Question: Can you zoom by twisting ring vs power zoom with camera in Auto?

[Denniscasey]

Recently acquired Sony a6000 and now reading manuals, "how to", and watching tutorials while experimenting with camera. I have the kit 16-50mm lens and the power zoom slide control switch is awkward for me so I wanted to use the ring on lens to control zoom. However, I do not want to damage any gears or whatever used with power zoom control. I called Sony tech help and 1st tier helper said I could only do this by putting camera in full manual. In some fast moving situations I want to leave some auto functions enabled (such as exposure, white balance, etc) so that would preclude setting camera to manual mode. What I am looking for is something like a manual focus mode (where I can focus manually but camera does auto exposure, etc) except apply it to zoom so I can use the ring on lens to zoom lens. Is that possible--just wanted to check with forum members for definitive answer? Dennis

 

[JuanDiaz]

As far as I can see, the default in ANY shooting mode, while in AF is that the lens ring is used for zoom.

On my camera, the lens ring only switches to adjusting focus when I select MF....

Your results are different???

 

[Denniscasey]

As far as I can see, the default in ANY shooting mode, while in AF is that the lens ring is used for zoom.

On my camera, the lens ring only switches to adjusting focus when I select MF....

Your results are different???

Thank you for input. I am doing a lot of poking around in menus and settings and also skimming through downloaded Help Guide. Regarding combination of "auto focus" and final fine tuning with manual focus, in Help Guide I came across DMF setting and it says:

[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]You can make fine adjustments manually after the focus is locked.
You can quickly focus on a subject rather than using the manual focus from the beginning. This is convenient in cases such as macro shooting.[/FONT]

1. [FONT=&quot]MENU → [/FONT][FONT=&quot]
   
   [/FONT][FONT=&quot](Camera Settings) → [AF-A setup] → [DMF]. [/FONT]
   
2. [FONT=&quot]Set the focus mode dial to A. Press the shutter button halfway down to focus automatically.[/FONT]
3. [FONT=&quot]Keep the shutter button halfway down, rotate the focusing ring to achieve a sharper focus[/FONT][FONT=&quot]. [/FONT]

I actually have not tried it yet but it seems like it would work for quick auto focus then fine tune manual focus. Regarding my original question, I guess manual zoom is not possible if you have camera in anything other than manual modes??

 

[JuanDiaz]

What I was trying to say is that on my a6000, using the kit 16-50mm lens, the lens ring acts as a zoom ring in every shooting mode (green "i", gold "i+", PASM, movie, SCN), and every focus setting EXCEPT Direct Manual Focus (DMF). I believe this is the normal, expected behavior, because I don't see any menu to modify it.

DMF works as you describe above - shutter button causes AF, lens ring allows tweaking focus (instead of zooming).

You should remember that the 16-50 kit lens is a "one of a kind exception" in e-mount lenses. Every other e-mount lens has dedicated focus and zoom rings. Even the other two currently shipping power zoom lenses (SELP18200, and SELP18105G) have dedicated zoom and focus rings, as well as zoom buttons.

So every other lens you could choose has rings dedicated to both functions. With other lenses, in DMF mode you have access to zoom and focus simultaneously.

The kit lens is designed to be small. That is it's one and only feature, it's only saving grace. In every other aspect, it is at best sufficient, and at worst, not very good. I consider it usable for street photography, friends & family events. Any other purpose, I have Zeiss 16-70 f4, Sony 10-18 f4, or SEL 18-200 (original silver model) mounted.

The kit lens has one other surprise for the unwary... it is a "software lens". Without the camera body providing in camera correction, it has unusable levels of distortion and vignetting (plus chromatic aberration). To see what it really looks like, you have to mount it on a FS700, or an old NEX 5 / 3 (original) with no built in correction. The SEPL18105G is also a software lens. A lot of us here on the forum are very upset at Sony for not making it a normal lens, because if it was, it would be perfect for the FS700. As it is, unusable.

Software lenses are not necessarily bad... it's just that Sony doesn't tell you this important detail, and I think everyone has a right to know whether a lens is normal, or only usable via software correction... before buying it.

 

[Denniscasey]

Got it and thank you again. I don't know how anyone would know about "software lens" unless you had alerted me since as you note Sony does not explain this and the implictions (beware the unwary). Will take some time before I get all the combinations straight (if ever) for what works with what combinations of settings. The a6000 does seem to be a great camera for what it is (small, light, relatively inexpensive, good still camera, etc) but for the beginner or intermediate user I think its capabilities are ofter masked by poor Sony documentation and in my experience untrained tech support personnel at least until you reach second and third tier levels which are virtually impossible to contact. Still at the $800 price point I guess one can not expect much in the way of support and at least Sony tries to give some support. Hopefully if I move up to A7 and beyond level I would have access to experienced Sony tech support personnel.