DMF or Direct Manual Focus techniques for Sony Alpha Cameras 

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Mark, as a Sony Alpha shooter, this channel is easily the most helpful I've found on RU-vid. Thank you so much!

Thanks Mark another great guide, thanks for doing these video's, they really do help us Sony users get the most out of their cameras. Brilliant stuff.

Another excellent tutorial making a complex focus technique easy to understand. Thank you Mark.

You are truly a great teacher of the Sony system- thank you so much for creating these tutorials.

Wow that is such a useful feature. Thank you so much for introducing me to this DMF function.

you really are a total expert , looking at some of your brilliant photo's is inspiring .

I had a6500 for almost 8 months. And today I come to know how to use dmf... Thanks the video was very informative.

Wow! Thank you so much this setup is amazing and really shows off the A7iii ability. Can’t wait to learn more love your videos.

Awesome quick a mental workout and I only have the Sony A7. However followed along as best I could and learnt more tonight. Feel more confident of the process. Thanks Sir Mark.

@Mark Galer you sir are the best when it comes to real tips & tricks on sony alpha cameras. But only one problem.... we cant get enough of your videos... thank you.

Thanks for sharing! This camera just keeps on impressing...

This was incredibly helpful, and so well explained. Thank you so much!

Thank you Mark,,, I've been following you for about three years. I bought the A 6000, my first camera almost three years ago.. Today,,,, as of this day of writing I now own my own A/7/3.. Now I have something very new to learn. I love the camera, it has been my dream for two years and today it's mine... I'm in Perth Mark,,, You did a photo shoot last year up at the Pinnacles but i just couldn't afford it at the time so I cried myself to sleep that night.. LOLOLOLOL.. Thank you Mark.... I'm watching you... Neville J.... I hope your area was not one of the fire regions a couple of weeks ago.. Stay safe and well.. Nev...

As said before - another great video. Straight to the point. No blah blah 👍

Brilliant tutorial and what an awesome selection of features!

Super helpful, as always. Thanks for sharing!

Best tutorials about Sony Alpha series.

We can’t thank you enough Mark !

Fantastic tutorial. Thank you Mark.

Very well spoken and excellent tutorial! Thank you!

Great feature Mark thanks that DMF setup works better as well for me. Thanks :)

Your videos are the best for helping me learn to “speak” Sony! Thank you 🙏

Thank you for sharing, wonderful lesson.

THanks for the video, I wondered what DMF was.

Thanks Mark, great tip and function👍

Fantastic information- I use DMF a lot as a holdover from my a6000/6500 days and plan to try this out on my a7iii tomorrow. Thanks!

Thank you Mark. This is great and will give me another option when I need it. 👍👍👍

You are the best Mark 👋🏼

Thanks for sharing this video Mark, interesting enough every time I look for something to learn with my camera you are always there to help :)

Fantastic, thank you Mark. Great advice

Awesome guide

Thank you so much for the guide! Cheers

Great video, thank you Mark. I had to turn of AF with shutter for this method to work.

Very resourceful THANK YOU!

Another quick way to use DMF, you and the a7RIV are amazing 🤩 . Thanks 🙏

Thx Mark, again a very useful tutorial 👍

Thank you so much for your great tutorials. I do wish I had found these videos before I traveled to Borneo.

Great stuff as usual. Thank you

Very useful! Thanks!

Thank you very much Mark

Great education - again

Such a cool technique thank you!

You are always the best

Thanks for sharing your video it was extremely helpful. You are the master at explaining things.

So helpful thank you. I agree, way too many options on these cameras and I get overwhelmed so a guide like this to tease out some of the more advanced ways to use a cam is great. I was super impressed that the A7iii had this feature. Thanks Mark 🙂

Thanks for this tip!

Thank you so much Mark really help me a lot Really I like your channel

Mark hopefully Sony is paying you decent amount of money because you truly deserve it like always “outstanding work my friend “ within time hopefully I’ll have a big brother to my A6300 witch is still a nice Rig.

I love my a6000...I had Nikon d5100 and I was struggling to understand ( I'm poor in cam) but Sony a6000 very easy to operate n understand ... thanks for video.

First off, you have absolutely the best channel for Sony Alpha camera users! I recently bought my 1st camera in 40 years, an a9ii. My previous camera was a Pentax 6x7 (cell phones don't count). Needless to say, I'm totally blown away with the camera and digital photography. I feel like Rip Van Winkle times two. Your videos are excellent in production quality and more importantly, in the clarity of explaining the topics at hand. Question: Would I be correct in saying with the DMF focus mode on the top left dial of the a9ii, there's no reason to assign the DMF settings to AEL?

