SOUNDIMAGEPLUS: Sony a6000 plus manual focus adapted lenses (and Fuji flashgun)

Sony a6000 - Voigtlander Color-Skopar 20mm f/3.5 ASPH SL-II - Nikon Series E 100mm f/2.8 - Metabones Nikon > e-mount adapter and yes that it is my Fuji flashgun (see below)

It wouldn't be a review of a mirrorless camera as far as I'm concerned unless I tried some adapted manual focus lenses on it. In this case my Nikon fit Voigtlander Color-Skopar 20mm f/3.5 ASPH SL-II and Nikon Series E 100mm f/2.8. And for those of us who like 'fiddling around' with these, there is that rather nice experience of picking up a polycarbonate CSC with an old school metal lens attached. Suddenly it's a different camera. Nicely heavier and much more solid feeling. There are those who have never enjoyed the experience of 'retro fitting' their plastic mirrorless marvels apparently, but then that's their loss.

And yes, the Fuji flashgun does work, as it also works on my Panasonic GX7, because it has manual control. Does a nice fill-in as well.

First thing I have to say about this combination with the Voigtlander 20mm is that the results are great. Probably the sharpest results I've achieved so far with the a6000. You may be surprised at that since I've used the Sony Zeiss 35mm and 55mm on the camera and it surprised me too. My only guess as to why this might be is that there is no lens profiling / correcting going on. But for whatever reason the results were superb. Likewise with my Nikon Series E 100mm f/2.8, which fungus and all yielded superb results.

I used one of these Voigtlanders on the NEX-7's I had and the combination worked very well on that camera, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the results are so good with the a6000. The 20mm is also excellent on my A7 and A7r, so much so that I sold the Sigma 20mm f/1.8 a-mount lens I had as the Voigtlander was better. I know I write this every time I mention this lens but I'm always surprised that these aren't more popular. All that fiddling around with m-mount lenses when you could use one of these. There's no vignetting or corner colour casts, the construction is as good as an m-mount lens and the optics are seriously good as well. The rest of the range, for Nikon or Canon (D)SLR's is pretty special too. Plus if you click this link you'll get to see the lovely Voigtlander description including - 'You must not have a cornucopia of automation to make nice pictures' How true!!

And after yesterdays excursion with these two Nikon fit lenses I have to say that I'm seriously warming to the a6000. It is in fact proving itself to be a very enjoyable camera to use. The resulting files are also very good as well, proving again that once you get past the ordinary kit lenses that Sony bundle with these camera you can achieve some pretty special results. As you can see from the pictures above, my second excursion yesterday (and yes I'm pretty tired today) involved a lot of uphill, so I really wanted a light camera. And while the lenses I used are a bit weightier than the Sony AF lenses I have they are still a good deal easier to haul up a hill than a DSLR + zooms. So all in all, a success.

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Another reminder that I've started a new group on Google+. This is for all photographers who use Mirrorless and/or Compact System Cameras. As ever, I have no problems about what you post. Links to your own stuff is fine. So if you have anything you'd like to share from Leica's to Lumix, then please feel free to post.

N.B. to see more on the cameras and lenses featured in this post click on the relevant labels (tags and keywords) at the bottom of this post.

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Monday, 2 June 2014

Sony a6000 plus manual focus adapted lenses (and Fuji flashgun)