focus peeking, or not?

[sinjun]

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As has been said before, focus peaking shows the high contrast edges rather than absolute sharpness. Unless you have a definite subject to your shot, the right focus is generally a compromise which gives the best sharpness for the range of image elements of most interest. In the past, with a wide angle lens, I've often focussed on infinity and stopped down so that depth of field will ensure nothing is obviously out of focus. With focus peaking, you can do better than that - by focussing back and forth you can find the position which yields the best overall contrast in the elements of most interest by paying attention to the extent of the coloured peaking highlights. 

[IkarusJohn]

@lct does make an. Interesting point - most of the time, I strive to find the best plain of focus, whereas in rare circumstances the peaking will show the depth of field with reasonable accuracy.  In those circumstances, getting the entire subject in acceptable focus is more useful than having a precise plain of focus, but shallow depth of field which does not adequately include the subject.

For me, it has been a rare occurrence as, while it is appealing watching the shimmering outline move backwards and forwards, it is usually too depth and it is only marginally accurate.  I’ve come to the conclusion it’s a distracting gimmick on the TL2, SL and M10-D (if only I could switch it off on the last).

Edited August 14 by IkarusJohn

[steve edmunds]

6 hours ago, pgk said:

Given that the most precise focus system for the set of focal lengths stated is the rangefinder, I'm a bit baffled by the idea of trying to use focus peaking instead. There are always exceptions of course, when subject matter is unsuited to the rangefinder, but rangefinders work very effectively for wide-angle lenses which can be difficult to precisely focus on both dSLR and EVF cameras. Accurate wide angle focus is one of the strengths of Leica M cameras so why use another, inferior system to focus them?

in my case as clearly stated it was on my Q2 ,obviously on my M262 i use the RF which of course is all that is available on that model.

i was curious as to how to deal with most of the image lighting up when using peaking at say F11 with my Q2.

[pop]

8 minutes ago, steve edmunds said:

when using peaking at say F11

Don't use peaking at F11.

[lct]

6 minutes ago, pop said:

Don't use peaking at F11.

Too late 😉

M11, Macro-Adapter 14652, Summilux 50/1.4 asph v1, f/11 (or f/16)

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[pgk]

10 hours ago, pop said:

Don't use peaking at F11.

Indeed, focus peaking is imprecise at small apertures, which, contrary to what some seem to think, still requires accurate placement of the plane of focus to obtain the optimum depth of field. If, that is, that people are bothered about such things these days.

[lct]

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As far as my lenses are concerned, focus peaking + focus magnification work fine from 15mm to 135mm. Here M11 + Heliar 15/4.5 v2 at f/11.

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[steve edmunds]

23 hours ago, pop said:

Don't use peaking at F11.

i have never used focus peaking before on my mamiya c330 and minolta x-700 or leica m262 it was not available so when i tried it on my Q2 it seemed to light up a lot of the subject.

so i asked about it on here and got some good replies and your smug and condescending reply as well.

[kiwidad]

On 8/12/2025 at 5:14 PM, steve edmunds said:

my problem with focus peaking is that lots of areas light up from infinity to fairly close points of the image? so how do you know which part is the focus point?

thats because your shooting at a smaller aperture. It's showing what's in focus. Peaking works best a wider apertures. 

[pgk]

On 8/14/2025 at 8:44 PM, IkarusJohn said:

@lct does make an. Interesting point - most of the time, I strive to find the best plain of focus, whereas in rare circumstances the peaking will show the depth of field with reasonable accuracy.  In those circumstances, getting the entire subject in acceptable focus is more useful than having a precise plain of focus, but shallow depth of field which does not adequately include the subject.

For me, it has been a rare occurrence as, while it is appealing watching the shimmering outline move backwards and forwards, it is usually too depth and it is only marginally accurate.  I’ve come to the conclusion it’s a distracting gimmick on the TL2, SL and M10-D (if only I could switch it off on the last).

At small apertures focus peaking is akin to using the depth of field button on an SLR and, if you've used one of these you will know that it provides merely an approximation of what is likely to be included within the depth of field. But the depth of field button, as its name implies, was never intended to be used to assess focus accuracy and as Pop commented (😉) focus peaking at small apertures isn't really very useful and certainly not as a focus system. Just because a 'new' mechanism exists and is digital does not mean to say that it is any different from similar mechanical mechanisms, nor that it magically provides better and more usable information.

