Three things are crucial for the effective use of manual focus lenses:
1. Shoot without lens.
2. Auto gain (EVF and LCD).
3. Zoom assist.
1) Check. Via Imaging Resource:
"Release w/o Lens
- Enable
- Disable
Enables or disables image capture without a lens attached. This could be useful when attaching the camera to a completely manual lens, or via an adapter with no electrical connectivity."
2) Check. Via Imaging Resource:
"As we note elsewhere, the LCD on the NEX-5 is superb, with great contrast and an extremely high resolution of 921.6K dots. It's also generously sized, with a 3.0" diagonal, and can automatically account for ambient lighting to adjust its brightness. Add in its double-hinged tilt mechanism for shots overhead or low to the ground, and the NEX-5 becomes a joy for precise manual focusing, from most any angle."
3) Check. Via imaging resource:
"Of course, the Sony NEX-5 also offers manual focusing - either as the sole focusing method, or for fine-tuning focus once AF is complete. In the manual focus modes, an option called MF assist optionally causes the camera to magnify the preview image by either 7x or 14x, whenever the focus ring is adjusted. The zoom level is adjusted by pressing a soft key, and MF assist preview is centered around either the user-selected focus point in Flexible Spot or Center modes, and around the AF point selected by the camera in Multi AF. (If more than one AF point is considered to be in focus, then the camera selects one of these points around which to base the preview, although we're not exactly sure what the criteria for choosing the center point is.) Given that Alpha (A-mount) lenses offer only manual focusing through the mount adaptor, MF Assist will prove doubly useful for owners of Alpha digital SLRs who want to share their glass between bodies. Of course, while the fly-by-wire E-mount lenses can tell the camera when focus is being adjusted, this isn't possible with A-mount glass, so the MF Assist function must be manually triggered when needed."
M lenses, ahoy!! :thumbup::thumbup::clap: