# Show Focus Points Plugin



## johngalt

Hi,

I know that focus point support has been requested in Lightroom many times.

I happened to stumble across a plugin last night while searching the subject.

Does anyone have any experience with this plugin? 

Show Focus Points Plugin

Mods, please move post or remove URL if it's inappropriate.


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## theWeissGuy

Tried it - does not work for me (LR 5.6).
_______________________
theWeissGuy


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## ST-EOS

Doug thanks for posting this. I've just downloaded and installed it and it works for me (Win7 Home Premium and LR5.6)


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## theWeissGuy

Might be a Windows 8 problem (8.1, 64 bit) - anyone else?


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## Victoria Bampton

Thanks for the heads-up Doug, I hadn't seen that one.


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## ST-EOS

Further to my previous post, I've now compared the focus points shown by the plugin alongside the results from Canon's Digital Photo Professional (DPP) both are showing the same detail and the actual focus point used.  So I'm very pleased, as this functionality within LR now allows me to check the focus point without having to open DPP not that I have problems hitting focus 
Thanks again for the link John.


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## ChrisR

*Win8*



theWeissGuy said:


> Might be a Windows 8 problem (8.1, 64 bit) - anyone else?



Hi WeissGuy, I'm the author of the plugin - could you contact me by private message (or email) so we can try to figure out what is the problem? I don't think there is a general Windows 8 problem, as I have the plugin running successfully in Windows 8.1 64bit LR 5.6. Thanks, Chris


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## clee01l

ChrisR  Welcome to our forum. Until this thread I had never heard of this plugin.  It is something that has been requested often in this forum and elsewhere.  I D/L'd the Plugin and installed to test with my D800 NEFs and 51-focus points. It works well even if the NEF is converted to DNG.  I will recommend this whenever the question presents itself in the future.


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## Victoria Bampton

Great to meet you ChrisR.


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## DaveS

Hi, 

  Running Windows 8.1 64bit (update1) and Lightroom 5.6.  The plugin works fine on my setup.   This is very slick Chris.


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## Jimmsp

ChrisR said:


> Hi WeissGuy, I'm the author of the plugin - could you contact me by private message (or email) so we can try to figure out what is the problem? I don't think there is a general Windows 8 problem, as I have the plugin running successfully in Windows 8.1 64bit LR 5.6. Thanks, Chris


Chris, I had a problem as well.
I sent you a email with a screen capture of the error message.

Jim

edit - I just sent a log file as well


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## Jimmsp

Chris made the fix this afternoon and posted a new version.
I downloaded it, installed, and it works just fine.
A very slick plugin.

Jim


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## MarkNicholas

So how does this work if you focus and then recompose, which I do probably 90% of the time ?


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## johngalt

Thank ChrisR for fixing something Adobe should have a long time ago.


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## ST-EOS

MarkNicholas said:


> So how does this work if you focus and then recompose, which I do probably 90% of the time ?



Mark it will only show the focus point you used prior to you recomposing, not where that point was when you achieved focus


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## clee01l

johngalt said:


> Thank ChrisR for fixing something Adobe should have a long time ago.


I don't fault Adobe.  Their product needs to be universal.  Camera manufacturers use widely diverse and no standard method for capturing and storing focus point information if they record any focus point information at all.  This plugin only works with Canon and Nikon.  It is a very custom solution.


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## clee01l

johngalt said:


> Thank ChrisR for fixing something Adobe should have a long time ago.


I don't fault Adobe.  Their product needs to be universal.  Camera manufacturers use widely diverse and no standard method for capturing and storing focus point information if they record any focus point information at all.  This plugin only works with Canon and Nikon.  It is a very custom solution.


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## clee01l

MarkNicholas said:


> So how does this work if you focus and then recompose, which I do probably 90% of the time ?


  Perhaps you have a 3D tracking feature on your Canon.  I use this for my Nikon. I use center point or center weighted  focusing in 3D  so that when my subject focus is acquired at the center point, the focused point tracks the subject whether the subject moves or I recompose in the frame.  The focus point then follows the subject to any one of the 51 focus points on my focusing screen.


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## Nomad-Photo

clee01l said:


> ChrisR  Welcome to our forum. Until this thread I had never heard of this plugin.  It is something that has been requested often in this forum and elsewhere.  I D/L'd the Plugin and installed to test with my D800 NEFs and 51-focus points. It works well even if the NEF is converted to DNG.  I will recommend this whenever the question presents itself in the future.



