Month: March 2012

The SLR Magic 35mm/F1.7 is a manual lens and is available with an E-Mount, that fits on the Sony NEX camera series.
To be able to use it, you have to make sure you tweak some settings in your camera:

1. Make sure you enable the shooting without a lens: Menu → Setup → Release w/o lens → Enable
2. Before you continue make sure you have Firmware ≥ Ver. 04 installed! Check this using Menu → Setup → Version. When you have an older version installed download the latest version from the Sony support site here.
   
3. Enable the MF Assist function using Menu → Setup → MF Assist → 2 Sec
   You can choose between No Limit — 2 Sec — 5 Sec.
   
4. Enable the Peaking Level using Menu → Setup → Peaking Level → Mid
   You can choose between Low — Mid — High.
5. Choose your Peaking Color using Menu → Setup → Peaking Color → Red
   You can choose between Yellow — Red — White.

Switch your camera to A- Mode (aperture priority) and use the MF Assist button to get a perfectly sharp picture even when shooting the lens wide open with f/1.7!

You find some example shots in this post.

See a very detailed review of the lens here.