Rangefinder Posted February 12, 2017 Share #1 Posted February 12, 2017 Advertisement (gone after registration) I've had my M-P for about a month and have been getting along with with pretty well. The EV-2 came in last week and I've been getting to know it a little better. Concerning focus peaking using that accessory, I'm having a bit of an issue. The manual, on pages 160 & 161, have been studied and I think the image I see via the EV-2 should look like the example in the book: Sorry the above image is so bad but I suspect you folks have seen it before. Anyway, when I can see the focus peaking highlights through the EV-2, it looks a bit like this: The red focus peaking seems to "shimmer" a bit with inanimate images. I've tried the other colors, too, with the same results. I cannot figure how to make it work at all when focusing on people. What am I getting wrong? Thank you, in advance, for your consideration and assistance. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted February 12, 2017 Posted February 12, 2017 Hi Rangefinder, Take a look here Help with Focus Peaking. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
david strachan Posted February 12, 2017 Share #2 Posted February 12, 2017 Mike the manual exaggerates the effect...considerably. How strong the effect is, depends a lot on your lens and the aperture. It is often very subtle like your Angel image. I leave it on red. You'll get used to it; it varies between camera manufacturers too...some are much brighter. all best... 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert M Poole Posted February 12, 2017 Share #3 Posted February 12, 2017 With the shallow dof in the angel picture probably only the red parts were in focus? www.robertpoolephotography.com Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rangefinder Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share #4 Posted February 12, 2017 David, thank you for the information. I just wanted to make sure I didn't have a setting that needed attention. Robert, yes, sir, the red parts were in focus on the 50mm, f2 photo. I also took the same photo using the viewfinder for focusing instead of the EV2. When I looked through the EV2, the red focus peaking lings weren't there. The picture was sharp. The camera's viewfinder must "see" the subject a bit differently. This camera is vastly different from what I've been using and it's fun learning it's quirks. I'm really impressed by the sharpness! Thank you, gentlemen. Mike 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted February 13, 2017 Share #5 Posted February 13, 2017 The focus peaking is simply showing you the areas of highest contrast, which in many cases will be around the edge of an object, but as in the case of the angel it is on the detail of the object. If you are using a wide aperture and therefore have a narrow DOF the areas of high contrast will be limited by the narrow DOF so you won't see a lot of red, but what you do see will be as accurate as you can get. If however you are using a small aperture and therefore have a deep DOF you will see a lot of red because more of the picture is in focus, but you won't know exactly where the area of critically focus is as it's lost in all the red. You can focus like this, and it is similar to hyper focal focusing, but when using hyper focal focusing you can at least bias the critical part of what is in focus using the scale on the lens, but with a deep DOF focus peaking becomes more of an educated guess. So for dead on accurate focusing open the aperture wide, focus on the important area until you see the red blobs or lines appear, then stop it down again to take the shot. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted February 13, 2017 Share #6 Posted February 13, 2017 You will often find that the focus peaking gets stronger as you stop down and the contrast of the lens increases. As David says above, it is also lens dependant. I use a number of vintage lenses on both my M240 and SL. Many of these older lenses have quite low contrast due both to less sophisticated design and materials plus some age related deterioration. Many of these lenses will not show any focus peaking until you stop down to f5.6 or even smaller. I have a Hartblei 80mm Tilt-Shift lens, which has optics from an elderly Pentacon/Kiev MF design. It shows no focus peaking at all at any aperture on the M240 and on the SL only when stopped down to f8. The most obvious focus peaking is when using a Zeiss 50mm/f2 ZM Planar, which on the SL, is bright enough to be thoroughly distracting. Wilson 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
