[Leica] Using M (and R) glass on a Sony NEX-7 - my experience after a few thousand images

[abridge at mac.com (Adam Bridge)]

Steve asked about using M-mount lenses on the NEX-7 so I thought I'd discuss 
what I've learned from the trip to Alaska. I shot over 2,000 images with the 
NEX-7, almost all of them with Leica or CV glass. There's a good reason for 
this: the kit lens that comes with the camera is a very ordinary 18-55 zoom. 
There's also a 55-200mm zoom that is, as my kids would say, an "epic fail." 
Don't buy it. It's okay for video, maybe.

I learned on the trip that using M glass on the NEX-7 does work and does 
produce darn nice images. BUT . . . and this is a major issue . . . focusing 
becomes work.

The NEX-7 has (I believe) contrast auto-focus and focus confirmation (with 
non-autofocus lenses.) With an adaptor it can handle the upscale Sony phase 
detection autofocus from the alpha cameras. I gather that some of these 
lenses are quite good but I don't have any and the added adaptor won't then 
handle M lenses which, for me, is the whole point of the exercise.

I initially thought that I'd simply be able to snap on the Novaflex adaptor, 
add the lens, and use the focus confirmation built into the NEX-7. It does 
work - you get a colored outline around areas that the camera computes as 
being in focus. It's possible to change the outline color to white or yellow 
or red. I use red. But it's not very accurate.

But there's another workflow that works very well: It's possible to assign 
the focus-assist function built into the camera to one of the camera's many 
buttons. Pressing this will put a colored rectangle on the screen (or the 
electronic viewfinder). Pressing another, user-definable, button will then 
zoom in on the area of that rectangle to something over 1:1. If you press 
that same button again you are zoomed in a little more. Pressing the shutter 
button half-way then returns to the full view-finder mode. The focus 
confirmation works inside the zoomed view.

So the process works like this: press the focus assist button then the zoom 
button, focus, press the shutter button at least half-way and then all the 
way to capture the image.

When working on a tripod, with the 100mm APO mounted, this works splendidly. 
The focus rectangle can be moved around, then zoomed, focused, and shot, 
without moving the camera. For still-life it's great.

For hand-held work with a wide-open lens, this process is awkward. I've 
gotten reasonably adept at it, but there are still missed shots because of 
the time taken to get the focus right.

With the kit lens the camera is a great travel camera within the constraints 
of the lens. It does shoot really nice video. I'll have some examples of 
that for you once it's all edited.

The 1.5x effective focal-length multiplier makes a 50mm into a 75. A 28 or 
35 becomes a normal lens. I used the camera with the Leica 35mm summicron on 
it most of the time, shifted to the CV 35mm f1.2 in really low light, and 
used the 100 APO quite a bit as well.

But I also worked with two cameras around my neck - the other being the M8. 
I can look through my slides in Lightroom and instantly know which are the 
M8 images. It's really rather amazing.

But I can't mount a 280mm lens on the Leica. Or shoot video with it. So 
these two cameras will probably live in tandem for some time. I don't see an 
M9 or M10 in my future anytime soon: the house needs painting (M9) and there 
is some dental work (replacing implants) to be done (a couple of M9's or 
M10's).

Still, the NEX-7 produces very nice results once the learning curve is 
mounted. Now if they just give me a way to turn OFF the blankety-blank video 
button so I don't shoot 5 minutes of the camera hanging down I'll be happy.

Adam Bridge