In the last few posts, I’ve been dealing with my problems in achieving precise, repeatable critical focus with the Nikon D810, which doesn’t have focus peaking. In an attempt to add focus peaking, I hooked an Atomos Shogun monitor/recorder to the HDMI output of the D810, and turned focus peaking on.
Close, but no cigar.
The Shogun focus peaking threshold is not adjustable, and it’s too sensitive for what I’m trying to do. The screen is full of whatever peaking color you’ve selected, even when the image is not really crisp. In addition, the peaking indicator is continuous with sharpness, not binary. The sharper the image the more colorful the peaking. I’d rather have the all-or-nothing indicator like the Sony a7x cameras.
Still, it’s an idea. There are lots of external monitors out there. One of them must have the focus peaking I’m looking for. But how do I tell which one?
Jim, I have the Sony 5 inch screen which I use on my D800E occassionally. I will check the focus peaking with it, but it has been a big help in some cases, and I THINK it is adjustable.
Your most recent posts are making me think I will not need a big slr if Sony’s are working so well for you.
I thought about this and some of your other testing with the 810 for a few days and ran a test for PV active and non-active across 1.4-8.0 with the Otus 55. The difference isn’t much but there are reasons to PV active when in a studio situation and trying to maximize critical focus.
https://sonyvnikon.wordpress.com/2015/06/24/focus-shift-study-nikon-d810-with-otus-55mm/