Sony A7(R) manual focusing

DigiChromeEd · Joined: 29 Dec 2009 Posts: 3462 Location: Northern Ireland

I'm considering selling my Canon film and digital gear and purchasing a Sony A7 or A7R so I can use all my mf lenses on one camera. My only concern is about focusing mf lenses with these cameras. My eyesight is less than perfect and I wear spectacles all the time. How accurate is focus peaking without having to zoom in on every shot?
Thanks in advance for your input.

Rick1779 · Expire: 2014-06-06

Never tried the a7, but on nex5 and nex5n the focus peaking can be used but on larger aperture or in low light scene can be innacurate.

I only use magnification, is fast (assigned to function key) and more reliable than peaking, is just a matter of learnig curve and become a habit

bigdave43 · Joined: 02 Jun 2014 Posts: 5 Location: San Antonio

memetph · Joined: 01 Dec 2013 Posts: 942 Location: Poland

At the end focus peaking is not so usefull.
It works a little bit with telelenses together with the focuszoom.
With WA and standard lenses, it is disturbing and I prefer to switch it off.
Manual focusing with tha A7 works quiet well actually but don't expect miracles from the FP.

mo · Expire: 2016-07-30

I know its a Pentax K-01 I am talking about,But I don't mind its focus peaking feature,my eyesight is getting worse,I am short sighted naturally and am now going long/near sighted so its getting hard to see the backscreen Laughing

The highlights around the subject does help me.

In the end I use the focus peaking feature as a guide and the rest is a judgement call when an object is in perfect sharpness. Most times it works for me, now that I am used to the feature...it was a learning curve at first.The K-01 has no EVF available(I wish it did),I believe the Sony does so this may be a the accessory to buy with the camera.

Are you able to walk into a shop and handle the camera you want to buy? Besides there is no hurry to buy is there? and you can take your time.

calvin83 · Joined: 12 Apr 2009 Posts: 7553 Location: Hong Kong

You will need magnification for critical focusing especially if the object does not have high contrast contour. Focus peaking will works with magnified view too. My work flow on my 5N is use the focus peaking to determine the appropriate focus point. Then use the magnified view to get the exact focus point. 10x magnified view will be needed to when using super-tele lens.