DPReview.com is closing April 10th - Find out more

Focus peaking, new m6 mk ii

Started 4 months ago | Questions
ihgold2 Regular Member • Posts: 163
Focus peaking, new m6 mk ii

Hi,

Should I see focus peaking when I select 5x and 10x magnification?  I do with my m5, but I don't seem to with my new m6 ii.

I'm not sure, but hopefully the images below illustrate what I'm asking.

Focus peaking is obvious in both

Clearly see red focus peaking with M5 but not with M6 ii

Again, seeing 'red' with M5 but not M6 ii

Exposure settings are not exactly the same, but I don't think anything is different which would affect focus or peaking?  In each camera, the focus peaking settings are the same, as far as I know.
Does this look like expected behavior?
Thanks,
-ira

 ihgold2's gear list:ihgold2's gear list
Canon EOS M5 Canon EOS M6 II Canon EF 70-200mm F4L IS USM Samyang 12mm F2.0 NCS CS Tamron SP 90mm F2.8 Di VC USD Macro +2 more
ANSWER:
Canon EOS M6
If you believe there are incorrect tags, please send us this post using our feedback form.
m100
m100 Senior Member • Posts: 2,048
Re: Focus peaking, new m6 mk ii
1

ihgold2 wrote:

Hi,

Should I see focus peaking when I select 5x and 10x magnification? I do with my m5, but I don't seem to with my new m6 ii.

I'm not sure, but hopefully the images below illustrate what I'm asking.

Focus peaking is obvious in both

Clearly see red focus peaking with M5 but not with M6 ii

Again, seeing 'red' with M5 but not M6 ii

Exposure settings are not exactly the same, but I don't think anything is different which would affect focus or peaking? In each camera, the focus peaking settings are the same, as far as I know.
Does this look like expected behavior?
Thanks,
-ira

That is how it works now.  My M100 did focus peaking in magnified view too.  M50 did not.  M6II does not.

-- hide signature --

Dr. says listen to this every morning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEeaS6fuUoA

 m100's gear list:m100's gear list
Canon EOS M6 II
selected answer This post was selected as the answer by the original poster.
OP ihgold2 Regular Member • Posts: 163
Re: Focus peaking, new m6 mk ii
1

m100 wrote:

That is how it works now. My M100 did focus peaking in magnified view too. M50 did not. M6II does not.

Thank you very much for the quick reply!  It's too bad as it seems like a loss of functionality.  But I'm glad to know that it's not something wrong with my camera 

 ihgold2's gear list:ihgold2's gear list
Canon EOS M5 Canon EOS M6 II Canon EF 70-200mm F4L IS USM Samyang 12mm F2.0 NCS CS Tamron SP 90mm F2.8 Di VC USD Macro +2 more
StevenSHH
StevenSHH Contributing Member • Posts: 609
Re: Focus peaking, new m6 mk ii

Check firmware, it should be 1.1.1 since it's a new one. Have fun and explore all the features - make sure to enable digital stabilizer for any video mode - if you do video without gimbal, cage, handles.

-- hide signature --

Have fun with photography! Start taking photos!!

 StevenSHH's gear list:StevenSHH's gear list
Canon EOS M6 II Canon EF 24-70mm F4L IS USM Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6 IS STM Canon EF-M 32mm F1.4
OP ihgold2 Regular Member • Posts: 163
Re: Focus peaking, new m6 mk ii

StevenSHH wrote:

Check firmware, it should be 1.1.1 since it's a new one. Have fun and explore all the features - make sure to enable digital stabilizer for any video mode - if you do video without gimbal, cage, handles.

Thanks for the tips.  Grabbing the latest firmware now.

 ihgold2's gear list:ihgold2's gear list
Canon EOS M5 Canon EOS M6 II Canon EF 70-200mm F4L IS USM Samyang 12mm F2.0 NCS CS Tamron SP 90mm F2.8 Di VC USD Macro +2 more
OP ihgold2 Regular Member • Posts: 163
Re: Focus peaking, new m6 mk ii

Focus peaking is obvious in both

Clearly see red focus peaking with M5 but not with M6 ii

Follow up question: why does the aperture indicator turn red while zoomed in?  Is it simply to indicate that I'm zoomed in, or is there something else it's trying to tell me?

 ihgold2's gear list:ihgold2's gear list
Canon EOS M5 Canon EOS M6 II Canon EF 70-200mm F4L IS USM Samyang 12mm F2.0 NCS CS Tamron SP 90mm F2.8 Di VC USD Macro +2 more
User1303423862 Senior Member • Posts: 1,070
Re: Focus peaking, new m6 mk ii

ihgold2 wrote:

Clearly see red focus peaking with M5 but not with M6 ii

Follow up question: why does the aperture indicator turn red while zoomed in? Is it simply to indicate that I'm zoomed in, or is there something else it's trying to tell me?

If you had ISO locked at 200, it's indicating the aperture is too small for correct exposure - I think. Someone who knows better will be along if I'm wrong.

-- hide signature --

I am not a number. I am a free man.
How the heck did I end up with this username?