david strachan Posted February 13, 2017 Share #7 Posted February 13, 2017 Advertisement (gone after registration) I use a lot of very , very low contrast lenses. Totally different to my modern Fuji (for example) lenses. And I suppose also very different to modern Leica lenses...which I don't have. The focus peaking signal can be miniscule, absolutely tiny...I have to look for the red signal...but I am used to it...and it serves me well enough. In some ways I'd rather have a small fine signal than every thing flashing at me. I've never found any focus peaking totally satisfactory. On wide angle lenses it can be misleading...if critical focus is so important... cheers.. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted February 13, 2017 Share #8 Posted February 13, 2017 The best focus peaking arrangement I ever had was on my Contax RX SLR. It had a small LCD panel at the bottom of the viewfinder, which showed two indications. As you focused the LCD lit from the centre towards each edge. Below the focus peaking was an aperture dependant display of depth of focus, so by moving the centre focus point around by gently re-framing, you could find how much of the entire image would be within the DOF. This device made focusing my 85mm f1.2 Anniversary Planar much easier, with its DOF wide open (around +/- 3cm at 4 metres) about half that of an 0.95 Noctilux. Wilson 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Michel Posted February 13, 2017 Share #9 Posted February 13, 2017 I use an EVF when using my 21 or my 135, or a Canon FD zoom lens (70-210); and occasionally with my 35 or 50. The red focus-assist can be somewhat helpful. I save my images as both dng and jpg (b&w), therefore the EVF display is in b&w and that makes the red focus-assist lines easier to see. Jean-Michel 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sblutter Posted February 13, 2017 Share #10 Posted February 13, 2017 You could focus wide open on the area you want to emphasize, then stop down if that's what the shot calls for 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rangefinder Posted February 15, 2017 Author Share #11 Posted February 15, 2017 Thanks to all for your replies. I've been shooting everything with a 50mm Summicron at f2. I admit I've been lazy in the past with auto-focus Nikons and I'm trying to get used to manual focusing, again. I'll definitely try the recommendations. Thank you all for your assistance Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke_Miller Posted February 15, 2017 Share #12 Posted February 15, 2017 You could focus wide open on the area you want to emphasize, then stop down if that's what the shot calls for Some of my Leica lenses exhibit a bit of focus shift as they are stopped down. So with the EVF I would focus at the shooting aperture for best results. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Echo63 Posted February 15, 2017 Share #13 Posted February 15, 2017 I have an idea, but i haven't tried it yet. If you set the camera to shoot RAW with a B+W picture style, is the live view B+W ? If so - the peaking should really leap off the screen and be easy to see. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Michel Posted February 15, 2017 Share #14 Posted February 15, 2017 I have an idea, but i haven't tried it yet. If you set the camera to shoot RAW with a B+W picture style, is the live view B+W ? If so - the peaking should really leap off the screen and be easy to see. Yes, in that case both the screen and EVF are in b&w. The display is always a jpg display regardless of wether you save only dng, jpg, or both. Same is true for all cameras, not just Leica. Jean-Michel 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surelythisnameisfree Posted February 15, 2017 Share #15 Posted February 15, 2017 That's the way I've always done it. On the Fuji xpro 2 it works even better as you can have the ovf with a small focusing evf in the corner - you set it to b+w and you don't even need to look at the evf because as soon as soon as you register red in the corner of your eye you know it's in focus. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Echo63 Posted February 21, 2017 Share #16 Posted February 21, 2017 I have an idea, but i haven't tried it yet. If you set the camera to shoot RAW with a B+W picture style, is the live view B+W ? If so - the peaking should really leap off the screen and be easy to see. I tried this on my M240 yesterday and it worked perfectly The RAW captured still has colour data, but the screen displays a B+W live view, the only colour you see is the peaking Going to have to use it in anger next time i have the macro rig out Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bocaburger Posted February 21, 2017 Share #17 Posted February 21, 2017 Not a fan of focus peaking. I find I can focus more accurately with the EVF doing it old-school like a GG. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rangefinder Posted February 22, 2017 Author Share #18 Posted February 22, 2017 (edited) I have an idea, but i haven't tried it yet. If you set the camera to shoot RAW with a B+W picture style, is the live view B+W ? If so - the peaking should really leap off the screen and be easy to see. Your idea worked for me. I've been using the B&W mode during my Leica-learned process. I'm really having fun with this thing! Next week, I'll drop the M-P in my motorcycle's well-padded top box and ride across the southern United States to practice my continuing photographic education. Lookin' forward to it! Mike Edited February 22, 2017 by Rangefinder 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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