Show Focus Points - Lightroom Plug-in

Wilt wrote in post #17104531
You do realize, I hope, that any program that 'displays the focus point' is showing you which AF sensor point was used, but NOT the subject within the frame that was used as the point of focus!

So whenever there is any 'recompose' (shifting of the frame edges for better composition) after focus, you see which focus zone
but not which object within the frame was use for AF.

Of course. For me, though, I rarely recompose. I use the focus point that is over what I want focused. So, this will enable me to get an overall idea of why focus got missed. Maybe the focus point wasn't over the subject, or maybe there's a pattern of a particular point that always misses, etc....

So LR can now do what BreezeBrowser (and Canons own Zoombrowser) could do in 2002? Excellent.

MedicinSC wrote in post #17107110
Of course. For me, though, I rarely recompose. I use the focus point that is over what I want focused. So, this will enable me to get an overall idea of why focus got missed. Maybe the focus point wasn't over the subject, or maybe there's a pattern of a particular point that always misses, etc....

I dare say that most folks do some shifting of the frame before shooting, unless they often commit the sin of bullseye'ing their subject and/or they simply never adjust framing for best composition! Oftentimes our point of focus can be on very small items that do not fall exactly on an AF point, so when we choose the 'closest AF point' to focus we end up with some subtle adjustment in framing...even if we shift a degree or two , we do NOT necessarily aim precisely at the same point in the scene when we are taking 4-5 shots in succession! The chosen AF zone can suddenly be seeing air next to the real aim point when the shutter is pressed!

In this photo, the bride (blonde on the right) is perhaps my desired subject of interest, yet I cannot frame her to be at the AF point furtherst to the right!

Wilt wrote in post #17107273
I dare say that most folks do some shifting of the frame before shooting, unless they often commit the sin of bullseye'ing their subject and/or they simply never adjust framing for best composition! Oftentimes our point of focus can be on very small items that do not fall exactly on an AF point, so when we choose the 'closest AF point' to focus we end up with some subtle adjustment in framing...even if we shift a degree or two , we do NOT necessarily aim precisely at the same point in the scene when we are taking 4-5 shots in succession! The chosen AF zone can suddenly be seeing air next to the real aim point when the shutter is pressed!

It depends on how many points you have. My 7D has 19 points. Much easier to put a point over what I want focused, without shifting the camera, than if I had a 6D with 11 points. Or my T2i with 9 points. It would potentially be even easier with a 5D3 or one of the 1D bodies that have "a billion" points. The reason I don't focus recompose is that my personal experience is that I get a lot more out of focus shots. I'd rather take the time to rearrange my subjects, or move myself to use a point that will be there at shutter actuation. Yes, I may shift, they may shift, lightning may strike. Those things can happen, and the shifting is more likely, when you focus/recompose. I refocus between all single shots. If I'm shooting action, and possibly doing 4-5 successive shots, or if I'm tracking a subject waiting for the right moment, then I'm in servo mode, with expanded focus point mode and I don't let off the focus button (back button focus). I never use the zone focus mode, or any other mode that allows the camera to decide where to focus.

MedicinSC wrote in post #17107316
It depends on how many points you have. My 7D has 19 points..

I took the viewfinder of the 70D and superimposed it over an image which I took with my ancient 40D (pardon the poor quality, I chose it to provide example of frame content vs. AF point availability, in my post 18.

Works great!

Wish Adobe would add this as an overlay in the Library or Develop screen.

Wilt wrote in post #17107346
I took the viewfinder of the 70D and superimposed it over an image which I took with my ancient 40D (pardon the poor quality, I chose it to provide example of frame content vs. AF point availability, in my post 18.

But, if you took a step to the right, you could cover her with the extreme right focus point. You'd still have everybody in your image. I'm not at all saying that what I do is better, just that it's better for me. I figure out what I want my composition to be, I view, through the camera and frame, activate the metering system so my active point is displayed, use the joystick to move to whichever point I need, slightly recompose my image if a point doesn't quite match up (by moving my subject if possible, or by moving myself), and then engage the focus mechanism. It sounds like a lot when writing it out, but in practice it takes only a few seconds.

Thanks for the post. Installed and working fine.

~Bob

MedicinSC wrote in post #17108297
But, if you took a step to the right, you could cover her with the extreme right focus point. You'd still have everybody in your image. .

The center of action was the groom, although my main interest was in the bride's reaction to his antics. That gave me what I wanted to capture.
To put the bride at the AF point while moving the groom to the edge of the shot would fail to position well the reason for her reactions (the groom)! So one had to AF on her, shift frame slightly so the AF point is now on empty space (and thereby voiding the value of AF point display!) I'm not arguing against your methodology, I am saying that it simply does not always permit the photographer to accomplish what he wants.

I agree with Wilt that the plugin will not necessarily be showing what was focused on. It is useful though since it also displays the "Focus Information" (including focus mode, dynamic area, focus distance, depth of field) and whether or not the camera locked focus before the shot was taken.

A nice trouble shooting tool.

I thought I would download it and try it out, but it only works for LR 5 at the moment. I'm still working with LR 3 (and have no need to upgrade). So I'll just continue to use Canon's ImageBrowser. Does a great job as you can toggle the visibility of the focus point on and off with just tapping the space bar.

I'm pretty impressed. It even lets you know with different focus point colors when you were using something like back-button focus, where there was perhaps a re-compose between focus and shot. DPP doesn't even do that.