It seems to me that without flash if the view is too dark it means the image will also be too dark? In other words on my a6000 I see what I get when live view is set to on.
I think that should work.
I was able to get 1/250 with the Sunpak (could be a limitation of the Sony flash)
I wouldn't get a lens without auto aperture. With a fully manual lens you will be composing and focusing with the lens stopped down, and at small apertures there is less light to make the image preview so the display can get very noisy which makes it much harder to focus. With an auto aperture lens, if you turn live view settings effect off you can focus with the lens wide open so you will have 4 or 5 stops more light. This gives you a much cleaner viewfinder image, and the shallow DOF makes it much easier to focus accurately because you can see exactly where the plane of focus is.
This is because live view is showing you a preview of your image including the flash when the flash is on, and without the flash when it is off. If you turn live view settings effect off, you will see the bright image when the flash is off or on, but it isn't a preview of what your image will look like. You also need to turn it off if you use a manual flash because the camera won't know the flash is there so it will only show you a preview of your exposure with no flash. Turning settings effect off also keeps the lens wide open until you take the shot so you will get a cleaner display image.
You've got this backwards. With settings effect turned on the camera keeps the aperture closed so you can see a DOF preview. If you turn settings effect off the camera will keep the aperture open until you take the shot and it will show a bright image in the viewfinder regardless of your exposure settings. In this mode the histogram is useless because it is based off the display which is not a preview of your exposure.
I'm confused. Nex-5r doesn't have viewfinder. So with the Sony flash turn on, the bright image that I'm seeing will be what I will be getting with flash firing?
It won't really be a problem if you have enough light to not use flash. I was talking about shooting macro with flash at small apertures.
The display on the rear LCD of your NEX-5R shows the same info as the EVF would. With settings effect turned on it is showing you a preview of what your image will look like so it will show a brighter image when the flash is turned on.
Which mean I'm still able to view the brighten up preview on my liveview when I'm using the Venus 60mm 2:1 on my nex-5r at near closed aperture of f18 when firing the Sony flash ?
With the Sony flash yes, but if you use a manual flash you have to turn settings effect off or you will get a dark preview.
If it works for you then yes, but in lower light at f/18 the live view image can get very noisy. Admittedly this was more of an issue for me doing product photography indoors than it was shooting bugs in daylight.
Maybe, but at f/16 and 1:1 magnification even moderate light will give you a noisy preview, especially if you use focus magnification.
You could do that, or if you have a lens with auto aperture you could turn off settings effect and get 6 stops more light through the lens.
I did quite a bit of research about which tripod to get (and if a cheap used one is available). My requirements were simple: sturdy, with legs that go flat on the ground, an articulating centre column, lightweight, and under $150 (ball head optional). I considered quite a few options but finally found the (now out of production) Benro A1980F tripod legs, for $138 in the gray market.
