Fujifilm: Manual Focus & Focus Peaking

I started photography in the so called: “ the good old days.”

• On SLRs (Single Lens Reflex cameras - long before the digital revolution) we had a small split screen in the center of the viewfinder to focus and that was it.
• On rangefinders like the Canonet (which I had) and the Leica there was a little rangefinder in the middle of the viewfinder that was linked to the focusing ring of the lens. You looked in the viewfinder for a pattern in the image and with the focus ring we were bringing it together to coincide.

Fuji is extremely good in manual focus, quick and even more accurate than the autofocus (my opinion), especially with focus peaking.

What make the focus peaking so good is that I do not need to move the focusing area. I just move the focus ring until the edges, of the area that I want in focus, become red.

1. Set the DEPTH OF FIELD SCALE with the MENU > AF/MF SETTING > FILM FORMAT BASIS or PIXEL BASIS to display the depth of field on the distance scale at the bottom the LCD/screen/OVF. I’ve found that FILM FORMAT BASIS is better for me. If your photo will be for high-res (50+%) on high resolution screens like 4k or 5k display, then it’s better to use the PIXEL BASIS setting. This setting also determines how much DOF the focus peaking will cover.
2. Switch to manual mode with the front lever.
3. Set the MF Assist to ON: MENU > AF/MF SETTING > MF ASSIST > DIGITAL SPLIT IMAGE or FOCUS PEAK HIGHLIGHT (my preference is FOCUS PEAK HIGHLIGHT - red).
4. MENU > AF/MF SETTING > FOCUS CHECK > ON.
5. And finally, focus with the focusing ring while watching the LCD, electronic viewfinder.