I just stumbled across this setting today after updating my camera and my Metabones adapter. One of those updates, likely the adapter, has made AF on my Canon lenses a disaster, so I went looking through the settings to see what I could tweak to make it workable. I bought this Sony A7iii for the Eye AF if nothing else, but this DMF takes that Eye AF and bitch slaps it for giving that critically sharp focus on your subjects eyes, or anything else you want with tack sharp focus. I'm wondering where this has been all my life. I used to love the magnification to help focus on my Canon DSLR's but just the way this engages when you simply touch your focus ring sets it above all else. LOVE IT

I use this all the time... Since my Nex days and now on A7iii...always wondered why no body talks about it

I learned something new today

Thanks Mark!

Mark! Great video, thanks so much! 😎👍

Mark keep it up .good info.

Super handy, thanks Mark. I have another custom hold registered setting I call my “Tasmanian Tiger” button. It is the OMG, get that shot right now before it is gone button!

Mark, thank you for this and your original Focus masterclass video. If I can make a suggestion it would be amazing if you could show some of your techniques recording live the HDMI output of the viewfinder, demonstrating - in real time - the focusing heuristics, particularly when you identify a problem and then fix it with a backup mode. Sometimes a video is worth a thousand settings screenshots. Again thanks so much for this series and your generous sharing of your technique discoveries.

Hi Mark, Great video, I enjoy reviewing and studying these videos. I am attempting to get a clear focus on the moon with my a7riii, using a sony 1.4 teleconverter and a 70-200mm zoom (only lens I have now). The aperture priority, auto exposure, and shutter priority don't do a proper job, over exposing to the point of uselessness. I can only come close to a usable image in manual, with F22 or higher and a shutter speed of ~1/250. The image is clear enough to want to improve the focus. Any thoughts or recommendations?

I really like your tutorials and learning a great deal from watching them repeated for my Sony A9 totally new to me, 1st Sony, but I would like to see you update some of your videos to work with the current A9 settings. Focus Mode on your video and my camera Version 5.01 are different - I actually followed you video and search for the right commands and now have DMF assigned to AEL Button Thank you Mark

Thanks in advance sir!

So helpful!

Awesome, thank you Mark! This is the most powerful instructional video for AF using the A7iii. Just a question, I prev used AEL button for Eye AF, and now moved it to the centre button of multi selector. Some of my lenses eg. Sigma and Zeiss 55mm do not have a Focus hold button. In such instance, is there a better button that I could customise for eye AF ?

Another excellent and informative video Mark. Thank You. Question - does this mean that the AEL button is now only for DMF and cannot be used as a normal exposure lock button?

very cool!

Mark - as always , your tutorials (and Gary Friedman's books) helped me figure out soooo many details of the way my A7iii and RX100VI work and how to improve my shooting. I have rarely used DMF prior to this video and normally shoot in AF-C and back button focus. I have programmed the custom shoot set per this video and am just a little confused about how the focus mode is maintained after I push the AEL custom button. (1) Once I've obtained sharp focus via DMF can I let off the AEL button? Assume that I was in AF-C mode prior to recalling the custom shoot set. (2) Or do I need to keep the AEL custom button depressed while I recompose the shot prior to hitting the shutter button? Any clarity appreciated.

Hi Mark, Thank you for this informative video. You mention it is available for newer cameras. I have an a6000, I'm guessing I would need to move to an a6400 or a6600 to get this functionality?

Well, I'm a bit hard-of-hearing but I never have a problem understanding what you're saying, your voice is actually quite soothing. :) My questions: You say that as soon as you've achieved manual focus you half-press the shutter button to pop out of magnified view so you can compose. 1. You also could have just waited the 5 seconds, as you already set the magnification hold time to that interval, right (just checking to see if I understand all the settings correctly)? 2. This is where I run into problems with other cameras: Why doesn't the camera attempt to refocus if you half-press the shutter (destroying your manual focus setting)? Have you set the option to focus with a half-press of the shutter button to off? Sorry if I missed something in your video, they really are very detailed and informative, thanks for making them available.

Thanks, Mark, another very useful video. I also discovered that when holding down the AEL button (or whichever custom button) and rotating the focus ring, if you can do some finger gymnastics you can double the magnification to 12.4X by pressing the Centre Button within the 5s! Perhaps C1 or C2 may be a better alternative, do you know what is the name of the function that doubles focus magnification? My Centre Button is currently "Centre Lock-on AF" which I doubt is the right one to double focus mag. Albert

I use DMF with Single Point Focus most of the time on my Sony RX-100

Thanks so much Mark this is very helpful. You are a Gentleman :)

question. If I use the peaking assistance, when I see the red.or white color when I have peaking display on, that's when I reached critical focus correct? When the color I chose for peaking is shining that's where I should stop because I reached critical focus , correct?

Great content and clear advice. I can't get focus peaking to work with my 400 2.8 with the DMF switch on the lens. It overrides AFC with the ring but no peaking. Is this normal mark?

This is a very useful technique but such a pity that it's only available in recently developed cameras - I now use it all the time on the A7R III (Thanks!). If only Sony were more inclined to apply newly developed features in firmware updates to earlier models, like the A6500, where a Reg Cust Shoot Set option would be very welcome. Do you have any influence in that direction, perhaps? Maybe we'll just have to wait for its implementation in the A6700/A7000...

