Hi Mike,thanx for coming back on this with your very helpful explanation.It is highly appriciated! I do have those mentioned features but this camera body and its extended features are relatively new for me and, thus need more in-depth investigation on my end.Usually I expose in a way to preserve the highlight details (if wanted), as I can recover the dark areas very well in post.I haven't used non-reporting MF lenses in a long time...

You're welcone!Yes, MF lenses can leave you feeling lost, but it's especially difficult to precisely focus extremely short lenses, when the goal is to maximize the range of subject distances that will satisfy, at Near and Far, a post-enlargement resolution of your choice, as examined at an anticipated viewing distance.  Users who want to extract all that this ultrawide lens has to offer in terms of DoF are pretty much forced to be diligent in using a DoF calculator and, dare I say it, even a laser rangefinder (like the Bosch GLM20) for measuring Near distances from the sensor plane, then fastidiously positioning the lens' focus index at the DoF-calculated focus distance, in spite of the large voids between marked (but non-linear) distances on the lens barrel.  For a more point-and-shoot approach, if Infinity is included in the frame, I use the lens as if it's a fixed-focus (see my annotated lens barrel image, above, not as a variable-focus lens, but I keep my Nears well beyond what's actuall possible, shooting at f/7.1.  It's when I want to maximize DoF in a scene that with Fars that are well short of Infinity, that I have to use the rangefinder and the DoFMaster disk (and a tripod, of course).Note that at f/8m this lens can deliver my desired 0.01mm maximum CoC diameters (with no visible diffraction) at a Near of 109mm and a Far of 133mm, when the lens is focused at its closest setting (120mm).  Total DoF is only 24mm, but with the same, incredible FoV enjoyed at non-macro distances, and the entire frame is as "sharp" as can be appreciated on a 4K monitor or TV, for a viewing distance equal to 90% of the screen diagonal.  My next assignment (not attempted yet, is to try using the DoFMaster disk and a laser rangefinder (or tape measure) for some interesting ground cover I might find, ranging from 0.43m to 2.80m (lifted from the table, above.) 😁