right up to the widest aperture. The subject matter makes quite a difference – buildings are easier than landscapes – but the native lenses are easier regardless of subject.
I do use focus peaking, but don’t totally trust it and I find the 5x magnified view of the EVF not to have sufficient detail to focus accurately, especially as the line between being in and out of focus is so fine. I must learn to trust the peaking facility but, like you, dislike the distortion it brings to the viewed image – a bit like the blinking zebras which must be capable of bringing on epilepsy in a susceptible person…!!!/
So, if video feed was being used instead of direct pixel readout then why the statement above about poor ability with legacy MF glass compared to native E mount lenses?...Show more →
Yeah, doesn't make much sense. Maybe she's relying on the auto-magnification of turning the focus ring on native lenses but when she's using a manual lens she's not magnifying in all the way. Or maybe by remote chance the camera is doing something different in LV for native lenses, like using a faster refresh rate or magnification method, though that makes even less sense.
Fred Miranda wrote:
Following this logic the A7RII should have the best magnified view for MF.
That's exactly what I would think as well. Mine just got updated from Amazon to tommorrow. Certainly will check this out. The thing is it's a bigger view than the A7r why it does not make sense.
snapsy wrote:
Yeah, doesn't make much sense. Maybe she's relying on the auto-magnification of turning the focus ring on native lenses but when she's using a manual lens she's not magnifying in all the way. Or maybe by remote chance the camera is doing something different in LV for native lenses, like using a faster refresh rate or magnification method, though that makes even less sense.
I'm not a fan of auto magnify. I turn it off and use C1 as my zoom magnify tool. Issue is with it on you can't touch the focus ring or it kicks on. That bugs me to no end
It certainly sounds like there focusing at like at F8 or there working aperture as it is difficult to focus when most everything is by stopping down. If there not having issues with FE and A I can't think of anything else but this.
I have a CV 15 which is tough to focus because of the great DOF with it so I do open up to focus with that lens . But at working aperture it is tough to focus
Interesting! I was having a similar problem with my A7r and Leica 50 Cron DR, when it was set at f/5.6 or higher. I never really resolved the issue other than manually increasing the brightness so focusing was clearer. No issues with the Loxia's or native glass.
charles.K wrote:
Interesting! I was having a similar problem with my A7r and Leica 50 Cron DR, when it was set at f/5.6 or higher. I never really resolved the issue other than manually increasing the brightness so focusing was clearer. No issues with the Loxia's or native glass.
Exactly. The one thing that happens is your EVF gain goes up when stopped down and people are thinking they are wide open. Not the case the gain is or effects on to be more precise is doing that in like A mode. So maybe there thinking they are focusing wide open like a native lens but there not. It's stopped down which makes focusing harder
GMPhotography wrote:
Exactly. The one thing that happens is your EVF gain goes up when stopped down and people are thinking they are wide open. Not the case the gain is or effects on to be more precise is doing that in like A mode. So maybe there thinking they are focusing wide open like a native lens but there not. It's stopped down which makes focusing harder
The author said he had difficulty even with the lens wide-open:
"I have to say that I find focusing manually quite difficult (the EVF is nowhere near as good as the Olympus one in this respect) . It’s strange, but I find it quite easy to manually focus native or A mount lenses on the A7r2 but not so easy, in fact downright difficult, to focus legacy lenses, even when the lens is opened right up to the widest aperture. The subject matter makes quite a difference – buildings are easier than landscapes – but the native lenses are easier regardless of subject."
The only thing that makes a little sense is that if you read the article the only 2 legacy lenses he or she mentions using are the Leica M 18 3.4 and the Leica M 24 f/3.8. These lenses have a lot of depth of field even wide open, so maybe he or she is just having difficulty with the depth of field even wide open.
I have had a Sony A7R II for a few days and in nearly all aspects the camera is superb.
The one flaw, and one you may wish to cover in depth in your review, is that the EVF for manual focus is vastly inferior to the original A7R. I use the two Loxia lenses and the magnified focus function is poor. The image seems degraded (almost like bad jpeg blocking) and makes focusing on foliage really difficult. The ’12.5’ setting is better but the first ‘5’ setting near useless. Whether this is down to Sony downsampling the feed to the EVF is something you may wish to explore. Turning IBIS off does not seem to make a difference. A friend of mine (another landscape photographer) noticed the same thing straight away.
My thoughts, and my friends after we discussed it, wonder whether Sony have compressed the feed to the EF (and monitor) to cope with IBIS. Turning IBIS off however doesn’t improve things. I found I could focus at the highest magnification setting but am frustrated that it has to be a two stage operation to get to the ’12.5’ setting. I have asked Sony if there is any way to set the camera to jump to the higher setting as the ‘5’ one is useless. Really surprised no there user/reviewer has picked up on this issue yet.
I have contacted Sony customer support and wait to see if they come back with any potential solutions in a firmware update or as I fear it is ‘baked’ into the camera."
I myself when I had the A7R always found the first level of magnification useless for critical focus and almost always went straight for the highest magnification. So maybe 12.5x is going to be OK.
Steve Huff seems to love the A7RII (yes I know he loves everything) but I feel like he would have said something if things were off. Perhaps these initial reviewers are new to the system or just grumpy with poor vision. Yes there are times where 12x helps (poor light) but 5x is definitely usable to me. Hoping someone local here posts their findings soon!
davewolfs wrote:
Steve Huff seems to love the A7RII (yes I know he loves everything) but I feel like he would have said something if things were off. Perhaps these initial reviewers are new to the system or just grumpy with poor vision. Yes there are times where 12x helps (poor light) but 5x is definitely usable to me. Hoping someone local here posts their findings soon!
Agreed... that Steve Huff LOVES everything he touches, at least at first, and at least as the machine of affiliate links are firing on all cylinders. I wouldn't expect him to be in the mindset to notice or put much stock in these sorts of niggles... until something that fixes it comes out.
BTW, are there focus confirm or EXIF chips available for sony E-mount? I'm not interested in actually using them to confirm focus, but I'd love to have focal length in the files for review and to let IBIS know what it's dealing with.
davewolfs wrote:
Steve Huff seems to love the A7RII (yes I know he loves everything) but I feel like he would have said something if things were off. Perhaps these initial reviewers are new to the system or just grumpy with poor vision. Yes there are times where 12x helps (poor light) but 5x is definitely usable to me. Hoping someone local here posts their findings soon!
He also reports that "That [smearing with Leica M wides] has been improved due to the new backlit sensor design." Which contradicts about any report I have read.
Steve – did you use the image magnification to aid in focusing your manual lenses? If so how was the image in the EVF? There is are now reports of really poor image quality in the EVF image when trying to use legacy glass with the image magnified for focusing. Have you seen any of this with your camera?
This is what Steve just said minutes ago:
Looked fine to me, did not notice any issues and my focus was always spot on, but we are working in a fast paced way so I was not studying the EVF. All I know is that it worked for me but I will compare it to other A7 cameras to see what is up
I set the display quality to high and compared to the Fuji xt1 and the Olympus omd em1 I have here the a7rIi viewfinder is at least as good as thoes two. Manual focusing is very easy and precise to my eyes anyway in or out of magnified view. No issues here even at 1.4 with the 35 lens.
I set the display quality to high and compared to the Fuji xt1 and the Olympus omd em1 I have here the a7rIi viewfinder is at least as good as thoes two. Manual focusing is very easy and precise to my eyes anyway in or out of magnified view. No issues here even at 1.4 with the 35 lens.
I wouldn't expect him to be in the mindset to notice or put much stock in these sorts of niggles... until something that fixes it comes out.