Leica CL dof preview using auto focus TL lenses

[Mark Brickley]

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Hi

ive just bought a CL and to my surprise the camera does not stop down the lens on half pressing the shutter to allow depth of field (dof) preview but only briefly on a full press to take the picture , I can’t either find anyway of using a physical button nor screen gesture to get a dof  preview.

A camera reset nor installing the latest firmware does not seem to alter this.

short of actually taking a test picture does anyone know if any way of getting a dof preview at the actual set aperture in A or M mode?

thanks so much for any comments or help in advance 

Mark 

[wda]

Welcome Mark,

Auto-ISO will try to give you correct exposure. Turn that off and see if it behaves as you wish.

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[Mark Brickley]

9 minutes ago, wda said:

Welcome Mark,

Auto-ISO will try to give you correct exposure. Turn that off and see if it behaves as you wish.

Hi 

thank you so much for the welcome and quick comment.. 

I did try just using a set iso but it didn’t make a difference, to be clear though I am not asking about an exposure preview but rather a depth of field previe; , I tend to take relative close shots of urban flowers and the like  where the aperture setting affects greatly how much of the object is in focus, ……

what I’m after is a way of previewing the depth of field at a aperture so I can check this . In many other mirrorless cameras I’ve used half pressing the shutter or using a function button as a dof preview stops the lens down to the selected f stop so you can preview the dof, not so on my cl which sets focus, locks the exposure setting but leaves the aperture at fully open till I take the shot.

thanks again for coming back 

mark 

[danielfrimley]

Which lens are you using, or is it more than one?

[Mark Brickley]

Hi daniel

i have the 35 f1.4, 60mm, 11-23mm and the sigma normal zoom (12-50 from memory), the experience is essentially the same 

cheers 

mark 

[wda]

Have you tried hybrid focusing with focus peaking? I find that shows the increased dof.

[Mark Brickley]

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Hi

that sounds promising… could you kindly explain what you mean by hybrid focussing as I’m not sure about this

Thanks

mark 

[wda]

28 minutes ago, Mark Brickley said:

Hi

that sounds promising… could you kindly explain what you mean by hybrid focussing as I’m not sure about this

Thanks

mark 

Go to my website following the link below, find in the news section the article My Way with the Leica CL, Para 9 explains my method. You might find it generally helpful anyway.

[Mark Brickley]

1 hour ago, wda said:

Have you tried hybrid focusing with focus peaking? I find that shows the increased dof.

Thanks David

i have read your article, great btw and I’ll refer back to it properly tonight, however I’ve just tried the hybrid focus technique with focus peak on and on neiher the sigma zoom or the native Leica lenses does it give a dof preview. I still get the preview at the fully open aperture.

I’m running firmware 4.1 and 2.0 lens on the Leica lenses. Using a field focus point in the centre and using the hybrid focus as you describe E with focus peaking. 
 Thanks for all the help

Mark 

 

 

[wda]

4 hours ago, Mark Brickley said:

Thanks David

i have read your article, great btw and I’ll refer back to it properly tonight, however I’ve just tried the hybrid focus technique with focus peak on and on neiher the sigma zoom or the native Leica lenses does it give a dof preview. I still get the preview at the fully open aperture.

I’m running firmware 4.1 and 2.0 lens on the Leica lenses. Using a field focus point in the centre and using the hybrid focus as you describe E with focus peaking. 
 Thanks for all the help

Mark 

 

 

Mark, I think you are correct. It only works with manual focus lenses. I often use M-lenses adapted for the CL.

Two of my popular genres are plants and portraits. Unless unavoidable, I dislike very shallow dof. I have learned which apertures give me the required dof, and set my lens accordingly. Is is important to know that a lens has only one distance setting  which is sharp. As you get further away, or nearer, you have varying degrees of unsharpness. Only experience and personal acceptance defines how much degradation can be considered acceptably sharp. It is very subjective. Aids cannot predict acceptable dof. Personal experience is the best solution.

[Mark Brickley]

Thanks David 

it sounds like then that it’s not possible with the TL lenses which is a shame but not mission abort type level!
again thank you for all the help … do,appreciate it very much

Mark 

[tommonego@gmail.com]

I always assumed my TL lenses worked as with an M lens when you set the fstop the EVF compensates for the brightness level and you are seeing what the DOF is. I only have the11-23 and 23mm TL lenses so it is hard to tell DOF cause there is so much of it. As someone else said it is noticeable with focus peaking.     

[Mark Brickley]

18 minutes ago, tommonego@gmail.com said:

I always assumed my TL lenses worked as with an M lens when you set the fstop the EVF compensates for the brightness level and you are seeing what the DOF is. I only have the11-23 and 23mm TL lenses so it is hard to tell DOF cause there is so much of it. As someone else said it is noticeable with focus peaking.     

Unfortunately it doesn’t look that way. I’ve checked pretty carefully and the aperture only stops done when you actually taken a shot … you can easily see this by manually setting a small aperture and then looking down into the lens when half pressing then fully pressing the shutter…. The Lena’s only stops down when actually taking the pic not on the half press.

It’s a shame as I’d find this really useful for my particular way of being but as I said above it’s not mission critical

cheers

mark 

[lct]

Half press the shutter release and that should work. I say should as i mainly use M lenses but it makes sense IMO.

[Mark Brickley]

5 hours ago, lct said:

Half press the shutter release and that should work. I say should as i mainly use M lenses but it makes sense IMO.

Hi

 thanks for coming back to my query, unfortunately half pressing the shutter does not result in a dof preview although it does fix focus and exposure plus previews the exposure.
 

I think it’s probably not possible to get a dof preview but it isn’t a deal breaker. Indeed,  thus far of all the cameras I have or have tried (far too many on both counts), I am finding the cl is fitting my way of being very well indeed and I’m enjoying using it immensely. It isn’t perfect of course but no machine is.

 Mark 

[Dopaco]

On 6/28/2022 at 11:20 PM, Mark Brickley said:

Hi

ive just bought a CL and to my surprise the camera does not stop down the lens on half pressing the shutter to allow depth of field (dof) preview but only briefly on a full press to take the picture , I can’t either find anyway of using a physical button nor screen gesture to get a dof  preview.

A camera reset nor installing the latest firmware does not seem to alter this.

short of actually taking a test picture does anyone know if any way of getting a dof preview at the actual set aperture in A or M mode?

thanks so much for any comments or help in advance 

Mark 

Look here message 12 in case it can help you

 

[jaapv]

 Basically you should be able to judge DOF by using focus peaking and “walking “ the plane of focus manually. That should be far more precise than eyeballing it on too small a screen.