ChrisR, I wanted to thank you for this plug-in as well. I have been looking for this capability since I switched from Nikon's Capture NX2 software to Adobe. It's working for my raw images, and this will be a big help in letting me know whether I've focused where I intended.

I'm also brand new to this forum, but I appreciate having this resource to access the expertise of other Lightroom users.

_Tricia Lombardi_


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## clee01l

I'm also brand new to this forum said:
			
		

> _Tricia Lombardi_[/FONT]


Tricia, Welcome to our forum.  No question is too small and no question too complex.


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## johngalt

Cletus I agree with you that it's a very custom solution. Then again so are the Canon and Nikon tether plugins.


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## MarkNicholas

ST-EOS said:


> Mark it will only show the focus point you used prior to you recomposing, not where that point was when you achieved focus



ah ok. Well I always know which focus point I used because I only ever use the centre point


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## Cerianthus

I had the same mogrify problem that the new version now fixed. I have some general comments (as a user). 

the text at the right hand side is cut off. -> might help if you could define a window size. 
is there a way to give a keyboard shortcut to the plugin (or is that some general lightroom setting i have yet no knowledge of)
I also get an error that only low quality previews are available. I import my pictures with standard preview settings, so i dont really know why there only is a low quality preview. It is also not true, if i try the same picture again, it has a higher quality preview.

it also would be better if the plugin just gave an overlay of the focus point instead of an extra window, but this is probably not technically possible as a plugin. 

just my 2C


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## Rose Weir

MarkNicholas said:


> So how does this work if you focus and then recompose, which I do probably 90% of the time ?



On my Canon 6D I customized the AF button to be the 'back button' focus button. Then if I continue to hold it down it locks that focus point when I recompose...i.e. move the camera slightly in any direction. Lift off and the focus lock quits.This was done in the custom configurations.
 The button beside AF has a * on it and for me my largish fingers do not always hit that middle button so holding the back button was more convenient. The shutter button is for metering and clicking for the image.


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## MarkNicholas

Rose Weir said:


> On my Canon 6D I customized the AF button to be the 'back button' focus button. Then if I continue to hold it down it locks that focus point when I recompose...i.e. move the camera slightly in any direction. Lift off and the focus lock quits.This was done in the custom configurations.
> The button beside AF has a * on it and for me my largish fingers do not always hit that middle button so holding the back button was more convenient. The shutter button is for metering and clicking for the image.



Rose, that is exactly what I do with my newly acquired 6D, except that I have customized "both" back buttons to AF, so either will do. I have also set the AF such that only the centre focus point operates which I did on my 30D.


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## johngalt

Hi,

I know that focus point support has been requested in Lightroom many times.

I happened to stumble across a plugin last night while searching the subject.

Does anyone have any experience with this plugin? 

Show Focus Points Plugin

Mods, please move post or remove URL if it's inappropriate.


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## clee01l

I have also set the AF such that only the centre focus point operates which I did on my 30D.[/QUOTE said:
			
		

> The beneft of this plugin is that it provides information about where the camera chose one or more focus points.  If you choose the focus point, there is not much gained from the plugin since you already know the location of the focus point


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## Nomad-Photo

clee01l said:


> The beneft of this plugin is that it provides information about where the camera chose one or more focus points.  If you choose the focus point, there is not much gained from the plugin since you already know the location of the focus point



It may still be useful with a designated focus point, for diagnosing camera focus problems. Unfortunately, Nikon's quality control has had some issues in recent years (as with the first release of the D800, and Left side focus problems). Also, regardless of where I think I have placed the focus point, this can be useful (though depressing) for seeing your near misses.

_Tricia Lombardi_


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## RikkFlohr

Personally, I consider focus point displayed after-the-fact a next-to-useless piece of information. Your goal is to have a sharp picture-where you want it to be sharp. A viewing of the focus point shows you where the camera acquired focus but not if that focus point is sharp. One example: If you shoot med-telephoto portraits or macro, you will learn very quickly from experience that if your body position or the subject drift after focus acquisition you will not have a sharp image.  This means, for many types of shooting, you have to go in, at 1:1 and evaluate anyway-rendering a viewing of the acquired focus point a wasted exercise.


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## clee01l

RikkFlohr said:


> Personally, I consider focus point displayed after-the-fact a next-to-useless piece of information. Your goal is to have a sharp picture-where you want it to be sharp. A viewing of the focus point shows you where the camera acquired focus but not if that focus point is sharp. One example: If you shoot med-telephoto portraits or macro, you will learn very quickly from experience that if your body position or the subject drift after focus acquisition you will not have a sharp image.  This means, for many types of shooting, you have to go in, at 1:1 and evaluate anyway-rendering a viewing of the acquired focus point a wasted exercise.


