Why is this particular forum so empty??

[Thwyllo]

I'm just genuinely curious; one of the significant reasons I invested in a Sony full frame camera when I already have a large collection of other makes was the ease with which it handles legacy glass. There seem to be far more adaptors around for the Sony e-mount and if the absolute plethora of media output from magazines to YouTube is anything to go by, everyone and their mother is experimenting with this stuff. Is it just that people on this site don't do this stuff or just don't bother to report their activities, and is anyone interested??

Asking for a friend...😂

[XKAES]

Whatever digital camera brand is being used, only a small percentage of users will want to adapt "legacy lenses".  Not only because of lack of features -- like auto-focusing, lack of auto-exposure modes, lack of "fill-in the blank" -- but they need a reason not to use the newer lens or lenses that they already have.

There are plenty of legacy users, like myself, and that's why there are so many adapters, but the vast majority of FORUM discussion will be about newer lenses.

Maybe there is a LEGACY FORUM out there, pertaining to using old lenses on ANY digital camera.  There should be.

 

Apparently there is:

 

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/1065?utm_campaign=internal-link&utm_source=mainmenu&utm_medium=text&ref=mainmenu

Edited March 14 by XKAES

[Thwyllo]

Yes I visit that forum quite frequently.. But as I said in my post, Sony E-mount probably has the largest media presence of any brand in terms of adapting legacy glass... You only have to look at the huge number of videos on the subject on YouTube for example. And there are two enormous incentives as far as I'm concerned; the first one is price, with outstanding legacy class available at 10% to 20% of the cost of a new digital lens, often even less, so you can use a wide range of prime lenses for a fraction of the cost of buying new ones.

The other issue of course is one of complexity as far as new lenses are concerned. I probably have half a dozen newer lenses in my collection that were once horribly expensive but that I bought for peanuts because the autofocus had failed or they had some other fault but were still useable in manual mode.

But that's beside the point really... The point I'm making is simply that I find it strange that a site that claims to be the biggest Sony alpha forum out there, a marque that probably has the largest community of legacy glass users, and this particular subforum is a ghost town?!

[Pieter]

15 hours ago, Thwyllo said:

a site that claims to be the biggest Sony alpha forum out there

Where exactly is that claim?

[XKAES]

This FORUM has THREE categories covering this subject, and I wouldn't call all the threads and posts a "ghost town", but if you do,  that's cool.

It does remind me of another photographic niche that I dabble in -- macro & micro photography.  Unlike Minolta, Sony doesn't really seem as interested in this area as Minolta was, but that's OK,  (For example, Minolta made LOTS of bellows -- Sony????)_ 

I simply adapt my legacy Minolta macro & micro gear, bellows included, to my Sony cameras.  It's not that important to me that there's not that much discussion about it here -- or anywhere else.  But should I have a question or problem, I know I can ask it here (or other places) and most likely get responses.

There's not much discussion about pin-hole photography or other home-made "lenses", either, but I don't find that "strange".  It's exactly what I'd expect.

Edited March 15 by XKAES

[Thwyllo]

Well compared to some other forums I frequent, and again bearing in mind the high amount of interest in using legacy glass on Sony on places like YouTube, I just find the lack of activity disappointing and slightly odd... I mean check the screenshot... two posts this year and they are both me, and only four posts in 2023. Another forums people are posting pictures of the lenses they're using, doing reviews etc.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[Thwyllo]

On 3/15/2024 at 2:01 PM, Pieter said:

Where exactly is that claim?

Why? Did you think I made it up?

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[Pieter]

Never seen that statement in my browser. Guess it's wishful thinking by the forum initiators. There are some pretty active photography fora out there, but not so many dedicated to purely adapted legacy stuff on Sony cameras. DPReview has quite an informative forum, and so does FredMiranda. I don't quite get it why this forum isn't so active as it's 'parent site' www.sonyalpharumors.com does have a lot of traffic. But there are some dedicated and knowledgeable gearheads out here still.

[XKAES]

2 hours ago, Pieter said:

I don't quite get it why this forum isn't so active as it's 'parent site' www.sonyalpharumors.com does have a lot of traffic.

That part surprises me too, given the horrible format that it uses.

Another thing to consider is that most FORUMs are not brand specific, so there will be more legacy discussion on Forums that don't care what camera brand you use.  A good comparison to THIS FORUM is the YASHICA BOARD.  It only deals with YASHICA gear, so it's not as busy as others, but it has the BEST, most knowledgeable Yashica folk.  I could go on............

Perhaps the managers of this board should change the description to "Sony Alpha SPECIFIC".

[felipe]

Hola, yo igualmente me lo pregunto, sobre todo en poner fotos, caso concreto paisajes 😟

Saludos

Felipe 🙂

[Phormula]

The number of legacy lens has increased exponentially in the last years, as two of the main players (Canon and Nikon) entered the mirrorless market with a new mount and lens system. As many professionals got rid of their reflex system to embrace the new mirrorless one, the availability of good quality lenses on the used market has increased and the price of prosumer and consumer used ones has gone down, at least for what I can see. No surprise that somebody is trying to exploit the possibility to use legacy lenses.