Leica SL 24-90 focus override magnification

[JiriS]

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Greetings,

yesterday I received new SL 24-90mm lens.

It’s a remarkable piece of glass, but there is one thing I don’t seem to be able to figure out.

I’m using autofocus and I want to be able to override it with manual focus (which I can as long as I half press the shutter) but I would like the EVF to auto-magnify when I use the manual focus in this override mode.

Is there a way to do that?

 

Thank you!

[arvin]

Greetings,

yesterday I received new SL 24-90mm lens.

It’s a remarkable piece of glass, but there is one thing I don’t seem to be able to figure out.

I’m using autofocus and I want to be able to override it with manual focus (which I can as long as I half press the shutter) but I would like the EVF to auto-magnify when I use the manual focus in this override mode.

Is there a way to do that?

 

Thank you!

I would love to know also.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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[panoreserve]

No way. You have to choose mf-mode and, after customizing the joystick, you are able to use the magnification by pressing the joystick...

[IkarusJohn]

No way. You have to choose mf-mode and, after customizing the joystick, you are able to use the magnification by pressing the joystick...

I haven’t worked out a way to make this work yet.

 

In AF mode, you can set the joystick to AF lock, exposure lock or magnify. In manual focus mode, you can set the joystick to AF, but you lose the magnify option.

[ramarren]

I set MF mode, set the joystick to "on-demand AF", and set magnification with the Lower Left button.

Target the subject, press the joystick to rough in the focus, tap the LL button to magnify, tweak the focusing ring for critical focus. 

 

Automation is useful when it is convenient and works. This methodology works perfectly all the time.

Edited February 3, 2018 by ramarren

[JiriS]

Thank you for your replies everyone.

 

I knew that I could use MF mode and set the AF with joystick, but in my case I would specifically like to use AF mode and have the AF be triggered with half-press of the shutter and still be able to get magnified view when doing MF override.

 

From what I gather there doesn't seem to be a way to do this at the moment.

 

I have contacted Leica about this and will update this post when I hear back from them.

[panoreserve]

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I haven’t worked out a way to make this work yet.

 

In AF mode, you can set the joystick to AF lock, exposure lock or magnify. In manual focus mode, you can set the joystick to AF, but you lose the magnify option.

 

 

I'm sorry to state you are wrong here - go to the menu: SETUP//CUSTOMIZE CONTROL//AE/AE LOCK BUTTON//AF MODE or MF MODE.

In AF MODE you have the following options: AF-L, AE-L or AF-L + AE-L.

In MF MODE you have the following options: AFs, AFs + AE-L, AFc, AFc + AE-L, AE-L or "Zoom".

 

kind regards

panoreserve

[JiriS]

I think IkarusJohn meant to write it the other way around.

The bottom line is that we cannot choose Zoom in AF mode.

 

Even better would be if turning the manual focus ring in AF mode when half-pressing the shutter, the view would automatically magnify without pressing any extra button and it would magnify over the auto focus point.

[panoreserve]

I think IkarusJohn meant to write it the other way around.

The bottom line is that we cannot choose Zoom in AF mode.

 

Even better would be if turning the manual focus ring in AF mode when half-pressing the shutter, the view would automatically magnify without pressing any extra button and it would magnify over the auto focus point.

 

 

"Even better would be if turning the manual focus ring in AF mode when half-pressing the shutter, the view would automatically magnify without pressing any extra button and it would magnify over the auto focus point."

 

All agreeing - but the very best solution would be choosing that "automatic magnification" (if turning the manual focus ring in AF mode when half-pressing the shutter...) as an option by the customer...

[JiriS]

Yep it should be an option that can be enabled/disabled

[ramarren]

"Even better would be if turning the manual focus ring in AF mode when half-pressing the shutter, the view would automatically magnify without pressing any extra button and it would magnify over the auto focus point."

 

All agreeing - but the very best solution would be choosing that "automatic magnification" (if turning the manual focus ring in AF mode when half-pressing the shutter...) as an option by the customer...

 

I always turn this off on cameras that have had it. I don't need focus magnification all the time, and I find it "in the way" all the time when it is an automatically engaged feature, particularly with any lens longer than 50mm. 

 

Yep it should be an option that can be enabled/disabled

 

 

Mandatory. I wouldn't buy a camera that I couldn't turn it off on. 

[IkarusJohn]

I’m sorry I wasn’t more clear.

