A5000 - Practical Manual Focus in Sunny Conditions?

[MostlyHarmless]

Dear All, I have a question for any A5000 users I'm basically a Pentax user toying with the idea of moving over to mirrorless at some point, and thinking of an A5000 to use mainly with my DA 10-17 fisheye zoom. It's cheap enough to give it a go as an experiment (and the 16-50 will be handy at times too). The plan would be to normally leave the 10-17 on the A5000 which would mean next to no lens changes (it's usually the 10-17 and one other, maybe two, depending) without a lot more stuff to carry. I would prefer to have a viewfinder but I'm happy enough without using a wide angle lens. But a fair amount of my photography is done in bright conditions. I know the A5000 has a 'sunny weather' setting - but how practical is manual focussing going to be? I also know it has focus peaking, and I can probably get away with murder given the DoF of the lens (esp. stopped down if it's bright) - but would be nice to know if it is actually possible to see what's going on. (An A6000 would probably be better - but that's more 'commitment' than 'experiment' at this stage).

Thanks in Advance,

Neal

 

[joe6pack]

Sunny weather mode gives you enough brightness to focus at the expense of seeing the proper color.

However, the real issue is enabling and disabling Sunny weather mode takes a lot of finger movements. I don't understand why Sony didn't put the mode under "Brightness" but instead hide it under another brightness setting hidden deep under menu (this was for NEX-3N, I don't own A5000).

 

[SimonOL]

For experimentation, why not think about a used NEX-5N which is a great camera for very little money. With your lens, it will function just as well as the A5000 minus a few megapixels.

Or what about the NEX-6? It's got a higher resolution EVF than the A6000 which is great for manual focussing. Another cheap option offering the same or better functionality to the A5000 (except for 16mp vs. 20mp).

If you like one of these, you could get a new A5000/6000, especially if you wanted to maybe get a few native lenses

Re. sunny weather mode; In my opinion, it's OK if you're desperate to see something in the LCD but it's still difficult to be accurate in really bright conditions. I certainly can't judge things like the colour balance or the contrast of a scene using the sunny weather mode. It's no substitute for an EVF.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/90962352@N06/

 

[Russell Evans]

As a Pentax DSLR owner, I would advise going with the a6000 over the smaller bodied Sony for most general shooting. The smaller bodies are really too small for use with a Pentax lens off a tripod. It is slightly better handheld with a focal reducer as the focal reducer is much shorter in length, but you'll need a FF, with an aperture ring, lens to use with it. I also was never was happy with manual focus with the LCD. With the EVF of the a6000, or the EVF of the 5n, I have no real issue nailing focus.

Coming from a pretty full kit with Pentax, I wanted a Sony system to do things that are prohibitively expensive with a DSLR. The first being an underwater shooting solution. There are <$200 40m underwater cases made for the Sony cameras, where to do the same in Pentax would cost north of $2000. Being able to use a focal reducer to use my Pentax FF lenses at almost FF FOV was also a pleasant development that happened a few months into my buying a Sony body.

I also own the DA 10-17mm that I bought new for less than the cost of a Samyang 8mm f3.5 fisheye in PK at a closing camera store, so I could never justify buying the Samsyang in Pk mount. I had less issue buying the really tiny Samyang 8mm f2.8 fisheye in e-mount, as it went on sale for $250. The choice between the Samyang 10mm f2.8 in Pentax or the Samyang 12mm f2 in e-mount was also a pretty easy decision as I have the Sigma 10-20mm in Pk.

As I didn't want to duplicate what I have with my Pentax setup, I bought the Sigma 19mm f2.8, Sigma 30mm f2.8, and Sigma 60mm f2.8 for the Sony setup as these are such a great value and fall between the primes I have for my DSLR. Each lens can be had for around $200. I added a couple PK to e-mount adapters to use the F and FA Pentax 1:1 macros I own to round out the rest of of what I wanted to do with the Sony setup. Well, I did buy an old manual focus 55mm f1.4 screw mount lens, as I also wanted to try the ~85mm eq FOV as well. I don't think I will ever buy the Da 55mm f1.4.

The only bonus to going with a smaller body would be had by buying a used Nex-5n. The 5n has electronic front curtain and with that and a Metz flash mounted on the 5n via a third party adapter, you can use any shutter speed with the flash due to the Metz flashes having 1/125s flash durations. All lthe way up to 1/4000s of the 5n. The a6000 also has electronic front curtain, but something has changed in the implementation where this sadly no longer works.

The small bodies are also really nice for macro use, and are really nice on a tripod. On the 5n I use a LCD screen shade and that helps with the sun issue. I also have the external EVF which offers the ability to flip vertically. Again nice for use with macros.

The small Sony bodies are really nice in more social shooting situations. Shooting via the LCD puts you more into the environment and less hiding behind a viewfinder. You interact more with the people you are with. If that is going to be your main reason for shooting with a e-mount camera, then the a5000 will be the better choice for you. You can sort of do the same with the a6000, but I just don't feel it is the same. I'm probably too tempted by the EVF not to use it, or I'm more conscious of not using it.

Thank you
Russell

 

[jonl9]

Neal, also a decades long Pentax owner here also.

Earlier this year I bought a Sony RX100M2, I found even with the sunny weather setting on the LCD, which is easy to get to unless you can't see it, that on a bright beach or on the water I really couldn't see the LCD well enough to do much with it. I bought the extra EVF, hugely expensive.

I this week received my A-6000, it feels infinitely lighter than my Pentax K-7 and it's lenses, and really seems to do as well. I think I will be very pleased moving up to the A-6000 and that would also be the point of purchase I would recommend to you, you will sorely miss the EVF.

Jon

 

[MostlyHarmless]

Dear All, thank you - some things in there that had occurred to me, but lots that hadn't and really helpful. Think I'll keep an eye out for an older used model and, if I get one and it goes well at this time of year (no sun issues), go for an A6000 (or whatever's around then) in the summer.

Thanks again,

Neal

 

[Focus Breather]

You can try one of these, just find right one for A5000, if available.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LCD-Screen-...igital_Camera_Accessories&hash=item27e6394978

Also, consider this, if available for a5000:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-LCD-Vie...52?pt=ES_Cámaras_de_vídeo&hash=item3a939b0e44