[250swb]

If M cameras had auto focus you could at least put the little square over the subject and keep finger pressure on the shutter button while composing the shot. And on this forum you'd get a massive discussion and pontification about the merits of manual or auto focus. So clearly under those circumstances people would have an opinion about what the subject being photographed is and it being critically sharp.

So why now is there now a school of thought that says being able to focus accurately on something isn't necessary? Close is good enough for some people, which is what using a small f/stop and focus peaking gets you on your expensive camera with expensive lenses. Have the guidelines of photography changed, don't we still focus on the nearest eye and not the nearest ear? Critical focus on the key element in the picture is not just something technical it's also the focus of the idea behind the photograph, and if you don't know where the critical focus is then by default you've got no idea.

[lct]

As i've shown above, focus peaking + focus magnification can work well at small apertures with WA and even UWA lenses. Not to say that it works badly at full aperture or with tele lenses, rather the opposite actually. Here M11 + Apo-Telyt 135/3.4 at f/3.4.

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Edited August 16 by lct

[M11 for me]

Am 14.8.2025 um 23:13 schrieb pop:

Don't use peaking at F11.

This a main point to my understanding.

In my experience, using an M camera with Visoflex, it makes sense to open the aperture fully and focus only now. You have now a good chance not to see the peaking throughout your whole sceene. This is then useless of course mainly when you use 28mm or wider. Now after you have set your focus right then close your aperture to whatever you need. But do so only after focussing.

For M users it is faster to use the rangefinder for the focussing process and only after this process you can go back to LV on the screen or you can use Visoflex2.

[MindsEye]

20 hours ago, steve edmunds said:

i have never used focus peaking before on my mamiya c330 and minolta x-700 or leica m262 it was not available so when i tried it on my Q2 it seemed to light up a lot of the subject.

so i asked about it on here and got some good replies and your smug and condescending reply as well.

I have a Q3 which probably works similarly to your Q2. I also have an M11. On the M11 I rarely use peaking but ironically, on the M11, peaking is easier to use than the Q3. I may be missing a setting on the Q3 but in manual focus, it stays wide open regardless of aperture setting unless I simultaneously hold the shutter button halfway. Then I can see the peaking change to reflect the increased depth of field but not in magnified view because it pops out of mag view with the half shutter press. Where you set peaking sensitivity will also have an effect. If it's on High you'll get an awful lot of red (or whatever color you are using) Personally I like the Med setting best on my Q3

Whereas the M11 shows more red as I stop down indicating the increased depth of field without the half shutter press AND works in magnified view.

Practically speaking, at least for me, the peaking doesn't add that much if using magnified view on the Q3. In regular view it might be somewhat useful as confirmation for depth of field at a given aperture.

Edited August 16 by MindsEye

[250swb]

Even using hyper focal focusing using the lens scale would be more accurate than focus peaking with small apertures because you can at least guess the distance to the thing that you hope is going to be sharp and use the one third in front and two thirds behind the subject rule for DOF.

[IkarusJohn]

15 hours ago, pgk said:

At small apertures focus peaking is akin to using the depth of field button on an SLR and, if you've used one of these you will know that it provides merely an approximation of what is likely to be included within the depth of field. But the depth of field button, as its name implies, was never intended to be used to assess focus accuracy and as Pop commented (😉) focus peaking at small apertures isn't really very useful and certainly not as a focus system. Just because a 'new' mechanism exists and is digital does not mean to say that it is any different from similar mechanical mechanisms, nor that it magically provides better and more usable information.

I never found that depth of field button useful.

[jaapv]

3 hours ago, 250swb said:

Even using hyper focal focusing using the lens scale would be more accurate than focus peaking with small apertures because you can at least guess the distance to the thing that you hope is going to be sharp and use the one third in front and two thirds behind the subject rule for DOF.

The DOF 1/3rd:2/3rd is only valid close up.  On longer distances it approaches 1:1. Making it even more difficult to eyeball it. However, Focus Peaking mimics DOF, results should be similar. Still, I got good results by finding a structured area in the intended plane of focus and "walking" the focus peaking up and down to judge the actual focus.