Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2015/11/15

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Subject: [Leica] The SL
From: roark.paul at gmail.com (Paul Roark)
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 2015 08:29:30 -0800
References: <CAE3QcF4MZA6U2X08d9NTod0MXUBiEvQROxAH1zu-LAhCBkStrg@mail.gmail.com> <DD370B92-B204-4FF6-A610-0E2E851D912C@verizon.net> <CAJ3Pgh4GEtu23fBxF=yiQybbLprjrOq7_BeMe-NeisvN7VDQJw@mail.gmail.com> <CAAsXt4OCh8zfrAhA4M+yL7HDbUok1wymXdE59ZSeRLUiG8V7vQ@mail.gmail.com>

Bob,

To put my earlier comment in context, I almost never use "focus peaking" at
all.  The two most accurate focusing approaches I've seen with the Sony a7r
series is, first, an accurately set infinity stop on a manual focus lens,
and second, the magnifier.  The only Sony AF lens I have is the 35mm
f/2.8.  The Sony AF seems to do a good job with that when it is wide open,
but at f/8, its percentage of hits goes down significantly.  The model 2 is
better than the first one, but I still rely on MF and the magnifier mostly.

I suspect many on this forum who have mastered rangefinder street shooting
will find the mirrorless camera focusing second rate.

As to the tilts, I have been a huge fan of the Canon Tilt Shift series, but
now I'm finding stacking of multiple shots with different focus points is
what I usually use.  What I call "dual focus" shooting is now almost my
norm.  This involves taking two quick shots, one focused on the near point
of interest and the second on the distant point.  This second point is very
often "infinity."  That is where the hard MF infinity stop becomes so
important.  It makes the process very fast and thus holds movement in hand
held shots to a minimum.

Optimizing sharpness with these high MP sensors is tough.  There is no
DOF.  At the pixel level minute focus changes even at f/8 are visible if
one pixel peeps the image on the monitor.

So, the question is where to put the paper-thin peak focus.  Everything
being a compromise, I find a close point of interest and the distant
background being tack sharp gives the best sense of depth and dimension to
my B&W landscape shots.  But that's a matter of style of shooting that just
seems to work for me.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com

On Sat, Nov 14, 2015 at 10:11 PM, Robert Adler <rgacpa at gmail.com> wrote:

> Perhaps, but I could really never get it to work for me. And in low
> contrast situations, awful.
> Image review and camera adjustment in the field is the best answer for me.
> I used to carry a MS Surface Pro connected to my MFDB. Now, with a CMOS
> back, I need nothing else but the back's display for initial settings as
> well as image review. It's a bit like falling off a log (and if you recall,
> Paul, I'm quite good at that!) :-)
>
> On Fri, Nov 6, 2015 at 6:35 AM, Paul Roark <roark.paul at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > The most useful place I've seen focus peaking help is in setting the
> degree
> > of tilt with a tilt/shift lens.
> >
> > Paul
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Leica Users Group.
> > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Bob Adler
> www.robertadlerphotography.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>


Replies: Reply from rgacpa at gmail.com (Bob Adler) ([Leica] The SL)
In reply to: Message from hopsternew at gmail.com (Geoff Hopkinson) ([Leica] The SL)
Message from red735i at verizon.net (Frank Verizon1) ([Leica] The SL)
Message from roark.paul at gmail.com (Paul Roark) ([Leica] The SL)
Message from rgacpa at gmail.com (Robert Adler) ([Leica] The SL)