On a Nikon camera, watch the bottom left corner of the viewfinder as you rotate that focus ring. When your image is in focus, a circle will appear, when it's not, there are arrows indicating which direction you should adjust. To get that focus assist to really help, use the single point focus area mode and move the point over your subject. 3 How to Manual Focus on the Sony a6000. 3.1 The Initial Setup (Menu Settings) 3.1.1 Step 1: release w/o lens setting. 3.1.2 Step 2: focus peaking. 3.1.3 Step 3: focus magnifier & custom buttons. 4 How to Practice & Improve with Manual Focus. 5 Best Manual Focus Lenses. Mastering manual focusing is a must for macro photography because it allows for a much greater range of experimentation. 3. Focus Stacking. Focus stacking is a method to ensure that every element is in focus to its fullest. It is often used in landscape photography, mainly by photographers who like the HDR process. First use live view to manually focus. Zoom your live view by pushing the OK button. One of your adjudtment dials on top allows you to control the zoom amount. Focus and shoot a test photo. Then without moving anything, switch to the viewfinder. Check your diopter setting again. Manually focus the lens using your eye. Ignore the focus beep. Here are the basic steps to getting the most precise manual focus: Turn the focus ring until your subject sharpens. Switch your camera to live view mode (where the LCD is your viewfinder). Tap the The Nikon F3HP has the best SLR viewfinder I've tried, although some folks who don't need the longer eye relief prefer the non-HP finder for the higher magnification. I've owned or used the Olympus OM system (owned the OM-1 and OM-2N, used the OM-4); Canon FTbn, TX, T70 (only tried the F1 briefly, seemed very good); Pentax Spotmatic; Minolta Canon cameras have a digital magnification feature that allows us to enlarge the view of the subject via the LCD screen, without touching the lens at all. For many of Canon's cameras, this magnification comes in two steps; one at 5x magnification and the next at 10x, but some start at 6x and go all the way to 16x. The exact buttons available vary by model and you should consult your instruction manual for the particulars of how to do this with your particular camera. Here's how to do it on a Nikon D7100, and let's use the Fn button: Press the MENU button. Choose the CUSTOM SETTINGS menu (the pencil icon). Choose CONTROLS and press OK.