Originally posted by Tony Belding A few days ago I got a Voigtländer Nokton 40mm f/1.2 for my Sony. It has manual focus, manual aperture ring, build quality like a Takumar, but also electronic communication with the camera body. So, the camera knows the lens identity, focal length, focal distance, aperture setting. It can automatically use sensor stabilization. When I turn the aperture ring, I see it change in the viewfinder, just like my old Sears KS-2 that had a little witness hole for that purpose. When I turn the focus ring, the EVF magnifies automatically. I have focus peaking in the EVF. It's a better shooting experience than my old film SLR, and Pentax haven’t produced anything that can match it.
Thanks for describing your experience with the lens and your Sony camera. Sounds like focusing manually is quite enjoyable. I found a similar experience when I tried my son's Fuji X-T3. In fact, I was impressed with the ease of focusing manually through the viewfinder, and ended up giving him one of my Pentax-M 50/1.7s along with an adapter. He likes it.
Originally posted by Wasp Relying on a modern DSLR focusing screen is a mixed bag. You can slowly rock back and forth and watch the focus confirmation - much slower than focus peaking.
As for focusing manually through the viewfinder on my K-3 II, an accurate and precise method is described here:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/53-pentax-dslr-camera-articles/402086-ac...n-hexagon.html. As the article explains, a rigorous approach is needed to calibrate each lens and apply the technique in the field. Some folks would find it tedious, and mirrorless cameras have an advantage in that they generally don't require focus calibration.
Originally posted by Tony Belding Everyone complained about poor battery life of the Sony A7 series, until Sony switched to a battery that's about twice the size. Then the complaints ended.
I haven't been following the earlier complaints about Sony's battery life
per se. However, it seems that most of the models in the Sony A7 and A9 lines have had significantly less battery life than, say, the Pentax K-1. The closest spec that I've seen indicates that the A7 III has a CIPA rating of 610 shots (using the EVF), compared to 760 for the K-1. That's getting close. The other models have ratings between 270 shots (e.g., A7, A7R, A7 II) and 530 (A7R IV). The Nikon Z7 is rated at 330 shots, the Z6 310, and the Z50 280. The Canon R is rated at 350 and the RP at 210 in its default mode or 250 in "power saving" mode (that's not a typo -- 210). For Canon, saving power buys only 20% more battery life.
Of course, the battery rating by itself doesn't suggest anything about a user's field experience or satisfaction with the lower battery life, which is significantly lower in many cases.
Originally posted by Wasp An EVF means that using my collection of MF lenses is a pleasant experience.
Returning to the subject of this thread -- the
fStoppers blog article -- I find it interesting that the article doesn't mention the type of positive EVF experiences that are described here, despite the obvious benefits for using manual focus lenses. On the other hand, Pentax DSLRs are sort of hybrids -- they provide optical viewfinding as well as the advantages of electronic display through Live View. A lot of my landscape work is done on a tripod, and I frequently use manual focus lenses. Live View works very well in this mode.
For landscape and other photography done primarily on a tripod, I can't think of how a 'mirrorless' camera would offer any significant advantage over a comparable DSLR. The fStoppers article is silent on this aspect, conveniently ignoring the strengths that Pentax DSLRs have in this area.
- Craig