Rikk, 
While everything you say is true, sometimes I think it useful to decide which of three (or more) images hit the focus where I intended or that focus was acquired.  That way I can toss all but the best. Knowing that, I don't waste even more time trying to make a silk purse out of images that aren't going to ever be any more than a Pig. I don't intend to use this plugin on every photo or even every import, but I do think it is a valuable tool for evaluating photos.


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## ChrisR

*Feedback*



Cerianthus said:


> I had the same mogrify problem that the new version now fixed. I have some general comments (as a user).
> 
> the text at the right hand side is cut off. -> might help if you could define a window size.
> is there a way to give a keyboard shortcut to the plugin (or is that some general lightroom setting i have yet no knowledge of)
> I also get an error that only low quality previews are available. I import my pictures with standard preview settings, so i dont really know why there only is a low quality preview. It is also not true, if i try the same picture again, it has a higher quality preview.
> 
> it also would be better if the plugin just gave an overlay of the focus point instead of an extra window, but this is probably not technically possible as a plugin.
> 
> just my 2C



Thanks for the welcome to the forum, and glad things are mostly working well. Cerianthus, regarding your questions:
- Yes, you can start the plugin with a keyboard shortcut: 
On Windows, use the keyboard sequence: ALT+L, then U, then F (ALT+L is for the Library Menu, U for the submenu Plug-In Extras and F for starting the plugin). I don't think it's possible to have a "one-key"-combination.  
On Mac: through use of System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts. Use "App Shortcuts".  Select Adobe Lightroom 5 when asked for the application. For Menu, enter "   Show Focus Points" without the quotes. NOTE: You need to type exactly three spaces before the word "Show", or it will not work. 
- An overlay of the function instead of an extra window is unfortunately not allowed by Lightroom. I'm thinking of adding some navigation buttons to the plugin window to ease navigation.
- Regarding the two issues mentioned: Low Quality Previews message: I' ve seen that problem sometimes on Windows and will look into it shortly. The cut-off text I have now been able to reproduce and will post a fix soon. 
Chris


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## Rose Weir

ST-EOS said:


> Mark it will only show the focus point you used prior to you recomposing, not where that point was when you achieved focus



If the focus lock is put into effect the plug in retains the focus point info. I use the back button procedure and have also customized that back button to lock focus if continued to be held down. If I don't hold it down and recompose the plug in reports that focus was not locked. A red and black framed box results when holding down the backbutton (which I think is the AFLock button that gets customized to be the focus and meter action and the shutter is only used for pre metering and  final clicking)


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## jjlad

Wow ...I had given up searching for a tool like this. Someone mentioned a year or two ago that someone was working on one and I emailed him and learned he'd put it aside for awhile due to other pressing commitments. This is really a welcome tool.
I just downloaded and installed it and it is kind of working. Here are my observations:
It displays the points accurately (using D7100)
It takes up nearly the whole screen and doesn't need to be that big. Wouldn't need to be much bigger than the 3" LCD Screen on most DSLR's since that's all we had to work with previously anyway and all we need to do is confirm where it focused ...usually when questioning why we didn't seem to nail one.
It shows the points for a few pictures and then hits another one and I get a "could not generate jpeg for processing" error and the plugin seems to close. I'm viewing a folder containing nothing but NEF files recently taken on a D7100. I restart the plugin and they cycle repeats itself ...starting from a different image.
At one point LR (5.6) froze up and I had to re-start it.
I'm sure this is just minor new baby stuff so really looking forward to using it ...particularly when it is shrunk down so it doesn't hide LR. Would be nice to just park it to the side over the the library listings or over the preview, while rating a 500 photo shoot.
Kudos on developing this!!


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## chasgroh

...very cool plug-in!  I shoot alot of band/drum corps shows...sometimes they last all day and I get thousands of shots, of which I actually go through them all...focus issues are not usually a problem (shooting a D4 with appropriate glass) but it's way nice to be able to see how my focusing is being achieved.  I use continuous focus at the nine point setting...just a cursory glance using the plug-in offers info I normally would not have...thanks!  Oh, while I "normally" shoot RAW for my smaller projects, these band tournaments really require that I step it down a bit so I shoot fine jpeg...and the plug-in works great with that format.


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