Newbie with Adaptive Lenses

You can also use shutter priority mode, that will work just like manual mode with a regular lens, except you set the aperture on the lens and the shutter speed on the camera.

If you turn on auto ISO the camera will then adjust the ISO, it you don't you'll most likely get an over- or underexposed image.

 

Well...

1. I set the metering to center weighted (that's just my preference).
2. Like Nick says, make sure release without lens attached is set to on.
3. I shoot aperture priority and set exposure compensation to suit the camera. For instance my Fuji tended to over expose.
   
4. Live view will show you an accurate view in the LCD so it'll be easier to nail focus at wider apertures (although not too bad when stopped down)
   Focus peaking relies on areas of contrast so focus peaking doesn't necessarily tell you what is in focus. You should always use focus assist to (magnify) to double check.
5. Focus peaking is great but there is a bit of a learning curve to get used to what you are seeing and what that means as far as focus.
6. Focus peaking has three colors and three strengths settings. Which color you choose is matter of preference, I like red as I find it easier to see. I know a number of folks prefer yellow. The strengths settings are low. medium and high. Low is more accurate but harder to see where high is more visible less accurate. I like medium.
7. Focus peaking is much more visible through the LCD than the EVF.
8. One way to maximize visibility is to shoot RAW and set the creative style to BW. That gives you a BW EVF image but the RAW files are still in color. I find BW in the EVF to super easy to see and works particularly well in low light.
   
9. You can also pump up the contrast and brightness of the creative style and it'll reflect in the EVF
   
10. On an a6000 I would set the fn button next to the shutter as focus assist.
11. Some lenses focus peak better than others. I have a pretty large collection of Minolta MC/MD lenses and how well they focus peak varies. In my experience higher contrast means better peaking.
    
12. Don't shy away from MD zooms. I have three of them and they are absolutely terrific to shoot with.

Here is my Flickr feed. I have been shooting almost exclusively with adapted lenses for the past few years.

 

for street photography with manual lenses, you will have to zone focus and choose an apeture that will give you enough depth of field to give you the sharpness. I would suggest find a 24mm lens (36mm equivelant) and set the f stop around ƒ5.6 to ƒ11 and let the camera choose the shutter speed.

 

BTW, welcome aboard

 

A little word of caution...once you start with MF lenses, you might never go back.

 

It's a bit unfortunate, because when you shoot in A mode with legacy lenses the main dial doesn't do anything.

It would be great if while shooting legacy lenses the main dial could be reassigned to be exposure compensation. The rear dial could then be ISO.

Or maybe that is possible somehow?

 

It makes a swell little clicky noise on my NEX 6

 

Turns out that while you can't assign the dials to be whatever you like, you can actually swap the functions of the main dial and rear dial.

So if you are using legacy lenses a lot it might be a smart way to go. Make the main dial exposure compensation instead of apeture in A mode, it's easier to get to quickly. Combine that with zebras and it's easy to quickly dial in the best possible exposure.

 

Sorry, late to the party on this one. New on the block.

I'm from Toronto as well, and like you, looking for a wide angle MF lens.
I have GAS, picking up FD glass, but luckily already have a nice crop of MD glass.

How did you do on finding a wide angle lens?