SL2 info overlays in play mode & RGB histograms

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Hi everyone, 

I´m trying to figure out the info overlays on the SL2. There's a menu where you can configure them with a couple of choices like grid, info bars etc. However, it seems to me like there's no way of configuring them separately for the "Play" vs the "Live" view. This has some strange side-effects... I have for example configured one overlay to only show the level gauge, which I like for live view while shooting. It looks to me though that this overlay is somehow also active in "Play" mode, just without the level gauge actually being displayed🙈. So when I reach that view while switching the overlays in Play mode I see a screen without any overlays. Which is especially confusing since I actually have another overlay configured to not show any overlays...so I see two empty screens after one another. Do I miss something here? Have you found a way to customise overlays for play and live view separately?

One thing I miss for sure though are the RGB histograms! Even my M10 has them😀

Many thanks for your help!

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[thighslapper]

No ..... from what I can see toggling through the PLAY screens with the FN button just mimics the LIVE ones.

After playing about I've come to the conclusion that one blank profile and one with virtually everything on is enough and have disabled 3&4. 

I just got fed up toggling through a blank one, a composition one, an exposure one and a peaking one .... which seemed like a great idea initially but just proved to be complete a pain in the arse. 

Edited January 6, 2020 by thighslapper

[michali]

21 hours ago, thighslapper said:

No ..... from what I can see toggling through the PLAY screens with the FN button just mimics the LIVE ones.

After playing about I've come to the conclusion that one blank profile and one with virtually everything on is enough and have disabled 3&4. 

I just got fed up toggling through a blank one, a composition one, an exposure one and a peaking one .... which seemed like a great idea initially but just proved to be complete a pain in the arse. 

+1 

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21 hours ago, thighslapper said:

After playing about I've come to the conclusion that one blank profile and one with virtually everything on is enough and have disabled 3&4. 

Actually... I think this is a very good idea😀 I´ll follow your lead and try this for the next weeks and see if that works for me too. I´ll still ask Leica CS about the RGB histograms though. It seems odd to me that they left this out. They are especially useful during dusk/dawn, at least for me...

[hoppyman]

As far as I can see you can’t configure them differently. Once I understood how to set up and save each profile, I found I could see exactly what I wanted and cycling through with INF the three I have active is really easy in both modes. My 1 and 2 have the level gauge on and 3 is everything off, as recommended in the instructions.

I don’t understand what you mean about the level gauge affecting the preview in play?

Everyone works differently of course. Personally I have never seen an advantage of RGB histograms in camera or Lr. I had always turned it off

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10 minutes ago, hoppyman said:

I don’t understand what you mean about the level gauge affecting the preview in play?

I have one overlay configured to show only the level gauge, nothing else. When I´m in the image review screen ("Play mode") and I cycle through the overlays using the FN button, the one that is showing the level gauge in live view mode is empty (the level gauge is not shown). That is fine in a way that I obviously don't need the gauge in image review. But I would like to disable that screen for image review mode alltogether, while it still shows in live view. Ok, I get that this is a little nit-picky...But still it makes for one extra click and now that I´m seemingly obsessed with it I cannot ignore this (at least for a couple of days😀).

As for the RGB histogram, I think it's useful for ETTR in situations where you have coloured highlights or a heavy tint (think red sunset clouds or single coloured LED lights lighting the stage at a concert). I personally would consider this a very basic/standard camera functionality that helps getting an idea about which highlights get blown out. I guess it would not hurt if Leica adds this to the overlay options, which would still obviously allow anyone who does not need it to leave it switched off.

[hoppyman]

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I understand what you mean. With the one profile with level only it looks the same as everything off in play then. So you could choose to have no blank profile at all if you wanted I suppose.

i don’t use RGB histograms that way. For me it is enough to see if there is any clipping of any channel. Depending on what your main use for the images is, for example if that is mainly for print, you can set the limit lower of course. The histograms are not perfectly accurate of course, just a guide. Well we all use our cameras differently of course.

You could put your suggestions in the firmware update requests thread if you wanted? I think that Leica does have someone monitor these.. If a change is possible and practical and they get enough feedback you might get the change you want.

Enjoy your camera and all the best.