masquar Posted November 22, 2015 Share #1 Posted November 22, 2015 Advertisement (gone after registration) I'm using the SL with the 24-90 and with several R lenses. Although focus peaking works pretty well with the zoom, there is no way to make it working with any R lenses I have (all ROM). I went through the menu several times but with no success. Did anybody encountered the issue and/or understood why it happens? It worked perfectly with the M240/R lenses combination. Thanks Massimo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted November 22, 2015 Posted November 22, 2015 Hi masquar, Take a look here Focus peaking with R lenses. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
thighslapper Posted November 22, 2015 Share #2 Posted November 22, 2015 1. Camera should default to MF .... but make sure MF is set of focus mode menu 2. Make sure Peaking is on in live view 3. Make sure you toggle it with the BR button .... it cycles through 3 options 4. Low contrast lenses ... especially longer focal lengths show peaking poorly unless there is very contrasty subject matter ... I think the peaking sensitivity is actually set too low and needs boosting .... especially with longer FL lenses. I have a pre-set that makes sure all the relevant menu options are set for MF use ..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitalfx Posted November 22, 2015 Share #3 Posted November 22, 2015 Its an odd setup...you select it via the view options. Its the option immediately after the histogram. push the BR button and cycle thru until you get to the histogram, then one more push and peaking will be visible. It needs to be strengthened via FW update but works moderately well now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpclee Posted November 22, 2015 Share #4 Posted November 22, 2015 If buy needing boosting you mean the colored outlines are sometimes too hard to see, then that may just mean that Leica has used a very tight focus error tolerance as default. I think sony allows the tolerance to be adjustable? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
masquar Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share #5 Posted November 23, 2015 1. Camera should default to MF .... but make sure MF is set of focus mode menu 2. Make sure Peaking is on in live view 3. Make sure you toggle it with the BR button .... it cycles through 3 options 4. Low contrast lenses ... especially longer focal lengths show peaking poorly unless there is very contrasty subject matter ... I think the peaking sensitivity is actually set too low and needs boosting .... especially with longer FL lenses. I have a pre-set that makes sure all the relevant menu options are set for MF use ..... I did everything you wrote and tried with different lenses (28 elmarit, 90 AA, 50 f1.4 E60, all ROM) but no focus peaking. Let's hope it will be fixed via firmware. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramarren Posted November 23, 2015 Share #6 Posted November 23, 2015 Peaking is enabled by the BR button. If you're looking at the LCD, one press enables the control mode, the second press starts to rotate through the view options. Peaking is the option after the live histogram display, so tap the button through to that display whether you see any peaking lines or not. Peaking is also very dependent upon the lens in use (focal length and specific contrast of the lens at an aperture setting, also the focus zone based on the focus distance and aperture setting) and the scene you're looking at. The amount of peaking is also dependent upon the magnification of the view. Peaking is most evident when there are plenty of strong, contrasty lines in the subject. As a test: A bookcase full of books is one of the easiest peaking targets. With the camera set up as above and the LCD on, *slowly* turn the focusing ring on the lens to bring the bookcase into focus. If your focusing technique is to rapidly turn the focusing ring back and forth to see the point of sharpest detail, you will miss the peaking illumination. It takes a moment for the camera to draw the peaking illumination and the focus zone depth can be very short—as example, with my Summilux-R 50mm lens set to f/1.4 and the bookcase set about four to five feet away, peaking illuminates for about 7/16" of rotation with normal display view turned on but only about 3/16" of rotation of the focusing ring with maximum magnification turned on. And the Summilux 50 has a rather slow focusing helicoid. You will see the peaking illuminate as the focus zone passes through the plane of the book spines. If you position the camera at an angle to the bookcase, you can see the depth of the focus zone as it sweeps past the books' planes. Once you see how to make peaking illuminate and get a feel for the correct speed at which to turn the focusing ring with one lens and one aperture setting, try different aperture settings to see how it differs. The try other lenses and their aperture settings. After a while, you'll get a feel for how to use it best. I find peaking most useful with relatively short lenses to 'rough in' a good focus setting. Once I have the peaking illumination up on the screen, I flip back to the regular view and use magnification to do critical focusing, if the scene warrants it. With longer lenses, due to the shallowness of DoF, the focus zone through which peaking will illuminate can be very very brief on the focusing ring, or it might not illuminate at all if the lens isn't particularly contrasty or the subject isn't contrasty. For these reasons, it becomes less useful as an aid with longer lenses. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psss Posted November 24, 2015 Share #7 Posted November 24, 2015 Advertisement (gone after registration) peaking can be a little tricky to get used to, and unfortunately on the lenses where one needs it most, it is hardest to see....same goes for the sonys btw....i tried the SL with nocti in store and it really was no help....but the large high res EVF of the SL makes it easier to focus manually anyway...peaking is really a focus assistance.... just shot with a A7RII with cv15 III and a vintage leica summicron 90 f2 ....on the 15 i had to turn peaking off because the entire image was "peaking" and on the summicron i could barely get anything to peak.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
