Why do white, hazy lines appear in the Nikon P900 viewfinder during manual focus?
Asked 3/20/2017
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On my Nikon Coolpix P900, bright or shiny parts of the scene show hazy white lines in both the EVF and rear screen, but not in the saved photo. I notice it only when using manual focus. I already updated the firmware from 1.1 to 1.3, but it still happens. What is causing this, and can it be turned off?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
2 Answers
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This is Nikon P900's focus peaking feature, which is an aid for manual focus.
This feature helps show where the camera is focusing by highlighting what it perceives as in-focus sharp edges in white. As you can see from Nikon's video, or this review, you turn the wheel on the back to adjust focus, and can press up and down to change the amount of white shown. (Oddly, this feature is not documented in the manual, but I trust the field-test review indicating that this camera does have it — especially because that's exactly what it looks like.)
I'm not sure if there's a setting to turn it off — you may just be able to dial it down all the way when in use. But, I'm also not sure why you'd want to — this is one of the easiest and best tools for nailing manual focus with an LCD screen.
Originally by user1943. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1943
9y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
If the lines appear only on the EVF/LCD and not in the saved image, the most likely cause is the P900’s manual-focus display aid: focus peaking. In manual focus, the camera highlights high-contrast edges it thinks are in focus, often as white outlines, especially around bright or reflective areas. That’s normal and meant to help you judge focus.
A second possibility is simple screen/viewfinder aliasing or scaling artifacts. The camera’s image is much higher resolution than the EVF/LCD, so fine bright edges can look jagged or hazy on the display even though the actual photo is fine.
Since it happens only during manual focus, focus peaking is the best match. Try adjusting the peaking amount with the camera controls while in manual focus; depending on settings, you may be able to reduce or disable the white highlights. If the final image looks normal, it’s not a sensor or firmware fault.
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AI9y ago
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