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Archive 2016 · Is my lens too good or is focus peaking? - Everything is sharp (?!)

  
 
igmolinav
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Is my lens too good or is focus peaking? - Everything is sharp (?!)


Hi,

I am using a Sony A7ii camera. I have enabled in it
the focus peaking capability. It is amazing! At the
moment I am using an old Canon Rangefinder lens.
This lens was made in the early 60's if I am not
mistaken and it can go as wide open as f/1.5

To my amazement I have not had to focus and then
stop down. I mean, I just focus at a fixed chosen aperture
as long as the image is reasonably bright in the viewfinder.
Using the camera in 'S' mode I have been shooting
mainly at f/5.6 or wider open.

What has amazed me the most, is that when focusing,
focus peaking shows or 'declares' that things in two
or three different planes are in focus at the same time!
So, a dog, a person, and a chair are sitting or standing
in different planes with one or two meters difference among
each other and still focus peaking will throw a 'white
snow' on all of them to signalize (perhaps) that all of
them are in focus. (**I chose white as the color for for
focus peaking).

I find that quite ok for that particular shot. However,
if I wanted to have the focus peaking on only one person,
it has become harder. Don't get me wrong, I am
fascinated at this feature, it is only that I would like
sometimes just to have the focus peaking at one
particular point or plane, and not many, in order to be able
to blur front and background.

Perhaps it is not focus peaking, perhaps this lens is just very
sharp compared to the plasticky lenses I have mainly used
for the past ten years.

Thank you, kind regards,

igmolinav : ) !!!







Jul 21, 2016 at 10:36 AM
JonPB
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Is my lens too good or is focus peaking? - Everything is sharp (?!)


Focus peaking is like every other focusing tool -- it has strengths and weaknesses, and understanding how it works will help you get the most from it.

I think it is important to understand that focus peaking is not precise. It isn't even about focus. Rather, it indicates areas that have strong edge contrast. So, if you take it outside and point the camera toward trees in direct midday sun, all of those hard edges will be "peaked" even when quite out of focus; but, if you try to focus on a soft object in soft light, you'll only get a faint glimmer of peaking when the focus plane passes through the subject.

For my use, focus peaking -- at least the early Sony implementations that I've used -- is great for quick work, such as when checking whether a hyperfocal setting is sane, but is just distracting when working slowly and trying to focus precisely. I'd like to see focus peaking with variable strength (e.g., no more than 5% of pixels on the display are peaked) and/or with a heat map (e.g., orange for somewhat hard edges, red for hard edges, and white for very hard edges). Mostly, though, while I shared your enthusiasm when I first started using it, I found myself reverting to magnification to verify focus for most of my shooting. But then, my subjects and output may vary considerably from yours, so by all means continue to use it if it works for you.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,
Jon



Jul 21, 2016 at 12:48 PM
roger lund
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Is my lens too good or is focus peaking? - Everything is sharp (?!)


I'll only add that I've noticed my Fuji does a better job of peaking than other camera brands I've used.


Jul 24, 2016 at 10:58 AM
Coltrane
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Is my lens too good or is focus peaking? - Everything is sharp (?!)


I have a Sony A6000, and for me focus peaking stinks. What works great is focus magnification. When I use magnification, every shot is perfectly in focus. You may want to try this.


Jul 24, 2016 at 11:02 AM
Beni
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Is my lens too good or is focus peaking? - Everything is sharp (?!)


Peaking sucks for stills.


Jul 24, 2016 at 11:38 AM
jcolwell
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Is my lens too good or is focus peaking? - Everything is sharp (?!)


I have no trouble getting accurate focus for still photos with Alt lenses, using AF peaking on my Fujifilm X-E2 camera.


Jul 24, 2016 at 02:10 PM
arduluth
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Is my lens too good or is focus peaking? - Everything is sharp (?!)




Beni wrote:
Peaking sucks for stills.


I wouldn't go that far, but it's not a magic bullet, and you need to know about its limitations if you're going to use it effectively. If you don't learn how to work with it, it'll be frustrating.



Jul 24, 2016 at 08:16 PM
roger lund
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Is my lens too good or is focus peaking? - Everything is sharp (?!)


I will add that it makes a difference as a to the lens used.

Beni wrote:
Peaking sucks for stills.




Jul 25, 2016 at 08:25 AM
jankap
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Is my lens too good or is focus peaking? - Everything is sharp (?!)