 

In MF with the joystick set to AFs, zoom is not available. As Panoreserve states helpfully above, the options are “or”. The ideal for me would be MF, joystick AFs and auto zoom at the focal point on turning the focus ring.

 

Godfrey mentions allocating the lower left button to magnification - I haven’t had the chance to explore that yet.

 

Magnificaton in AF using the joystick would also be useful, but I haven’t seen that option yet either.

 

Happy to be corrected if I’m wrong.

 

Cheers

John

Edited February 4, 2018 by IkarusJohn

[LD_50]

Lower left is always set for magnification and it’s difficult for me to use without adjusting my grip every time. I would like to see magnification as a customizable option in the future.

[IkarusJohn]

Ah, of course - short press.

[Andrew Gough]

You can customize the 4 back buttons on the SL. Go to

 

Customize Control

Short Cuts

Set a button to Focus control - Bottom right recommended.

OK

 

Now a short 2 sec hold on the right bottom button will allow you to select MF, and a short tap on the bottom left will zoom you in.

 

Andrew

[IkarusJohn]

Thanks Andrew, yep got that.

[LocalHero1953]

Reactivating this thread just to vent my frustration at the limitations of customisation on the SL.

Last week I was taking portrait shots with off-camera flash in near darkness with the 24-90 SL zoom. I could see the subject in the EVF, but AF was a washout - so I switched to manual focus.

In MF mode, my joystick is set to AFs i.e. back button focus, which is normally convenient. But now I really wanted to use focus magnification to quickly focus manually; focus magnification is the bottom left button, which is a pain to use when you're taking a series of shots at short intervals - none of my fingers come close to it in a normal grip: my left hand is on the lens zoom ring and my right hand is around the right hand end of the body.

I could create a separate 'Flash MF' user profile with the joystick set to focus magnification, but I'm already short of user profiles: the CL offers 6, whereas the SL only has 4. ( I use a 'Flash' user profile, which is set up for Manual Exposure, AFs and ISO 100.)

If an SL2 is on its way I don't see Leica paying much attention to this bugbear in the SL, but I hope they do one or more of the following:
- Optional auto focus magnification.
- Make focus magnification assignable to any of the other buttons - the one to the left of the joystick would be fine for me.
- Add space for more User Profiles, so I could have Flash AF and Flash MF

Edited January 27, 2019 by LocalHero1953

[thighslapper]

The only reason to use MF on an autofocus AF SL lens is because you are having difficulty.

Thus it would be sensible to have 6x magnification automatically when you rotate the focus ring with MF set and using AF lenses as the default, with the option to disable. 

A few more profile slots would be handy and would involve only a few minutes coding in the firmware. 

I sometimes despair of Leica's attitude to the 'computing' side of photography ...... firmware should be a continually evolving process based on feedback with regular updates .... but Leica seems to have completely deaf ears to some issues which are mentioned time and time again..... which are fairly easy to implement and don't add menu complexity. 

 

[MarkinVan]

I agree with thighslapper and have wrestled with this.

Using the 24-90 it is fine to use AF on either the shutter button in normal AF or the joystick in MF.

Because the 24-90 is not "too big",  it is no problem to move your thumb on the bottom left button for focus magnification.

The problem comes with the 90-280 which needs constant support under the front of the lens because when I move my left hand to hit the bottom left button and then holding the camera only with my right hand, the weight of the front of the lens drops so that when the camera switches to focus magnification it is no loner pointing where I want and I have to refocus on my point again and round and round it goes. With 90-280 I found the Zoom on the joystick works best and totally agree that it would be best to be able to move the focus magnification to the upper right button or better yet to the manual focus ring. 

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[hoppyman]

On 2/4/2018 at 5:51 AM, ramarren said:

I set MF mode, set the joystick to "on-demand AF", and set magnification with the Lower Left button.

Target the subject, press the joystick to rough in the focus, tap the LL button to magnify, tweak the focusing ring for critical focus. 

 

Automation is useful when it is convenient and works. This methodology works perfectly all the time.

Could you explain how you set that please? My SL has FW 3.3

My normal method with the 24-90 is to use MF with AFs  set by joystick button.

by on-demand AF you mean choose AFs or AFc or a combination with AE?

with my Summilux M 50 Asph in M adapter T  it has to be MF of course.

In MF,  Focus Peaking from Capture Assustants does not work in zoom or not.

it does work on the CL

the only control I see that can be customised for Zoom is the joystick button.