# 5DS/5DSR - manual focus assist



## Neutral (Aug 15, 2015)

5DS or 5DSR manual focus requires even more precision in manual focus compared to other canon bodies to get full advantage of camera resolution.
But manual focus assist is one of the important features where Canon is lagging behind other vendors.
Sony with EVF and focus peaking in manual focus mode is very helpful making manual Canon lenses more easy to use on Sony A7 series bodies than on Canon bodies.

There were many questions about manual focus assist for Canon bodies on the forum and one of the obvious answers here is to use of external camera LCD monitors.

I bought recently Sony CLM-FD5 5-inch Full HD clip-on monitor for use with my A7R and A7S.
It worked very well with Sony bodies. 
It is very light and convenient.

Tried it on my Canon 1DX and found that CLM-FD5 is perfect tool for manual focus assist for 1DX 
As it works on 1DX it could be used also on 5DS and 5DSR.

It comes with two HDMI short cables – one for A7 (one cable end is micro HDMI) and the other one is compatible with Canon (one cable end is mini-HDMI). 

This monitor has focus peaking feature.
When monitor C1 button is pressed, image becomes B&W and image details in focus become highlighted with red color. 
In focus peaking mode image could be magnified by 1,3x, 3x or 6x by monitor itself in addition to the camera provided magnification.
Viewpoint could be moved around by monitor joystick. 

Canon 1DX has in-camera magnification of 5x or 10x in live view, the same I believe is on 5DS.
So on Canon bodies it is possible to have following magnifications in manual focus mode using CLM-FD5 (together with focus peaking):
a) 1x, 5x, 10x (no monitor magnification)
b) 1.3x, 6.5x, 13x (no camera magnification , 1.3x monitor magnification)
c) 3x, 15x, 30x (camera 5x magnification, 3x monitor magnification)
d) 6x, 30x, 60x (camera 10x magnification, 6x monitor magnification)

This could be very handy for 5DS/5DSR users who need manual focus assist on such high res camera.

What is also interesting that in high magnification mode even small vibrations of tripod becomes extremely visible.
I was surprise to see how vibrations are high even on heavy sturdy tripod, which I always considered very stable before.
So it is possible to see when camera vibration are damped and then using simple remote control (e.g. Canon RS-80N3) make a shot when there is no visible camera vibrations.
All this could deliver best possible results for 5DS/5DSR using tripod and manual focus

Interesting enough that recently there were a lot of discussions of how Canon is useful to promote Sony – Canon lenses on Sony bodies, limits of Canon sensor DR at low ISO making Sony sensors more attractive, lack of EVF and focus peaking for easy manual focus etc.

Here is just opposite example – when Sony could provide great help for Canon users requiring more easy and more precise manual focus on Canon bodies.


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## Zeidora (Aug 15, 2015)

I don't think the MF is that much more difficult on my 5DsR than on my 5d2. Live view with 16x magnification or focus confirm in viewfinder works great. Please not from lenses below, that I mostly shoot MF.
Shutter release cable; of course! It is surprising that this is a new revelation to some people. Additionally it applies just as much to other small pixel dimension bodies such as 7D.
External display seems overkill to me. But if it works for you, great.


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## Neutral (Aug 15, 2015)

Zeidora said:


> I don't think the MF is that much more difficult on my 5DsR than on my 5d2. Live view with 16x magnification or focus confirm in viewfinder works great. Please not from lenses below, that I mostly shoot MF.
> Shutter release cable; of course! It is surprising that this is a new revelation to some people. Additionally it applies just as much to other small pixel dimension bodies such as 7D.
> External display seems overkill to me. But if it works for you, great.


Unfortunatly not all the people have sharp enough eyes to work with the small display on Canon body.
I am among them so always was looking for something that could help.
Small and light external monitor which has focus peaking feature is very handy.
Was surprised by remark about remote control. 
Point was not that this is something new but that with high magnification you can know when camera vibration is over and you can press shutter release on remote control.
Do you think that people do not know what remote shutter control is used for? 
Very funny.
As for me I use it for about 50 year already )))


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