The peaking mode with old fast lens ...

[InTheSky]

I don't know for you ... but for me this change almost all the way I can work with my old gear.

I cannot wait to get the Nex 7, but for the moment the Nex 5 with with last firmware allow me the enjoy this new feature.

I have played today working to a restaurant on the street with the old 58mm 1.2 and I'm pretty sure that auto focus will not have been fast as it was manually, this is pretty impressive. The only wrong side I saw today, it that in very bright day ... the lcd can be some time difficult to see. But ... the good invention of the hand was able to do the shadow it needs to compensate .

Here is some picture taken walking with a group a people (I didn't stop, so the result is for me natural angle ).

All taken at F2.8, in P mode ISO set to 200, and average light calculation, not PP, directly convert from RAW in Lightroom:









This lens stay probably one of my preferable out of focus effect, even if at F1.2 it is not tight sharp, but it become mostly completely fix at F2.0.

For the moment, I set the Peaking mode to High and choose the Yellow color, for me It was the best on the street today. But day before It was on the white color. I hope there will be more adjustment on this feature in the future. Link allowing to make the color Peak surrounding to blink ... or be kind of bold shadowing.

If you have not tried yet the feature, I strongly invite you do do. Once you master your manual lens (setting the aperture quickly to your choice) you will probably not need to play with other setting inside the camera.

Regards,

Frank

[Dr. Harout]

Nice input Frank. It's a feature I would like to have, and one of the reasons to upgrade/update to a77 (in the near future, inshaAllah, as Pako would say ).

[[SiC]]

Seems like a very nice feature

[Birma]

I totally agree with Frank. The focus peaking, and the MF assist mode, make using any lens in MF on the Nex very easy. Other than for quick snaps or sometimes trying to follow fast objects, I'm only using MF on my Nex. The 3" 'viewfinder' helps as well . I'm using red as my peaking colour as I'm mainly shooting green things at the moment. Good job you can change the colour.

[twm47099]

On the Dpreview NEX forum there were some comments that "peaking" did not work as well as MF using magnification. As is typical on dpreview the responses ranged from - "learn how to use your camera, fool" to some discussion of how peaking works.

I've not used peaking before, but would be interested in reading some comments from those who have used it and when it is better than MF (with and without magnification), when it is not, is it useful for moving subjects, and anything else to shed some light. I'd ask the same question on dpreview, but I already know the type of answers and off topic discussion what would result.

A little of my background. I was trained as a metallographic photo-microscopist. In the past I have not been able to MF as easily with an camera EVF compared with a good OVF (something about my ability to see fine detail "pop" as I focus - I don't typically look for contrast changes in coarse detail, but look for very fine detail to pop out), I cannot use the focusing light in the VF of Minolta or Sony cameras to tell when something is in focus (I overshoot when relying on them due to an apparent time delay compared with speed I change the focus ring position), and I use MF cameras that have had the focus aid (split image or micro-prism) replaced with a plain matte or grid screen.

Thanks in advance

tom

[AnthonyC]

On the Dpreview NEX forum there were some comments that "peaking" did not work as well as MF using magnification.
A little of my background. I was trained as a metallographic photo-microscopist. In the past I have not been able to MF as easily with an camera EVF compared with a good OVF (something about my ability to see fine detail "pop" as I focus

Hi Tom - I'm not sure if this will help, but I agree with the comment that peaking is not as good as MF at x7 and x14. In particular x7 has transformed my photography, x14 is sometimes too much. However all three options have their place. x7 and x14 take time and if time is limited peaking is useful. When using peaking I usually use the red setting on maximum strength.

Last week I was photographing close to the front of a church with a house (40 m away) in the background. The subject was the house and I was not bothered if the church was in focus. Peaking (white church, white house) indicated that both were sharp. I took the photo and inspected the sharpness of the house - it was very fuzzy and the church was sharp. I repeated the shot using x14 on the house - perfect. (Other details: NEX-5, Pentax 24 mm f2.8 MF lens at f11 and Novoflex NEX/PENT adapter)

Taking flower macros I have noticed that peaking does not always work, although when it does it is useful. I stopped using a tripod some years ago and sway with the movement of the plant. Depending on conditions this gives me a reasonable success rate. When peaking does work it increases my success rate.

I much prefer the hinged EVF to any OVF I have used because it frees me from having to hold the camera at eye level - something I would almost never do nowadays. I hope never to have to return to an OVF.

My evaluation of peaking will take many more months and these are just a few instances. Incidentally I am also a metallurgist and trained as a photo-microscopist!

Tony

[pakodominguez]

On the Dpreview NEX forum there were some comments that "peaking" did not work as well as MF using magnification. As is typical on dpreview the responses ranged from - "learn how to use your camera, fool" to some discussion of how peaking works.

Hi Tom

I use both combined. Peaking is definitely nice, but it is not perfect. Specially with wideangle lenses...

[InTheSky]

In fast action, there is no way to use the 7x. But I admit for stable subject, the peaking will help for the first step of the process to obtain sharp picture, after that you can click on the 7 or 14x and get the 100% pixels detail picture result. But I'm sure that for a kid running in the room, nobody will be able to focus with the Zoom option (or waiting on a specific depth of field and taking the picture when the subject is in the target ... but even there the Sony Nex 3 or 5 is too slow for my experience to take the picture at that precise moment).

The pictures in the first post, are all done when walking at a quick speed following a group of people. The is mostly on that day that I realise the power of the peaking in that situation.

And for bad lighting condition, the contrast will never be proper there ... so eye on the viewfinder trying to get the good focus plane will still remain.

Regards,

Frank

[twm47099]

Thanks to all for the explanation of peaking.

Tom