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Focus Peaking


masjah

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Well, I've been experimenting a bit more. I've used my 90 Apo Asph lens, and I shouldn't think that contrast gets any better than that. What I've found is that, at least on my camera, you need a reasonable light level, and you need a reasonably good contrast on the boundary to trigger it. For example, looking at a bungalow opposite my house, the edge of a white plastic drainpipe against a cream pebbledash wall won't have a red edge, but the inner edge of a white uPVC window frame against the darkish interior of the room will. In low light, indoors, a dark picture frame against a cream wall won't do it (or at least I can't see it) but the downtube of a standard lamp will. So it's a question of degree really. What I don't know is whether or not it's sensitive enough on my camera (and whether therefore possibly there might be a fault) or whether this is par for the course. Actually though, especially with the magnification facility, I find that it's perfectly easy to focus accurately without focus peaking.

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John,

 

Where I see focus peaking jumping out at me, is say tree branches or leaves against a bright sky. I assume it all works on contrast edge detection, so black against white is obviously the best trigger. I have to say though, that my M240 seems a bit more sensitive than yours. With my 50/2 Planar or 28 Summicron, when in focus at anything less than wide open, the whole image is a sea of red lines and that is in DNG without the black and white JPEG trick.

 

Wilson

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I assume it all works on contrast edge detection

It does. And note that fine detail may be blurred in the scaled-down electronic viewfinder image which means that focus peaking won’t pick it up either. Focus peaking is most effective if you use magification, which is why magnification vs. focus peaking is a non-issue for me; this isn’t a matter of either-or and magnification plus focus peaking works best.

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John,

 

Where I see focus peaking jumping out at me, is say tree branches or leaves against a bright sky. I assume it all works on contrast edge detection, so black against white is obviously the best trigger. I have to say though, that my M240 seems a bit more sensitive than yours. With my 50/2 Planar or 28 Summicron, when in focus at anything less than wide open, the whole image is a sea of red lines and that is in DNG without the black and white JPEG trick.

 

Wilson

 

Wilson

 

That's actually quite reassuring - thank you. I've just pointed my camera at a tree (no leaves this time of year) against a very flat, dull sky, and I do indeed see a flood of red all over the thin branches. So it looks as if my camera is OK, and I was maybe expecting a bit too much from focus peaking. I'll persevere and keep practising! Thanks again!

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I am an Ophthalmologist. There is a large number of patient that has a partially deficit in color perception . The largest group is in the red green. So choosing the red color for the focus peak without an color option is not a good move for Leica.

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I am an Ophthalmologist. There is a large number of patient that has a partially deficit in color perception . The largest group is in the red green. So choosing the red color for the focus peak without an color option is not a good move for Leica.

 

That is interesting. I had always assumed you were totally colour blind to one colour, two or all colours, (deutranopia, protanopia, tritanopia or monochromacy, dependant on which colour or colours). I had not realised you could be partially deficient in one colour.

 

Wilson

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I do just that after someone kindly pointed that out to me in the forum. I never ever shot RAW+JPEG ever before until now - my screen shows as B&W and my Live view is B&W and peaking shows up like a boss!

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m-type-240/316125-focussing-lcd-evf.html#post2601375

 

;):)

 

and you don't actually have to shoot JPEG as well as DNG, just configure the film mode in the menu. Even better you can use the virtual filters too to simulate green etc which changes the contrast.... which suggests it might be worth playing with contrast values in that part of the menu to see if it affects the LCD/EVF preview as well

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Maybe the best way of implementation would be if the screen switched to B&W automatically when focus button is used or at least this is given as an option.

This way one could see the final output/preview in color, and at the same time use the ease of noticing the red marks on B&W screen while focusing.

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