{"id":59852,"date":"2024-08-21T06:35:21","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T05:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/?p=59852"},"modified":"2026-03-23T14:28:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T13:28:46","slug":"the-best-fullframe-mirrorless-camera-for-adapting-manual-focus-lenses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/the-best-fullframe-mirrorless-camera-for-adapting-manual-focus-lenses\/","title":{"rendered":"The best fullframe mirrorless camera for adapting manual focus lenses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/h2>\n
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Laowa 35mm 0.95 via Neewer ETZ on Nikon Zf<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With the release of Sony’s first A7 series camera we saw a renaissance of many legacy lenses from “dead” mounts like Canon FD, Olympus OM, Minolta SR and several more. Because of flange focal distance issues these lenses often couldn’t be attached to modern DSLRs. And even if it was possible, it was a pain to use them on DSLRs, thanks to their matte screens being unsuitable for manual focus lenses.<\/p>\n

Let’s have a look at the history of focusing aids in fullframe mirrorless cameras and who does it best.<\/p>\n

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History Lesson<\/h2>\n

In late 2013 the Sony A7 and A7r hit the market, and not only was it possible to use all kinds of old manual focus lenses on a modern digital fullframe camera, it was even possible to manufacture adapters for autofocus lenses, making the E-mount system an extremely versatile camera system unheard of before.<\/p>\n

From its early days Sony cameras offered focus peaking and focus magnify to help with manually focusing, but sadly, over the course of 10 years, nothing has happened to improve the situation.<\/p>\n

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Sony A7s with Leica 90mm 2.0 Summicron M (pre Asph) and VM-E close focus adapter (Helicoid)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2018 Canon released their first fullframe mirrorless camera, the Canon R, and Nikon released their Z6 and Z7 pair, mimicing what Sony did with the A7 and A7r half a decade(!) before. I don’t know much about the Canon cameras (I do know their video cameras have great manual focusing aids though…), but the Nikon cameras didn’t really bring anything new to the table in terms of manual focusing aids, that is until the release of the Nikon Zf in late 2023.<\/p>\n

But let’s first talk about the typical focusing aids we are used to since the release of the A7 series cameras in 2013, before having a look at the groundbreaking improvements we saw with the release of the Nikon Zf.<\/p>\n

Focus Peaking<\/h2>\n
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