A7C and 50GM as an everyday carry?

gobucks83 wrote:

ZilverHaylide wrote:

So that brings up these questions for the Sigma 105 macro Art:

1) At those farther, "infinity" and "almost-infinity" focus distances, how accurate is AF?

2) How easy is it to get accurate focus in MF? For instance, a lot of traditional helicoid-based vintage macro lenses aren't easy to precisely manual-focus towards infinity settings, there isn't as much angle-of-rotation for the focus ring at those distances as there is on a lens that doesn't also focus down to macro distances. With Sigma's focus implementation (by wire, and I presume variable depending on how fast I turn it, as most of their lenses designed for mirrorless supposedly are), I'm hoping that MF on this macro lens will allow good precision even at longer distances.

Thanks in advance.

I haven't really shot it focused to infinity. I did take it out a couple of times to get some shots of people on the street, and during the daytime autofocus was reasonably quick and accurate. For me it all comes down to light - the hit rate really nosedives and the hunting really skyrockets in even moderately poor light.

I don't have much experience with manual focus lenses, so I can't compare, but I liked the MF implementation fine. Not sure if it's totally linear, but it has a pretty long throw and good damping, so I felt like I could make pretty accurate adjustments. People really seem to like the clutch implementation on the Sony 90G, if you're looking for more of a manual focus feel (or obviously there is the actual manual focus voightlander 110mm APO macro).

I was debating all three of those and ultimately ended up with the Laowa 100/2.8 (for macro more than anything but possibly with some landscape use in the long run), from what I've read the Voigtlander might have the nicest feel for MF tho, followed by the Sony's clutch. I think one of the reviews (PhillipReeve possibly) actually complained that the 110's throw could be too long if you were going from MFD to infinity, requiring multiple full turns. I'll take that over a really short throw (Laowa) or non linear focus by wire tho.

They all seem like really good options tho! Macros are usually optically solid but even by macro standards they all look pretty great.