Further focusing aids

Speed up your focusing with the help of on-screen guides

AS WELL as enabling details to be magnified during manual focusing, EOS mirrorless cameras offer a few additional manual focusing aids. Electronic viewfinders mean that you can take advantage of these with the camera pressed to your eye too.

‘MF peaking’ is available across EOS R and EOS M Series cameras (and it’s also available during Live View on the EOS 90D and EOS-1D X Mark III DSLRS). When it’s activated via the camera menu, a coloured overlay is displayed on the image. You’ll find this option in the AF menu or the Shooting menu, depending on which camera you’re using. You’re also able to change the colour and the sensitivity of the overlay to suit the scene you’re shooting.

The colour corresponds to edges which have a high contrast – the sharpest bits, in other words. When you rotate the focusing ring, you’ll see the colour move across the image to indicate the area that’s now in focus distance. Unlike the other manual focusing aids, MF peaking is able to show you where the sharpness falls across the image (the plane of focus) rather than at a single point. Some photographers find this makes it faster to set the focus while others prefer the precision that comes from magnifying a detail.

‘Focus guide’ is an assist feature available on some cameras that helps you to focus on a specific detail via a visual indicator. It uses distance information to show you whether the focus is in bang-on the subject, or if you’ve focused either in front or behind it. Three pointers indicate the extent to which you’re out of focus – showing whether you need to make significant or slight adjustments to bring the detail into focus.