Q2 manual Focusing?

[nico4444]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

11 minutes ago, brickftl said:

others may disagree, but for me using Q2 buttery smooth manual focus wheel together with magnification and peeking is a joy. I only use AF when shooting moving street scenes. For all other shots, stationary and/or standing still portraits I go with manual focus.

"buttery smooth manual focus wheel" compared to what? Because compared to my R lenses and M lenses that I've tried, I find the Q(2)'s focus ring to be stiff and much worse in general feel (wire vs. mechanical). Also, isn't the use case for manual and auto focus in your example reversed? In moving street scenes it is more accurate to preset the focus manually, although, nowadays AF can be very snappy and for stationary/portraits shots, AF is a much simpler and quicker method with face/eye detection.

[vedivv]

4 hours ago, nico4444 said:

"buttery smooth manual focus wheel" compared to what? Because compared to my R lenses and M lenses that I've tried, I find the Q(2)'s focus ring to be stiff and much worse in general feel (wire vs. mechanical). Also, isn't the use case for manual and auto focus in your example reversed? In moving street scenes it is more accurate to preset the focus manually, although, nowadays AF can be very snappy and for stationary/portraits shots, AF is a much simpler and quicker method with face/eye detection.

Compared to all the focus-by-wire lenses, Q2 has the best implementation.  The tab remembers the focus position, and the resistance is great.  However, the feeling and is no where close to a manual focus lens.  Turning on both focus peaking and magnification, it is much more accurate than RF viewfinder.  Even though Sony now as 9MP EVF now, somehow Q2 EVF still look the best (might be attributed to the better EVF optics), unless you are shooting in dark and refresh rate drops like crazy.

Compared to Sony RX1, Q2 provides a vastly better MF experience.  It is no where close to the M in MF, but definitely more than usable.  

[CAP]

I wonder why, when in manual focus mode, the AF mode (spot, field etc.) is still indicated on the screen until the focus ring is turned. Surely it would be better to not display the irrelevant AF mode at all when the focus ring is not locked into AF. If nothing else it would be a reminder that manual focussing is required.

Charlie

[Siriusone59]

2 hours ago, CAP said:

I wonder why, when in manual focus mode, the AF mode (spot, field etc.) is still indicated on the screen until the focus ring is turned. Surely it would be better to not display the irrelevant AF mode at all when the focus ring is not locked into AF. If nothing else it would be a reminder that manual focussing is required.

Charlie

Maybe it's shown to indicate the area that is chosen for exposure metering?

[Leica Guy]

The focus point shows where the camera will magnify. You can move that point around with the 4-way controller. It’s a feature added a while ago. For much of the life of the Q it would only magnify the center screen. This is much better now. 

[CAP]

Thanks for that Leica Guy. I get that, but the shape of the indicator reflects the option chosen for AF which is irrelevant and may be misleading.

          Mode                Indicator shown in MF

1. Multifield    -   no indicator at all.
2. Spot             -  cross hairs.
3. Field             -  whatever size field selected in AF.
4. Track            -  double rectangle as for track AF.
5. Face detect -  medium field rectangle.

And if no magnification is shown the indicator is still there although it serves no purpose at all.

I would prefer a different indicator showing the magnify area location and that only when magnify is on.

Charlie

[vedivv]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

On 10/8/2020 at 8:39 AM, Leica Guy said:

This is incorrect. On the Q2 you can move the focus area with the 4-way controller. Then the camera will magnify that area when the focus ring is moved. It will revert back to unmagnified after approx. 6 secs. You can push the Thumb Wheel Button and the magnified area will remain magnified and not time out for I’d guess 30 secs. This was a change added in a firmware update and is much better than focus and recompose. 

I use spot focus on Q2.  When I switch to MF mode, the magnification is on where the spot focus is.  So you can just use touch control on screen to select focus point and then turn the focusing ring.  MF is by wire and not as nice as longer throw of M lenses, but definitely the best by wire MF implementation by far.

AF on Q2 is very good (not as good as Sony if you shoot people), and it was one of the reasons I bought it.

[pau.cod]

Hi! I am used to using manual lenses on my sony a7iii and love to be able to assign a button to zoom in for the purpose of focusing (with peaking or without). As far as I understand, when manually focusing with the Q2 the you can make it so that it zooms in when you turn the focus ring, can this zoom function be customized to a button also? I am thinking of getting a q2 and this is a question I can’t find the answer to. Basically I want control over the zooming in, so that I can also turn the focus ring without it zooming in if I choose. Does that make sense?

[marchyman]

Yes, it makes sense.   I'm not sure, but believe your only choice is to turn focus zoom on and off in the menus.   I have a Q, not a Q2.  I can add "MF Assist" to the favorites to minimize the number of button pushes.

• push the menu button
• scroll to MF Assist
• Enter menu
• scroll to desired setting (I switch  between "Focus Peaking" and "Auto Magn. & Focus Peaking"

A single button would be easier, but this works.

[russtytinbox]

to address the manual focus experience on the q:
i moved from the fuji x100 series to the leica q primarily for the manual focus. i hate manually focusing on focus-by-wire lenses. the q has the only lens i have used, that while being focus-by-wire, has the throw, hard stops, tab and distance scale meant to mimic a mechanical lens. and yes, i have used manual focus only lenses on other cameras. they are obviously great. but then i was always stuck without the option of jumping to autofocus if my subject (like my son) decided to start running about the place in low light. apart from those occasions, i use the q in manual focus only. and with both options so close at hand, i never miss a shot for lack of focus. and then there is the close focus ring to add to the versatility. for me, personally, since i like shooting wide, this lens really is the best of all worlds. 

[BAASCH]

On 10/8/2020 at 7:32 AM, Mikep996 said:

2. When you put the camera in manual focus with the button on the focus ring, will the camera go back into autofocus "automatically" if you turn the focus ring all the way toward the "A" or do you need to press the button again to put it in auto?

Unfortunately, you do have to press the little button. It's the only ergonomic mistake Leica made with this camera. The little button hard to operate.

[Pelu2010]

I just went out with both cameras (Sl2s and q2) . And to my surprise the Sl2s can change the size of the manual focus square with the top wheel. This is very handy and it would be nice if the q2 could do the same. But it can’t. 😏