SL2 Questions

[Dr. G]

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On 11/16/2019 at 1:24 PM, scott kirkpatrick said:

AF opinions vary a lot, but the  center of what you will read is:

PDAF (Phase detect) is the best for continuous autofocus, because it uses special sensors on the chip (which replace image pixels) to predict the degree by which an object is out of focus and the direction in which to move he lens.  The cost is that those missing pixels sometimes are visible as bands or artifacts.

CDAF (contrast detect) just adjusts to get the sharpest focus, but may start out in the wrong direction and have to correct.  This fear is overblown, since there are software tricks for keeping track of what is in focus, and making tracking corrections outside of the time that the shutter is half-pressed.  So some impressive things (not everyone agrees) can be done with CDAF in firmware, and usually are.

The best place for an M lens is on an M camera.  The second best is on an SL or CL.  There is no third best.

The one downfall of the PDAF system (and I’m only going by the Sony implementation) is that it has a great deal of difficulty locking focus when there is horizontal contrast on a static subject when the camera is held in landscape orientation.  Vertical contrasting areas lock on very quickly.  There are trade offs in each system.  

Eye AF on the Sony is a joy to use in Continuous Focus.  The fact that the EVF shows which eye is locked onto is something I will miss.  

[Chaemono]

Ever since I mounted the 24-90SL, the white ‘shaking hand’ symbol that indicates stabilization is ON changed to white ‘shaking camera’ symbol and doesn’t change back to white ‘shaking hand’ when I mount an SL Summicron.  The SL2 now always shows a white ‘shaking camera’ symbol with stabilization turned ON.  Has anyone else noticed this?

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[sillbeers15]

1 hour ago, Chaemono said:

Ever since I mounted the 24-90SL, the white ‘shaking hand’ symbol that indicates stabilization is ON changed to white ‘shaking camera’ symbol and doesn’t change back to white ‘shaking hand’ when I mount an SL Summicron.  The SL2 now always shows a white ‘shaking camera’ symbol with stabilization turned ON.  Has anyone else noticed this?

I only noticed the ‘camera shake’ symbol when I mount the 90-280mm and in menu/image stabilisation: On

[snooper]

Greetings,

Did anyone manage to use MF and focus peaking on the SL2 ? I use a Cron SL 35, the settings are apparently correct (sensitivity, etc...) but no luck so far... Thanks !

[sillbeers15]

I had the first hand experience of image wobbling and as a result image appeared to be ‘soft’ or ‘out of focus look’.

The phenomenon takes place when the AFC & Tracking options were selected. Upon half pressing the shutter release button, the ‘wobbling image takes place within the AFC green box. The rest of the EVF image appears fine. Like said it does not affect the pics AF accuracy.

[Jeff S]

25 minutes ago, sillbeers15 said:

I had the first hand experience of image wobbling and as a result image appeared to be ‘soft’ or ‘out of focus look’.

The phenomenon takes place when the AFC & Tracking options were selected. Upon half pressing the shutter release button, the ‘wobbling image takes place within the AFC green box. The rest of the EVF image appears fine. Like said it does not affect the pics AF accuracy.

Some are reporting a less than crisp EVF experience (viewing and focusing) even in single AF or MF mode.  I’m wondering if reported issues are due to some combination of various settings, to sample variation or just to the usually expected different user reactions with viewing systems (resulting from differences in eyesight, tastes, sensitivities and tolerances, etc).  A couple of folks have also found the diopter settings to be ‘off’ in some unexpected way.

I’m hoping to finally demo the camera tomorrow, so any suggestions regarding setting optimization, or ones to avoid, might be useful to make the demo more productive.  I don’t much care about fast AF tracking; rather more deliberate shooting with static or slower moving subjects, MF or AF.

Jeff

[digitalfx]

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I just tested my Noctilux-M with the L-M adapter in full manual settings...impossible for me to obtain critical focus without the zoom aid.

With the SL I typically avoided the zoom aid as by the time I zoomed back out my physical movement handheld pushed me back out of critical focus- so I used the LCD straight up for most cases and experienced exceptional results. The EVF was bright and crisp, making it easy to lock focus quickly.  With the SL2 on the other hand,  I can't judge critical focus at all without the EVF zoomed in.

[Jeff S]

3 minutes ago, digitalfx said:

I just tested my Noctilux-M with the L-M adapter in full manual settings...impossible for me to obtain critical focus without the zoom aid.

With the SL I typically avoided the zoom aid as by the time I zoomed back out my physical movement handheld pushed me back out of critical focus- so I used the LCD straight up for most cases and experienced exceptional results. The EVF was bright and crisp, making it easy to lock focus quickly.  With the SL2 on the other hand,  I can't judge critical focus at all without the EVF zoomed in.

Yes, your disappointing experience was part of the basis for my comments. I’d like to hear if others have similar or different reactions.

Jeff

 

[LocalHero1953]

16 minutes ago, digitalfx said:

I just tested my Noctilux-M with the L-M adapter in full manual settings...impossible for me to obtain critical focus without the zoom aid.

