Focus peaking

[Gyselinck]

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I'm not able to focus with the focus peaking with my M240.

It does not clearly show neither on the display nor in the EVF. What do I do wrong? Somebody?

Work with Elmarit 21/2.8 Asph and Summarit 50/2.5………

[a.noctilux]

Let's look at the settings:

- Focus Peaking I set to Green

- Focus Aid Automatic

 

With my M240 + 50mm Summilux-M , at f/1.4 difficult to see the peeking zone : only on near subject 1 to 2m some blinking green...

but when set to f/2.8, peeking show in green is obvious on contrasting contour (white on black for example)

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[wlaidlaw]

Focus peaking is contrast detection driven. With my lower contrast lenses, e.g. Hartblei TS Super Rotator 80mm: Barely any peaking at all at any aperture. 5cm/f1.5 Summarit: (which admittedly needs a clean), no focus peaking until around f5.6 then weak. 8.5cm/f1.5 Summarex: Very weak peaking at f2 but reasonable by f2.8.

 

I am very surprised you are not getting good focus peaking on the 50 Summilux-M. Which version? I am getting perfectly good peaking on my Pre-ASPH V.3 (e46) 50mm Summilux at f1.4. I personally prefer the red peaking to the green, as more visible especially on vegetation. The best colour peaking IMHO, which sadly Leica did not offer as an option, is yellow as on various Sonys. The SL's peaking is considerably more effective than my M240. With very high contrast lenses like the 50 ZM Planar, it is actually distracting on the SL and I generally turn it off. 

 

Wilson

[a.noctilux]

Wilson,

my Summilux-M 50mm is the same as yours.

It happened that to help the OP, this lens is already on my M240.

 

I agree that the lens must give some contrast and thin dept of field to be useful on M240.

I use focus peaking not very often, I prefer OVF on my Ms over LV/EVF.

 

So with the OP 21mm, it may be normal not to see Peaking, but with the 2.5/50mm it must be more obvious at f/2.8 or 4.

[wlaidlaw]

My 75/2.5 Summarit may not be a lens I have much affection for but at f2.5, on a horrible, wet, flat-grey-light day in Tourtour, the peaking is working perfectly on the M240 a few seconds ago. I would not have thought the 50/2.5 should be any different. If our Summilux III's are peaking at f1.4, the newer, albeit cheaper 50 Summarit design must produce sufficient contrast for the peaking to fire up at f2.5. I wonder if the OP has something like a very dirty sensor. The Elmarit 21 is quite an old design, so I would not be surprised if that did not show peaking until f4. I wondered if the Elmarit might be something to do with it being a wider lens but I just tried my CV15/f4.5 V.2 and it peaked perfectly at f4.5. Other than that, there must be a fault with the OP's camera. I would try the usual remedies before sending it off. 

 

1) Reset to factory settings then turn peaking and Focus Aid back on.

2) Reload latest Firmware

3) Leave battery out for two days to run down internal battery which forces a parameter RAM reset, when a fully charged battery is reinserted. 

 

Wilson

[FeralCoton]

Depending on the contrast in the image, focus peaking on the m240 is not as pronounced as you would hope or expect. This is especially true if the object of focus is a line rather than a broader contrasting field. I doubt anything is wrong with your ca,era, it is just the way it was implemented. It is better in the SL, but that is through the great evf.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[epand56]

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When I use my 21/1.8, I almost see peaking everywhere, in particular if it's not fully open. I use red picking and auto magnification of the image when focusing and find it quite usefull.

[Jean-Michel]

For the 21 mm lens, you are far better to focus using the RF and frame with the EVF. Also, it is easier to se the outline (red in my case) if you set the camera to b&w jpg.

[jmahto]

I read someplace that M240's focus peaking is optimized for tele lenses where you need it most. For wide angle lenses, RF is say superior.

 

And I like it that way. On my Sony Nex6 the peaking shows up more often (even in finest settings) and most of the times it turns out to be little off. I would rather have a focus peaking that gives me better focus or no peaking at all. Having said that, I don't use focus peaking if precise focus is important. I use either RF or zoom focusing (EVF).

Edited September 16, 2017 by jmahto

[Exodies]

Short answer - no. But if there are in-focus parts of the picture (which are really background) then you can blur them to stop them being distracting. In other words, you can’t focus the subject of your picture but you can bring attention to it by fading or blurring any irrelevant parts.

[NigelG]

As per Jean-Michel’s post #8

 

I find I can use peaking best with DWG & b+w jpeg set so that the evf image is in b+w (I have peaking set to red)

 

It’s only worthwhile for me if using my 50lux wide open, and often with no magnification so I can catch focus off centre by sweeping the red “shimmer” back & forward.......at smaller apertures there’s just too much peaking. Remember it’s only really indicating ‘contrast’ NOT ‘focus’.

 

With any wider lens (28 cron or 21SEM) even wide open there’s often so much contrast that it’s useless and the rf is better. You can test this by trying to focus using the peaking in the EVF then looking through the RF - with wides it’s often miles out and I use the EVF only for framing having set focus via the RF.

[lct]

Problem with M240 the level of peaking is not adjustable and red/blue/green colors can be less visible than white to some people so that focus peaking is more difficult to use than on later mirrorless cameras. Not to say that peaking does not work though, it does even with wide lenses like the CV 21/4 i'm using currently on my M240 but to make it more visible better use image magnification. 

[Jean-Michel]

I find that am far better off, in almost every instance, to use the rangefinder to focus. One of the reasons that I purchased an M4 while a student back in the late 1960's was the rangefinder focusing. At the time I had a Mamiyaflex C33 tlr and the use of an Exacta. Getting an accurate focus on the groundglass was always somewhat problematic. Same later with Haselblads and even with view cameras, they all required some form of loupe to make sure that the focus was right. Focusing with the rangefinder was and is much simpler, quicker and more accurate. ( and, yes, the AF on my Canon 5D2 is damn fast too, but that is another story).

 

As for the focus peaking: remember that it really is of any use with the lens wide open, so if you set your aperture to anything smaller that wide open the areas highlighted may not give you the optimum focus on the spot you want in sharpest focus. AF cameras, and old slr's set the lens to open wide for focus and composition and only close the aperture down when you fully press the shutter to take the photograph.