Putting Focus Peaking to the Test on the Olympus OM-D E-M1
Olympus has added a new focus peaking feature on the Olympus OM-D E-M1 that was not on the predecessor E-M5 model. Focus Peaking is a feature that highlights the area of the composition that is currently in focus.
Focus peaking can help out a great deal while manually focusing an image. You can get focus peaking to work on manual lenses by assigning Focus Peaking to one of the buttons on the camera.
On the Olympus OM-D E-M1, focus peaking can be invoked by turning on “Peaking” in the Gear Menu –> AF/MF –> MF Assist. I configured the Fn2 button on top of the camera to be able to more easily access the focus peaking function.
On the Olympus OM-D E-M1, Focus Peaking can be assigned to a button in the Button / Dial / Lever sub-menu under the Gear menu. On newer cameras like the OM-D E-M1X or OM-D E-M1 Mark III, features can be assigned to buttons using the Gear icon in the lower right hand side of the Super Control Panel.
In the Gear D submenu you can also change the focus peaking highlight color to black instead of white. This is a nice feature if the peaking color is the same as the subject you are trying to focus. Focus peaking can be used both on the viewfinder and the LCD screen.
Overall, I did find focus peaking on the Olympus OM-D E-M1 convenient, accurate, and easy to use. Focus peaking worked better in non macro situations. When shooting macros, the peaking highlights seemed more sparse and were difficult to distinguish. When using magnification on a macro with focus peaking, I had a difficult time telling the static from the peaking.
Related Posts
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Canon 6d vs. Olympus OM-D E-M5 for Travel Photography
How to find the Shutter Actuation Count on the Olympus OM-D
5 Comments
Thomas Schmidt
Thanks a lot. I needed focus peaking and focus magnification all the time and finally found the menu.
Martin Belan
Thomas,
Glad we could help. Thanks for visiting the blog!
Martin
PSYL
Great instructions, thank you. May I ask a newbie question – do you have issues where the focus peaking is deactivated at the half-press of shutter button (when using MF), and know how to prevent that? Thanks in advance.
Martin Belan
Hello. Thanks for visiting the blog. I just tested that scenario tonight and yes it appears that focus peaking is deactivated when the shutter is pressed half way. I guess that I never noticed since I don’t press the shutter half way while manual focusing and usuaully use a remote shutter release. Good catch.
Lorenz Rychner
Thanks Martin, interesting as usual. About the non-response with manual lenses that you mention, Jamie MacDonald shows how his old Minolta lens with a Fotasy adapter indeed produces focus peaking on his E-M1. It’s at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZUz6MumiXw