Rate these Camera adapters for Olympus CX41

[Dreamspy]

So I just found these on Ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Olympus-OM-Mou ... :rk:2:pf:0

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Olympus-U-SPT- ... :rk:1:pf:0

This is the Photomicro L adapter, the U-SPT adapter and PE 2.5X 125 eyepiece. I'll then just buy OM adapters for my cameras.

Should that cover what I need?

Yes, that does it for a full-frame Sony Alpha like yours.

...however, one can always improve. As you will notice, this setup mounts the camera at the top of a remarkably long photo tube + adapter, so getting to view the LCD screen of the camera will require you to crane up your neck (especially with a tilt-only LCD screen). I don't remember whether your A7 II supports live view on an external HD monitor. If it does, then a not-too-large computer monitor mounted at a proper height and distance will be a significant improvement.

I use an HP V214A, which is a 20.7" ordinary computer monitor with HD input connector, so a simple cable connects it to my Sony A7R II. These days it can be found quite cheap. It beats the small camera LCD screen and its limited amount of tilt hands down.

Add a cheap third-party IR remote control to get access to most of the camera functions (including the shutter button) from your tabletop.

It is indeed a long tube, but it seems to me that my other options, like the LM Adapter from Micro Tech Lab, the one that I was planning to buy, is just as long:

https://www.lmscope.com/en/lmscope_out2 ... al+Adapter

But the screen solution sounds great!

I'm curious about the remote option, are you referring to this remote here?

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... ander.html

[Dreamspy]

The A7II should support live view with capture one pro.
I think there is a pro sony version at a reduced price. The for-sony free version does not support live view AFAIK.

https://www.phaseone.com/capture-one/su ... spx?c=sony

Please share your experiences. This might be a way I would like to take in the future.

Peter

I think qdslrdashboard (with a hacked TPlink MR3020) supports live view on Sony as well, on PC, MAC and Android ( the iOS version has been out of order for quite some time ). It's not perfect but it works. Great to have live view on a cheap tablet or on your phone next to you when shooting.

Also CamRanger is adding support to Sony in the coming months, that would be an excellent solution, and possibly better than qdslrdashboard.

But I guess that the screen method is maybe the best, if the latency is not a problem (there is a bit of latency when using qdslrdashboard).

[enricosavazzi]

I'm curious about the remote option, are you referring to this remote here?

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... ander.html

The one you linked to is the original Sony remote, which I assume works well but I never tried.

Mine is a very cheap no-name one made in China, bought from eBay. You can usually find it on eBay by searching for "JJC RMT-DSLR2". There are also other types that I have not tried.

Almost a year ago I wrote a review of the A7RII for my web site, that I never managed to finish. Following is an excerpt that may help, with a few points marked as positive (+) and negative (-) :

- USB remote control. Although cheap third-party USB remotes are available (some of them even include a timer and interval shooter at little extra cost), they tie up the only USB port, which is also used to recharge the battery while in the camera, and to transfer images to a computer.

+ IR remote control. Cheap third-party IR remotes from China work well and provide access to many functions and to the menu (typical IR remotes have 19-20 buttons, not just the shutter release). However, the IR remotes that I am aware of have no custom buttons, no Fn button, no dials, and no shutter release half-press (which starts AF), which I regard as important omissions. With the camera attached to a vertical copy stand and pointed downward, the rear LCD screen and all controls are upside down. Using an IR remote and an external HD monitor solves the problem, at least for the functions available on the remote. The IR remote also avoid touching the camera when working at high magnification. For this use, I don't need to be far from the camera. For other uses, the operating range of the IR remote may be a concern, especially in sunlight.

+ External HD monitor can be used for focusing and framing, not just playback. However, the external monitor does not display focus peaking, and the rear LCD screen is off when using an HD monitor.

- The Sony Remote Camera Control for Windows and OS X is fairly basic, and cannot access the Menu, Fn and custom buttons, which I need all the time. It only gives access to a subset of settings chosen by Sony. Use the free Sony Imaging Edge (first released in 2017) for slightly better control. It cannot access the Menu, Fn and custom buttons either, but you can still use the camera controls and LCD screen (or external HD monitor) to access the menu, while the computer monitor displays the live view. A couple of commercial applications supposedly allow remote control of this camera, but I don't know to what extent. The free Darktable 2.4.0 application does not recognize this camera on my Windows 64-bit computer, in spite of being mentioned by some third-party sources as compatible.

Don't forget that the remote must be enabled in the camera menu. By default it is disabled.