Sensitivity of focus peaking

[Derbyshire Man]

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I find low sensitivity the most rapid and accurate. For some reason it seems to me it’s not as clear/accurate as it is on the Q2M or Q3.

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53 minutes ago, Derbyshire Man said:

I find low sensitivity the most rapid and accurate

I agree. I find it rather useless when major parts of the frame are flashing at me. It should just barely show a shimmering edge on the things in focus, ideally.

[raizans]

The settings refer to the quantity of peaking that you desire at the time.

Low = smaller radius, more selective (lower amount of peaking)

High = larger radius, less selective (higher amount of peaking)

The idea is to find the sweet spot of not having too little or too much peaking. This depends on depth-of-field. Generally:

A wide angle with more depth-of-field will work better with sensitivity set to low.

A telephoto with less depth-of-field will work better with sensitivity set to high.

Ignore areas of high contrast like specular highlights that don’t change as you rack focus back and forth. You only want to pay attention to the areas that change. Just like a ground glass on medium and large format cameras, it’s also best to use magnification for fine focus. Without magnification, it’ll roughly “zone focus”.

Edited May 26 by raizans

[thierry40]

23 hours ago, lct said:

Matter of taste and/or eyesight  i guess. For me, white is more visible.

Tried white today, seems to be ok for my eyes… will keep it to try longer, interesting 

[lct]

Imagine it is the Leica glow 😄

 

[costa43]

On the SL2S I use focus peaking as a guide for maximum depth of field when shooting at a low aperture and not really requiring a specific point of focus. It acts a little like a live hyperfocal reading. At wider apertures I use my eye and punch in if the subject is stationary. I keep the sensitivity at low as I’m not relying on it for critical focus as it is not reliable enough.

Edited May 28 by costa43

[brickftl]

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On 3/25/2024 at 9:21 AM, jaapv said:

It wasn’t Leica but Sony using a high-contrast Apo Telyt 180 to photograph a herd of Zebra with focus peaking resulted in a complete red-out of the viewfinder, lending credence to the colloquial “a Dazzle of Zebras 😉”. I regard peaking as a practical aid as long as one walks the focus to find the middle of the DOF field but never as a precision technique. Combined with magnification it is better. I usually set it to white to create shimmering edges. 

are you doing that when viewing the subject in color? Would you do the same with a monochrome cam?

[jaapv]

Can't say, I don't use an EVF monochrome camera. As I use white peaking, the answer is probably yes. Colour has nothing to do with focus peaking.

[wilfredo]

 The responses here suggest that Focus Peaking is not reliable.  When using M lenses on my Sony, with Focus Peeking, more often than not I’m disappointed shooting wide open.  I’m very interested in the Leica M11 Monochrom, and was hoping that it had reliable Focus Peaking but apparently not.  I have 4 M mount lenses I would love to put back into use (I sold my M9 Monochrom) but I also don’t enjoy relying on the viewfinder either - which is why I mostly shoot with the Q2M these days. My eyesight as a 69 year old is not the best.  I would love to hear from anyone who is happy using Focus Peaking with their M11 Monochrom. 

[frame-it]

3 minutes ago, wilfredo said:

When using M lenses on my Sony, with Focus Peeking, more often than not I’m disappointed shooting wide open.

that means you need to understand how focus peaking works, especially the difference between low and high peaking settings.

best explanation is on jim kassons site where he talks about 90mm APO summicron on fuji GFX and focus peaking.

[wilfredo]

On 9/17/2025 at 10:21 PM, frame-it said:

that means you need to understand how focus peaking works, especially the difference between low and high peaking settings.

best explanation is on jim kassons site where he talks about 90mm APO summicron on fuji GFX and focus peaking.

I thankfully came across a comment on a YouTube video where it was suggested to use Focus Peaking in B&W mode, with the peaking color set to White.  It worked!  I'll stick to that mode from now on.  Most of my photography is B&W so using the B&W option works for me.  I'm seriously considering the M11 Monochrome.  At some point I will make the trip to Porto to checkout the camera and try it using the LCD on Focus Peaking mode.  Thanks for the suggestion, I will also look into it.    I used the 50mm ASPH Summilux for these shots, wide open. 

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[Derbyshire Man]

I find it best on B&W with red but I don't suppose it's critical! I remember the days when ENG cameras had monochrome viewfinders as the resolution was higher enabling better focussing. No idea how it's done today. Did an interview 2 weeks ago with a regional journalist for a national broadcaster and it was on an iPhone with a consumer DJI lapel mic. Crazy! Poor old sennheiser!

 

[jaapv]

On 9/17/2025 at 11:16 PM, wilfredo said:

 The responses here suggest that Focus Peaking is not reliable.  When using M lenses on my Sony, with Focus Peeking, more often than not I’m disappointed shooting wide open.  I’m very interested in the Leica M11 Monochrom, and was hoping that it had reliable Focus Peaking but apparently not.  I have 4 M mount lenses I would love to put back into use (I sold my M9 Monochrom) but I also don’t enjoy relying on the viewfinder either - which is why I mostly shoot with the Q2M these days. My eyesight as a 69 year old is not the best.  I would love to hear from anyone who is happy using Focus Peaking with their M11 Monochrom. 

The M11 Monochrom has extraordinary reliable rangefinder focusing. 

[wilfredo]

On 10/3/2025 at 5:06 PM, jaapv said:

The M11 Monochrom has extraordinary reliable rangefinder focusing. 

I look forward to testing it.  I wish there was a Leica store in Lisbon! 

[lct]

I guess you know this already but FWIW:
Leica Store Porto
Rua Sá da Bandeira 48
4000-427 Porto, Portugal
+351 22 766 4428
classic.pt@leica-camera.com
Source: https://classic.leica-camera.com/en/LEICA-STORES/Portugal/