With the SL I typically avoided the zoom aid as by the time I zoomed back out my physical movement handheld pushed me back out of critical focus- so I used the LCD straight up for most cases and experienced exceptional results. The EVF was bright and crisp, making it easy to lock focus quickly.  With the SL2 on the other hand,  I can't judge critical focus at all without the EVF zoomed in.

A useful feature of the Sigma fp is that when you activate image magnification, it deactivates the moment you press or half press the shutter, thus minimising the risk of swaying out of focus as you deactivate magnification manually.

Edited November 23, 2019 by LocalHero1953

[digitalfx]

1 hour ago, Jeff S said:

Yes, your disappointing experience was part of the basis for my comments. I’d like to hear if others have similar or different reactions.

Jeff

 

Im beginning to wonder if my camera has an issue, the diopter is off too.

[Jeff S]

1 minute ago, digitalfx said:

Im beginning to wonder if my camera has an issue, the diopter is off too.

No offense, but I hope it’s isolated, although at least one other person has reported an EVF issue or an unusual diopter experience.

Jeff

 

[digitalfx]

1 minute ago, Jeff S said:

No offense, but I hope it’s isolated, although at least one other person has reported an EVF issue or an unusual diopter experience.

Jeff

 

Well I do too...if it is its easily corrected

[Donzo98]

7 minutes ago, Jeff S said:

No offense, but I hope it’s isolated, although at least one other person has reported an EVF issue or an unusual diopter experience.

Jeff

 

It’s not isolated... some people may be more tolerant of it than others.

Two people with the camera have tested with MF... and report the same thing.
 

I don’t think it’s fixable... the S1R MF is also like this compared to its lower resolution companion... the S1. 

 

[Jeff S]

I’m typically not an early adopter, preferring to let others be beta testers,  but I figured with a second generation model, especially with relative lack of any serious SL problems, the risk of buying early was low. I’ll demo tomorrow and decide if there’s a significant issue for me.  If so, guess I’ll make another stop to check out the X1Dii, which had moved to secondary consideration.

Jeff

[snooper]

Well.. As far as my (SL2) camera is concerned, there is clearly an issue with both AF and MF.

AF is soft, whatever mode is selected (i, S, C...) and there is no way to get focus peaking (while properly configured) in MF. I've been reading the doc 3 times, all settings are good, but can't have it working properly.

But I confess I've never used AF before, I come from M cameras since 1981 and the Q2 I have is also used all of the time in MF.

And in the menu as shown on the attached pic, the "MF Setup" is not accessible...

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Edited November 23, 2019 by snooper

[bsmith]

On 11/22/2019 at 11:37 AM, helged said:

Without access to the SL2 manual, for the time being:

In AFs and AFc - is it possible to remove auto focus from the shutter button (using the joystick for focussing)?

Sadly no!!!!! So irritating   There is no point to use afs because of this  it’s nonsense  hopefully a firmware will change it so the front shutter button is deactivated when rear focusing on the joystick is active  

 

[bsmith]

Also, locking the joystick,  negates the use of rear focusing with the joystick. Again, ridiculous and hopefully fixed with firmware one day!

[Jeff S]

22 minutes ago, bsmith said:

Sadly no!!!!! So irritating   There is no point to use afs because of this  it’s nonsense  hopefully a firmware will change it so the front shutter button is deactivated when rear focusing on the joystick is active  

 

But I take it that one can choose manual focus setting and then assign joystick for auto focus?  If so, would that not accomplish much the same as single AF with back button? What am I missing?

Jeff

[helged]

28 minutes ago, Jeff S said:

But I take it that one can choose manual focus setting and then assign joystick for auto focus?  If so, would that not accomplish much the same as single AF with back button? What am I missing?

Jeff

First & second question: Correct.

But why not decouple focus from the shutter button entierly? Why not let the thumb determine when to focus? (I do this all the time on my DSLRs). 

And definitely, problem occurs with AFc, that can only be activated by the shutter button. Strange.... 

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[bsmith]

46 minutes ago, Jeff S said:

But I take it that one can choose manual focus setting and then assign joystick for auto focus?  If so, would that not accomplish much the same as single AF with back button? What am I missing?

Jeff

It doesn't accomplish it because your rear  joystick focus is negated as soon as you push the shutter button.  As "helged" said, "Why not let the thumb determine when to focus? (I do this all the time on my DSLRs)." ???  The Q2 has the same issue, why allow rear button AF if the front shutter is not disconnected from AF??  The Q1 rear AF button was properly implemented.(when  rear af  button was selected, the shutter button did not activate AF)  I thought it was a "bug" when the Q2 was not the same. But 9 months later, it has never been fixed. Pro photographers are trying to migrate to mirrorless, but the cameras need to work quickly and fluidly for us to switch. Simple functions like rear button auto focus is only welcome if it works like the proven way we've used it for the past 20 years. Seems so simple !!