masquar Posted November 24, 2015 Author Share #8 Posted November 24, 2015 Peaking is enabled by the BR button. If you're looking at the LCD, one press enables the control mode, the second press starts to rotate through the view options. Peaking is the option after the live histogram display, so tap the button through to that display whether you see any peaking lines or not. Peaking is also very dependent upon the lens in use (focal length and specific contrast of the lens at an aperture setting, also the focus zone based on the focus distance and aperture setting) and the scene you're looking at. The amount of peaking is also dependent upon the magnification of the view. Peaking is most evident when there are plenty of strong, contrasty lines in the subject. As a test: A bookcase full of books is one of the easiest peaking targets. With the camera set up as above and the LCD on, *slowly* turn the focusing ring on the lens to bring the bookcase into focus. If your focusing technique is to rapidly turn the focusing ring back and forth to see the point of sharpest detail, you will miss the peaking illumination. It takes a moment for the camera to draw the peaking illumination and the focus zone depth can be very short—as example, with my Summilux-R 50mm lens set to f/1.4 and the bookcase set about four to five feet away, peaking illuminates for about 7/16" of rotation with normal display view turned on but only about 3/16" of rotation of the focusing ring with maximum magnification turned on. And the Summilux 50 has a rather slow focusing helicoid. You will see the peaking illuminate as the focus zone passes through the plane of the book spines. If you position the camera at an angle to the bookcase, you can see the depth of the focus zone as it sweeps past the books' planes. Once you see how to make peaking illuminate and get a feel for the correct speed at which to turn the focusing ring with one lens and one aperture setting, try different aperture settings to see how it differs. The try other lenses and their aperture settings. After a while, you'll get a feel for how to use it best. I find peaking most useful with relatively short lenses to 'rough in' a good focus setting. Once I have the peaking illumination up on the screen, I flip back to the regular view and use magnification to do critical focusing, if the scene warrants it. With longer lenses, due to the shallowness of DoF, the focus zone through which peaking will illuminate can be very very brief on the focusing ring, or it might not illuminate at all if the lens isn't particularly contrasty or the subject isn't contrasty. For these reasons, it becomes less useful as an aid with longer lenses. As I already wrote, I come from the M240 with which I used all my R and M lenses. I know what focus peaking is, how it works and how to make it visible and working on the SL ( on the M240, due to the poor resolution of the EVF, the only way to be sure of the accuracy of focus was relying on focus peaking which worked beautifully) but there is no way to have it on my SL with R lenses, although it fully works with the 24-90 on the same subject at all focal length. Do you also use your SL with R lenses? If yes, does it work with your R lenses? Thank you for the explanation anyway. Massimo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
masquar Posted November 24, 2015 Author Share #9 Posted November 24, 2015 Finally today, God know why, I was able to see the focus peaking working with the Summicron R 35. The light was quite strong, so was the contrast. By the way, what a lens the Summicron R 35 f2.0 on the SL... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramarren Posted November 24, 2015 Share #10 Posted November 24, 2015 Finally today, God know why, I was able to see the focus peaking working with the Summicron R 35. The light was quite strong, so was the contrast. By the way, what a lens the Summicron R 35 f2.0 on the SL... I'm glad it's working for you now. It took me a few moments to get it working the first time I tried to use it ... user error, I was turning the focusing ring too quickly. I have an M-P typ 240 as well. I think focus peaking on it is a bit easier to use, most likely due to the lower resolution EVF or something like that. It seems less precise than on the SL however. I have used essentially nothing but R lenses since I received the SL last week. I haven't gotten to all of mine yet, but focus peaking has worked well on the Macro-Elmarit-R 60mm, Elmarit-R 19mm, Elmarit-R 24mm, Summicron-R 35mm, Summilux-R 50mm, Summicron-R 90mm, and Elmar-R 180mm so far. Still have to try out the Summicron-R 50, Elmarit-R 135, 180/2.8, and 250/4. Yes, the Summicron-R 35mm is a marvelous performer. :-) Most of the R lenses are quite amazing performers, IMO, but a few like that are just outstanding even in R lens territory. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psss Posted November 24, 2015 Share #11 Posted November 24, 2015 peaking has nothing to do with the contacts on the lens....there is no need for any contacts, so it will work the same for any glass one puts on the SL.....it will just work better or worse depending on focal length and contrast.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted November 24, 2015 Share #12 Posted November 24, 2015 One excellent target to check if it is working is bare tree branches against a bright grey sky. If you don't see peaking on this - it isn't working. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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