peaking in A1
 

I've asked this question in the "wishlist" thread, but I'm afraid this might be a malfunction of my unit; the peaking (which is not customizable) is very weak and actually difficult to use at all - how do you find it in your A1s?

Actually, I think it's not bad, can't imaginge working without it, considering the LCD is the camera's weakest feature. The LCD is the main thing I miss about my 100a right now. Still, the peaking is at least the equivalent of the 100a's evf detail, I think.

One thing that helps is that you can increase the LCD and viewfinder sharpness. Used in conjunction with peaking, you can used these controls to give the peaking some measure of customizability.

Go to MENU -> DISPLAY SETUP -> LCD SETUP -> SHARPNESS

and

MENU -> DISPLAY SETUP -> CVF SETUP -> SHARPNESS

to control these parameters.

I find that if I crank the display sharpness parameters all the way up, the peaking then becomes almost too much, but one step up from their default settings works for me.

Aha - I tried that in the first place, but still the result wasn't good enough; my machine must have some bug in the software. The more contrast I apply, the more overal "snowy" noise introduced by peaking; but edges supposed to be highlighted when in focus are still not intensive enough...

yet another A1 annoyance?
 

When I enter the Menu->Camera settings->Skin detail, the picture in the LCD/VF is sort of pulsing with distorsion coming in and out; after I dig a level deeper it goes away; up a level - it's there again! Can you try to recreate it, and confirm whether it's just me?

EDIT: after a closer inspection, I can say it isn't a distorsion, but just the zebra or peaking (whichever was active at the time of entering menu) is switched on and off once a second. This happens only inside the Skin Detail submenu; in other submenues nothing happens, in some the pattern (zebra or peaking) is switched off completely.

Is it just my unit?

Anybody?
Please give me some feedback, as I'm running of time before making the final decision of staying with the A1 or not.

If it is a faulty unit, return it back, but I don't think that it is. The "snow" is grain that is amplified during the peaking. This is normal. I think you have unrealistic expectations of peaking. The sharpening of peaking enhances the whole image not just what is in focus.

Peaking helps tremendously, along with the magnification feature.

What you're seeing is normal -- it's supposed to work that way. The flashing area is showing you where the skin tone change is being applied. It's even described in the operator's manual under the Skin Detail section.

Thanks guys!

Chris, I read the manual, but of course skipped introductions to each chapter (thinking they can only contain the obvious); with the Skin Detail I was wrong: it indeed is explained, i the very introduction of the chapter - sorry, silly me!

Holly, believe me my expectations aren't too high - they're based on my experience with peaking in Sony V1 and even the tiny HC1, where peaking is very, very distinctive where supposed (ie. on edges in focus) while not disturbing too much elsewhere. But well, Canon decided to have just one color and intensity of peaking, which is a shame, given that the LCD is smaller than Sony's and the dof shallower than that of V1, so a focusing aid is even more essential.

Please forgive me returning to the same subject over and over again, but I really do find the peaking on my unit almost unusable; do you know if an authorised Canon service is able to increase it's intensity? Judging from the almost zero response to my original post here, other units may have the peaking just enough intensive and sesnsitive; mine in unacceptable.