JonPB wrote:
Mostly, though, while I shared your enthusiasm when I first started using it, I found myself reverting to magnification to verify focus for most of my shooting.
Cheers,
Jon


This is my finding with the Ricoh M-mount too. The better focus is with the magnification.
Ricoh offers two modes: skeleton and dancing ants. The first one mentioned I use seldom.
Jan



Jul 25, 2016 at 03:47 PM
joychris
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Is my lens too good or is focus peaking? - Everything is sharp (?!)


igmolinav wrote:
What has amazed me the most, is that when focusing,
focus peaking shows or 'declares' that things in two
or three different planes are in focus at the same time!
So, a dog, a person, and a chair are sitting or standing
in different planes with one or two meters difference among
each other and still focus peaking will throw a 'white
snow' on all of them to signalize (perhaps) that all of
them are in focus. (**I chose white as the color for for
focus peaking).


I get what's in the focus plane highlighted by peaking. Are you saying you get more highlighted? If that's the case it would seem like something is off. Here's a quick phone snap showing the yellow peaking outlining only what's in the plane. Stuff in front or behind shouldn't be highlighted.







Jul 25, 2016 at 04:31 PM
freaklikeme
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Is my lens too good or is focus peaking? - Everything is sharp (?!)


Since FP is contrast-based, there's a lot that can "fool" it, particularly if you're using a wider angle on a broad land/cityscape or a low contrast lens at or near wide open. To me, it works best if you've got time to make your focus changes very slowly so you can look for the peak of the peak. In some shooting scenarios, that can take just as long as checking focus with magnification, so there's no real advantage to using it there. Personally, I find the EVF's in the a7 series to be good enough that I can get as close to in focus without peaking as I can with, and then it's just a quick magnification check to be sure. For moving subjects, I don't find either solution very helpful, so prefocus and timing are still my best friends there.


Jul 25, 2016 at 04:34 PM
dalite
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Is my lens too good or is focus peaking? - Everything is sharp (?!)


arduluth wrote:
I wouldn't go that far, but it's not a magic bullet, and you need to know about its limitations if you're going to use it effectively. If you don't learn how to work with it, it'll be frustrating.

_______
Agree. And as a previous poster writes, edge contrast can light up objects that are located in different planes. So it does take a little bit of practice.



Jul 28, 2016 at 12:37 AM
dalite
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Is my lens too good or is focus peaking? - Everything is sharp (?!)


jankap wrote:
This is my finding with the Ricoh M-mount too. The better focus is with the magnification.
Ricoh offers two modes: skeleton and dancing ants. The first one mentioned I use seldom.
Jan

___________
Or, in the case of Sony, use both FP and Magnification. Except that Sony's menu system, at least for the latter function, is somewhat awkward. I suppose one can customize one of the buttons in back of the camera for Magnification, but still the positioning of those buttons do not, IMO, represent the best ergonomics unless one takes photos by shooting with the LCD instead of the EVF. Most of us shoot viewing through the EVF or Optical viewfinder most of the time.



Jul 28, 2016 at 01:03 AM
darrellc
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Is my lens too good or is focus peaking? - Everything is sharp (?!)


I also find focus peaking accuracy varies by lens, from very accurate to worthless.

With my Zeiss ZM Sonnar 50/1.5, I can nail focus with focus peaking at close to 100% for normal viewing and more often that not it is sharp at pixel level, at 100% magnification.

My Loxia 35/2 is also really accurate with focus peaking.

Some of my other lenses are hopeless and I never bother with focus peaking.

I started a thread here a few years ago asking what technical characteristics of lenses supported focus peaking, and what lenses possessed those. Got a few answers and suggestions, but would like to hear more now from all of you that know way more than me.


roger lund wrote:
I will add that it makes a difference as a to the lens used.






Jul 28, 2016 at 02:14 AM
justruss
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Is my lens too good or is focus peaking? - Everything is sharp (?!)


In order to be able to use focus peaking effectively-- you need to understand how it works. And it doesn't work by magic.

Knowing how it works, I don't use it for still images.

There are too many variables at play, and the controls not granular enough for me to get where I'd like it. Further: I find focus magnification superior in almost every case, and I find peaking, even when it works perfectly, interferes with my on-the-fly use of the EVF to evaluate light, color, composition.




Jul 28, 2016 at 04:17 AM
Blutengelnouta
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Is my lens too good or is focus peaking? - Everything is sharp (?!)


For perfect focus, use focus magnification. I've bound it to to C1. The middle button inside the ring back on the camera also does this when AF is turned off.

For when focus magnification isn't desired, set focus peaking to "red" and "low". This makes it much more accurate, but you still need to look for the peak of the peak. When it turns red you need to keep focusing a little more until it starts to get less red and then focus back a bit again.

A neat trick which is the quickest and most certain way to confirm focus is to set the "sharpness" setting of the picture setting to the highest, this will make all sharp borders, i.e. what is in focus, "flicker". If you shoot jpeg I presume all pictures will be over-sharpened however, so this is for raw shooters. This trick will consistently yield very good results.



Jul 28, 2016 at 05:27 AM





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