 User1303423862's gear list:User1303423862's gear list
Canon EOS R Canon EOS M6 II Canon EF-M 22mm f/2 STM Canon EF-M 28mm F3.5 Macro IS STM Canon 70-300 F4-5.6 IS II +4 more
OP ihgold2 Regular Member • Posts: 163
Re: Focus peaking, new m6 mk ii

User1303423862 wrote:

ihgold2 wrote:

Clearly see red focus peaking with M5 but not with M6 ii

Follow up question: why does the aperture indicator turn red while zoomed in? Is it simply to indicate that I'm zoomed in, or is there something else it's trying to tell me?

If you had ISO locked at 200, it's indicating the aperture is too small for correct exposure - I think. Someone who knows better will be along if I'm wrong.

Oh, yes, of course.  Thank you.

 ihgold2's gear list:ihgold2's gear list
Canon EOS M5 Canon EOS M6 II Canon EF 70-200mm F4L IS USM Samyang 12mm F2.0 NCS CS Tamron SP 90mm F2.8 Di VC USD Macro +2 more
Larry Rexley Senior Member • Posts: 1,238
Re: Focus peaking, new m6 mk ii

ihgold2 wrote:

m100 wrote:

That is how it works now. My M100 did focus peaking in magnified view too. M50 did not. M6II does not.

Thank you very much for the quick reply! It's too bad as it seems like a loss of functionality. But I'm glad to know that it's not something wrong with my camera

Correct, this is how it works on the newer M models. I don't mind it as when I was trying to do critical focus with the magnifier I found focus peaking on the original M6 distracting.

Note that focus peaking apparently is implemented only at the 'display' level either on the EVF or rear of the camera -- -my understanding is that it is applied on the display output and not on the original high-res image before downsampling it for display output.

As the display output is lower resolution than the camera sensor, this means that focus peaking is only approximate, and not nearly as precise as using the magnified view.

I've had several lenses that were very unforgiving about focus misses.... they were quite sharp lenses that had a short lens focus throw --- meaning they were hard to focus to the exact right spot. The slightest tweak of focus and they would get kicked off perfect focus. Sometimes you even had to focus them several times --- letting go of the focus ring while still checking focus, to make sure the focus didn't shift when you released tension on the ring.

Those lenses HAD to be focused using 10x magnification when used at max aperture - focus peaking wasn't precise enough to get a perfect focus. I got a lot of unsharp images before realizing this.

The lenses that did/do this were an adapted Nikon 35mm f1.8 DX f1.8G lens, an adapted Yashica 50mm f1.7 lens, and the Laowa 9mm f2.8 lens. Very sharp AF EF-M lenses would probably do this too (the Siggy 56 and Canon EF_M 32) if used in manual focus mode, I would guess.

 Larry Rexley's gear list:Larry Rexley's gear list
Canon EOS M6 II Canon EOS M200 Canon EF-M 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Canon EF-M 22mm f/2 STM Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6 IS STM +21 more
koenkooi Contributing Member • Posts: 919
Re: Focus peaking, new m6 mk ii

Larry Rexley wrote:[...]

Note that focus peaking apparently is implemented only at the 'display' level either on the EVF or rear of the camera -- -my understanding is that it is applied on the display output and not on the original high-res image before downsampling it for display output.

As the display output is lower resolution than the camera sensor, this means that focus peaking is only approximate, and not nearly as precise as using the magnified view.[...]

As far as I know every feature in the EVF is implemented that way, including the histogram. Since the EVF seems to be 8-bit, you can't use the histogram to do things like proper ETTR when shooting in RAW.

After a while you can estimate how much headroom you still have when the histogram says you're clipping, but it would be nice to have an option to see the 'real' histogram.

 koenkooi's gear list:koenkooi's gear list
Canon EOS 7D Canon EOS M Canon EOS M6 II Canon EOS R5 Canon EF 85mm F1.8 USM +20 more
R2D2 Forum Pro • Posts: 26,528
Re: Focus peaking, new m6 mk ii
1

koenkooi wrote:

Larry Rexley wrote:[...]

Note that focus peaking apparently is implemented only at the 'display' level either on the EVF or rear of the camera -- -my understanding is that it is applied on the display output and not on the original high-res image before downsampling it for display output.

As the display output is lower resolution than the camera sensor, this means that focus peaking is only approximate, and not nearly as precise as using the magnified view.[...]

As far as I know every feature in the EVF is implemented that way, including the histogram. Since the EVF seems to be 8-bit, you can't use the histogram to do things like proper ETTR when shooting in RAW.

After a while you can estimate how much headroom you still have when the histogram says you're clipping, but it would be nice to have an option to see the 'real' histogram.

It’s because the histogram reflects your Picture Style settings.  Change your Picture Style and your histogram “headroom” changes with it.

R2

-- hide signature --

Good judgment comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgment.
http://www.pbase.com/jekyll_and_hyde/galleries

 R2D2's gear list:R2D2's gear list
Canon EOS M6 Canon EOS M6 II Canon EOS R5 Canon EOS R6 Canon EOS R7 +1 more
Keyboard shortcuts:
FForum MMy threads