If you set focus magnifier time to unlimited, a half press of the shutter button immediately cancels the magnifier, and re meters the exposure.

Awesome feature!!! LOVE IT! BUT how can i do the same in video mode??

Hi Mark, I've been watching your videos the last week since I bought my Sony A7III and I already learned a lot. However, It is not clear to me how peaking works with MF. When I move the focus ring and and see details go red (or the color you choose, does that mean these parts are sharp ? Thank you so much.

Ty g

Great video, is there a way to have focus peaking on display, shooting stills, on a a74, using autofocus, it apears only in manual focus or video.. thank you.

Nice video as always. I find peak focus a bit inaccurate, magnified setting is much better. Presumably, in DMF, only contrast AF works?

A wonderful video, thanks! Does the AEL program disappear when the batteries are changed? Is there a way to save this setting to a card slot?

Hi Mark. Does this custom button setting presume that you are using back button focus, or will shutter button focus work equally well? Thank you.

Hi Mark, Is the Focus Magnifier scaled different on the A7iii compared to the A7Riii. I own the A7iii and when I use the Magnifier it initially goes to x5.9 and then 11.7 watching your tutorials when the A7Riii is used the Magnifier does to 6.2 and 12.4. Can I set the A7iii to 6.2 and 12.4 or are the differences related to the 24.2MP and 42.4 MP sensors?

that kangaroo photo is hilarious haha

very interesting ! I have an a74 in french. is custom hold 1 M1 on a74 which is stored on memory card and dispappears when we format ? I have heard on youtube that it can be destructive to use manual focus with a lens set to AF... is that true we must take some care to turn the lens ring in af-c,... ?

Again a very practical video! One (possibly stupid) autofocus question comes to my mind: Just recently I came across the Aurora borealis and wanted to capture it with my 16-35 GM. As it was pitch black and I wanted full control I went with manual AF. But I couldn't make out a single star in the EVF (although they were to be seen). So I dialed in infinity AF on the lens. Strangely (at least to me) neither the stars, the Aurora, nor a bunch of trees in about 30-40m distance came to focus this way. In the end I managed to acquire focus on the trees via dialing in "3 meters" on the distance scale. The things I'd like to know are: is there a pathway to modify live view for very dark surroundings? How to explain the infinity focus problem of mine? Thank you!

Thanks for the great tutorial!! I have the RX100V and would like to manual focus wide (full frame) for video. With my Sony PXW-X70 I usually zoom all the way in, manual focus with the focus ring, zoom back out for the shot. I can't find how to do that on my RX100V. Could you point me in the right direction on doing so? Thank you again for your great tutorial, very useful! Ray

Hi Mark. Hope all is well. I got the first part, which I had already done ironically myself (setting up the AEL button to recall custom hold in the DMF focus mode)...but I am having a little trouble connecting the dots to how you included the magnify view also. Could you please walk me through how turning the ring on the lens is doing that exactly?

Hi Mark I'm new to the Sony Alpha universe comming from Nikon i found this tutorial is giving me that edge i was looking for when doing the switch :) A question: Is there some way to set a FN-Button to just toggle between DMF and regular AF-C ? I think that would be an awsome feature..

Thanks for another great video! Some questions though: Why is “AF on” used in register custom set? Doesn’t MF override AF when the AEL (if used) button is pressed. Is it possible to toggle between AF and DMF?

Hi Mark, I have the A9II + Sony 90mm f2.8 Macro. Does this unique lens negate the use of DMF ? When you go to manual on the lens it magnifies with peaking.

What settings must I use to make my focus-by-wire lens behave like a mechanical focus lens? For example, AF with back button focus, but then MF with any touch of the focus ring. I do not want to press a button between those two steps. Thanks!

Hi Mark. Thanks for your job. Did you manage to use DMF with 90 oss macro ? Impossible for me with the a7II du to the AF/MF switch on the lens... Do you have a solution?

Wouldn't it be better to have the option to have manual focus override in any AF mode? So in any AF mode, as soon as you turn the focus ring it switches to manual focus. I particularly miss this in movie mode since DMF is unavailable there (A7RII). A simple "enable/disable focus ring" in the menu would suffice, which in turn could be set as a custom key setting.

Would you suggest to use it for Landscape photography as well?

I used Sony 90 mm macro lense, I have suffering from focusing how to fix it plz reply me sir

is this better than pressing the toggle AF/MF button with manual focus assist magnification turned on in the settings?

Wonderful guide, thank you. How do you go back to previous settings after activating custom shoot set?

Hello Mark, when you set a custom button to DMF, what is the difference between setting a button for MF/AF toggle? I have a button set to MF/AF focus toggle, but now I saw your video but I couldn't understand the difference. When I can't AF, I press the button, it goes to MF and when I turn the MF dial on the lens, it magnifies, I achieve focus, press the shutter and then toggle back to AF. What is the difference between this and what you described in the video with DMF? Thank you so much