Sony's full-frame Alpha 7 and 7R

David Arbogast wrote in post #16601653
Good advice. Focus peaking is a great tool, but getting the most of it takes practice.

I'll say this for the a7: it's so much easier to manual focus than doing so on a Canon camera.

Makes me wonder why Canon haven't implemented focus peaking for live view in their DSLRs - especially given how they're pushing video shooting. A Zacuto-like finder is very useful, but peaking would be great.

David A, since you primarily use your manual focus Zeiss lenses with the Sony, I thought this quote from a photographers blog might interest you. I'm not familier with the "green mode" he refers to but it sounds like it would allow you to avoid pushing buttons to get focus magnification and just start turning the focus ring on the lens. I hope I'm reading what he means correctly anyway.

Here's the blog url: http://www.nicolasgene​tte.com …sony-a7r-for-canon-users/

navydoc wrote in post #16601771
I just wish the magnifier stayed on longer. It always seems to revert back to normal view just as I'm trying to confirm I've achieved focus. I understand why the rectangle comes on first...it's so that the zoomed area can be moved using the control wheel on the back of the camera. Helpful I think for focusing off center at a narrow DOF to avoid focus/recompose. The magnifier is set to C1 by default which works fine for me.

There is a menu setting for how long the magnifier stays active. I don't have my a7 at hand, but I believe you can set it to 2 seconds, 5 seconds, or indefinite.

I changed my set button for my magnifier ("set button" is Canon lingo; not sure what the Sony term is), which is how I have it set on my 5D III as well.

sploo wrote in post #16601781
Makes me wonder why Canon haven't implemented focus peaking for live view in their DSLRs - especially given how they're pushing video shooting. A Zacuto-like finder is very useful, but peaking would be great.

One huge difference between using a Zacuto Z-finder on a Canon vs. Sony's EVF, is the refresh rate of the live video display. The Canon LV system is so laggy I found it nearly impossible to use my Zacuto Z-finder when a long lens is attached (like my 135mm) without the aid of a monopod. It is just so incredibly herky-jerky that its disorienting and dizzying. But, on the Sony, the EVF is smooth smooth smooth, even with the 135mm.

So, Canon is behind on their whole LV implementation, let alone the fact that it's lacking something as basic as focus peaking. Canon seems to be moving towards AF tech with their video anyway. The whole notion of the dual pixel AF on the 70D seems to be Canon saying, "the future of video is AF". For now, Canon users can get focus peaking by using Magic Lantern.

navydoc wrote in post #16601842
David A, since you primarily use your manual focus Zeiss lenses with the Sony, I thought this quote from a photographers blog might interest you. I'm not familier with the "green mode" he refers to but it sounds like it would allow you to avoid pushing buttons to get focus magnification and just start turning the focus ring on the lens. I hope I'm reading what he means correctly anyway.

Here's the blog url: http://www.nicolasgene​tte.com …sony-a7r-for-canon-users/

Thanks! I will definitely have a look at this!

David Arbogast wrote in post #16601865
One huge difference between using a Zacuto Z-finder on a Canon vs. Sony's EVF, is the refresh rate of the live video display. The Canon LV system is so laggy I found it nearly impossible to use my Zacuto Z-finder when a long lens is attached (like my 135mm) without the aid of a monopod. It is just so incredibly herky-jerky that its disorienting and dizzying. But, on the Sony, the EVF is smooth smooth smooth, even with the 135mm.

So, Canon is behind on their whole LV implementation, let alone the fact that it's lacking something as basic as focus peaking. Canon seems to be moving towards AF tech with their video anyway. The whole notion of the dual pixel AF on the 70D seems to be Canon saying, "the future of video is AF". For now, Canon users can get focus peaking by using Magic Lantern.

Interesting to know the A7 has a much faster update rate for the LV/EVF. Must get round to trying ML at some point; the last time I looked it was still fairly experimental for the 5DIII.

Thanks, I found it by re-reading the manual.

Metabones "Green mode" and "Advanced mode"

http://www.metabones.c​om …147-green-power-save-mode

navydoc wrote in post #16602042
Metabones "Green mode" and "Advanced mode"

http://www.metabones.c​om …147-green-power-save-mode

Excellent! I can't wait to give this a try.

Here's further information regarding auto magnify from an online manual:

Here's the link for this online 'manual'.

http://wiki.bcit-broadcast.com …s_EF_to_NEX_Sma​rt_Adapter

Edit: I'm pleased to report it works great on the Canon 17-40L which is the lens that happened to be mounted on the camera at the time I tried it. Power consumption will be greater but I don't know how much greater.

The auto focus magnification assist when turning the focus ring did not work with my Sigma 35 f1.4. Using C1 to use it still works with the Sigma. I'm curious to hear whether it works on Zeiss lenses.

It doesn't work on the Zeiss 21mm, not that it would be needed on this lens to start with...

Just tried it. No success with Zeiss lenses, but the 24-70 II did. So, maybe the feature is limited to Canon lenses only.

navydoc wrote in post #16601771
I just wish the magnifier stayed on longer. It always seems to revert back to normal view just as I'm trying to confirm I've achieved focus. I understand why the rectangle comes on first...it's so that the zoomed area can be moved using the control wheel on the back of the camera. Helpful I think for focusing off center at a narrow DOF to avoid focus/recompose. The magnifier is set to C1 by default which works fine for me.

You can change the zoom time display in settings of the menu. I have mine set to stay on until I press the select button again.

Edit - I see I'm a page too late. OOps

I don't like the extra step getting in the magnifier (having to see the zoom region preview), but I very much like that a light press on the shutter button instantly exits the magnifier. Very nice.

I've changed C1 to be "Focus Settings", which is smartly contextual. With an AF lens you get AF focus settings and with an MF lens it defaults to the Focus Magnifier. No reason to map "Focus Magnifier" to any button, since "Focus Settings" does the exact same thing for MF lenses, but much more for AF lenses.

frizzle wrote in post #16603155
You can change the zoom time display in settings of the menu. I have mine set to stay on until I press the select button again.

Edit - I see I'm a page too late. OOps

Thanks anyway. Even though the auto focus magnification when turning the focus ring doesn't work on my Sigma 35, using the slower method still works well as long as you have the time to use it. Here's a test shot I tried. The first image is full frame with a 1024 x 768 outline showing what was cropped and the second, the 100% crop...and yes, I was trying to focus on the edge of the leaf.