M6 Mark II magnify focus with one button?

As an M5 user who often enjoys shooting with manual focus-only lenses, my only real complaint is how getting the EVF to magnify takes so many awkward control manipulations. It seems that the new M6 Mark II may permit customizing a button to turn on focus magnification with one press. Is that possible? I see from Canon’s marketing page that one of the customizable functions is “magnify/reduce” – however it’s not immediately clear if that refers to focusing or to image review.

Thanks in advance! This is hopefully an easy thing to determine if you have the camera handy. I searched through many YouTube videos about the M6 II but nobody seems to be as interested in the details of manual focusing as I am...

I have it mapped to the '*' button, it will cycle through 1x, 5x and 10x. So it won't be a single  push operation, it takes 2 pushes to get to 5x.

ISTR there's an option to make it go to 10x at once, have a look at the manual, it covers all that, and more.

koenkooi wrote:

I have it mapped to the '*' button

+1

it will cycle through 1x, 5x and 10x. So it won't be a single push operation, it takes 2 pushes to get to 5x.

Mine goes directly to 5x with one push. Then to 10x with a second push. Back to 1x with a third push.

I do wish that it would stay at the selected magnification level after taking the shot though (instead of going back to 1x).

R2

Thanks everyone! I do not have an M6 as I prefer a built-in EVF, but this makes me hopeful for a similar accommodation for manual focusing in the rumored M5 Mark II. (Or how about a firmware update for the current M5? Not holding my breath!)

hi, is there not a "button" on the bottom right corner of the touchscreen ?,  ie a magnifying glass icon. There is one on the m100 so i'd assume its a std feature on all cameras. Also if using the remote app a double press will magnify the focus area

happy pressing

jim

jim mij wrote:

hi, is there not a "button" on the bottom right corner of the touchscreen ?, ie a magnifying glass icon. There is one on the m100 so i'd assume its a std feature on all cameras. Also if using the remote app a double press will magnify the focus area

happy pressing

Same on the M-50 tap the magnifying glass and the magnification is 5% tap again @ 10% or use the front dial.

geru wrote:

jim mij wrote:

hi, is there not a "button" on the bottom right corner of the touchscreen ?, ie a magnifying glass icon. There is one on the m100 so i'd assume its a std feature on all cameras. Also if using the remote app a double press will magnify the focus area

happy pressing

Same on the M-50 tap the magnifying glass and the magnification is 5% tap again @ 10% or use the front dial.

I think you must mean 5x and 10x.

An actual physical button works much better for me.  That way I don't have to look where I'm "touching" (the ISO setting is right next to the Magnify "button" on the LCD screen).

R2

UrbanHobbit wrote:

As an M5 user who often enjoys shooting with manual focus-only lenses, my only real complaint is how getting the EVF to magnify takes so many awkward control manipulations. It seems that the new M6 Mark II may permit customizing a button to turn on focus magnification with one press. Is that possible? I see from Canon’s marketing page that one of the customizable functions is “magnify/reduce” – however it’s not immediately clear if that refers to focusing or to image review.

Thanks in advance! This is hopefully an easy thing to determine if you have the camera handy. I searched through many YouTube videos about the M6 II but nobody seems to be as interested in the details of manual focusing as I am...

On M6 I press the window-like button (under the *) and a square appears. Then turning the front dial magnifies 5x or 10x depending on the direction of turning the dial. I don't know there is a quicker way or not.

koenkooi wrote:

I have it mapped to the '*' button, it will cycle through 1x, 5x and 10x. So it won't be a single push operation, it takes 2 pushes to get to 5x.

ISTR there's an option to make it go to 10x at once, have a look at the manual, it covers all that, and more.

I've done exactly the same thing... to be clear, using the menus, in the "C,Fn III Operation/Others" ---- I assigned the magnification (magnifying glass icon) to the "Asterisk '*' button in the upper right on the M6 Mark II's camera back.

For me, when in manual focus mode, one press of the button gets me to 5x and the second to 10x, a third pushes goes back to normal. Faster than having to use a button and the dial.

I use magnification a lot, sometimes I will put on the EF-S 55-250 IS STM with a 1.5x or 2x teleconverter, switch it to manual focus, and use the 10x zoom to get an awesome, high quality image-stabilized 'digital telescope' of roughly 150x! A 500mm lens would be roughly 10x power on full frame, multiply by crop sensor factor 1.6x to get 16x, but then multiply by the 10x magnification zoom to get 160x! In reality the teleconverter probably isn't quite 2x, so 150x is probably more realistic. Better than a good pair of binoculars, plus it can also zoom with a zoom lens!

Larry Rexley wrote:

sometimes I will put on the EF-S 55-250 IS STM with a 1.5x or 2x teleconverter, switch it to manual focus, and use the 10x zoom to get an awesome, high quality image-stabilized 'digital telescope' of roughly 150x! A 500mm lens would be roughly 10x power on full frame, multiply by crop sensor factor 1.6x to get 16x, but then multiply by the 10x magnification zoom to get 160x! In reality the teleconverter probably isn't quite 2x, so 150x is probably more realistic. Better than a good pair of binoculars, plus it can also zoom with a zoom lens!

Plus you can then just hit the shutter for a hard copy!!  

R2

IoannisZ wrote:

I don't think that you can do a better job with a lens than a pair of binoculars.

Two entirely different best use cases.

I sometimes like to carry a pair of nice wide-angle binoculars on a hike if I'm anticipating small birds in heavy forest/vegetation.  Easier to spot and follow the little guys through the trees and underbrush than with a very narrow AOV telephoto lens.  Also, it can be hard to pick up critters with an EVF/OVF in some lighting conditions.

OTOH if the birds/wildlife are more distant, then the camera has the clear advantage.  I often snap an image of something, then review and zoom way in to identify.  Having the ability to magnify provides waaay more resolution than a pair of binocs alone.

R2

Tapping 2 times on the LCD magnifies the image 10 times (as on the R5 and probably most Canon mirrorless) but not when you look through the EVF. The M6II lacks a magnify button so you need to reassign one.

Larry Rexley wrote:

koenkooi wrote:

I have it mapped to the '*' button, it will cycle through 1x, 5x and 10x. So it won't be a single push operation, it takes 2 pushes to get to 5x.

ISTR there's an option to make it go to 10x at once, have a look at the manual, it covers all that, and more.

I've done exactly the same thing... to be clear, using the menus, in the "C,Fn III Operation/Others" ---- I assigned the magnification (magnifying glass icon) to the "Asterisk '*' button in the upper right on the M6 Mark II's camera back.

For me, when in manual focus mode, one press of the button gets me to 5x and the second to 10x, a third pushes goes back to normal. Faster than having to use a button and the dial.

I use magnification a lot, sometimes I will put on the EF-S 55-250 IS STM with a 1.5x or 2x teleconverter, switch it to manual focus, and use the 10x zoom to get an awesome, high quality image-stabilized 'digital telescope' of roughly 150x! A 500mm lens would be roughly 10x power on full frame, multiply by crop sensor factor 1.6x to get 16x, but then multiply by the 10x magnification zoom to get 160x! In reality the teleconverter probably isn't quite 2x, so 150x is probably more realistic. Better than a good pair of binoculars, plus it can also zoom with a zoom lens!

heh - that's brilliant.

I tried it a minute ago with a tamron 18-400 - so 400mm x 1.6 x 10 => 6400mm.

I only need a zoom button when using the EVF and there is a useless button on the EVF, I hope it would be possible to customize this button...