Zone Focussing ?

[Murchu]

Hi,

Considering a micro 4/3's body to use with the 14mm & 20mm lenses, and wonder how easy it is to zone focus with these bodies, as I would like to use the 14mm like a fixed focus point and shoot sometimes.

Mainly I have my eyes on a Panasonic or Olympus EP/ EP-L body, to facilitate an easy (and inexpensive) entry into micro 4/3's, so guess it is zone focussing with these cameras that I am most interested in for now.

Thanks in advance

 

[JoeV]

Well, technically zone focussing is done by referencing the distance scale on the lens, setting it to a preset distance and then relying on the aperture's depth of field for focus.

Virtually none of the native u4/3 lenses have distance scales, and there is no virtual distance scale in the viewfinder or rear LCD.

But you could find an object at a predetermined distance, say a light pole at 10 feet distance, set the camera to manual focus, focus on the light pole, and you'd have a preset zone-ish focus.

There's also a technique with the Lumix cameras where you set the body to manual focus, then cycle the power switch, and it will revert to hyper focal distance for an aperture of about f/8. Not the same thing as zone focus, however.

Alternatively, adapting a manual focus lens of another brand would enable zone focusing just like you want. Finding one of sufficiently short focal length is the challenge, given the format's propensity to crop the angle of view by 50% as compared to the 135 film format.

-Joe

 

[Murchu]

Yes, know there are no depth of field markings on the lenses themselves, and just wondering if there are any tools in the camera to be utilised, as I know some cameras have distance scales in the camera when manually focussing, and this would be sufficient for my purposes.

Don't want to forego autofocusing with a camera thats not really designed for manual focussing either, so will stick with the 14 & 20mm which to be honest are the main draw to micro 4/3's, but can see how this would be a lot easier with manual focus lenses alright.

So I guess my question really is, are there any distance scales provided in the viewfinder on the Panasonic GF and Olympus EP ranges..

EDIT: Cheers for the reply by the way Joe. Missed your comment at the Lumix distance reset on power off, this seems like an interesting possibility alright, in place of a more flexible alternative.

 

[Dogman]

You don't have to forego autofocus to zone focus with micro 4/3 cameras....at least not with the Olympus E-P1 and E-P2 or the Panasonic G1 (camera's I've used).

You can move the AF to the AEL/AFL button. That prevents the camera from re-focusing every time you touch the shutter release. You then adjust your aperture and pre-focus at a predetermined distance that provides maximum DOF for the chosen aperture. You don't even have to be precise--micro 4/3 has massive DOF at each aperture. I'm sure you can find DOF tables online to download. As a guide, the DOF at any given aperture on micro 4/3 is about double that of the same aperture on 35mm (or "full frame") cameras.

By moving AF to the AEL/AFL button, you have AF available constantly without having to switch back an forth between AF and MF.

 

[Murchu]

You don't have to forego autofocus to zone focus with micro 4/3 cameras....at least not with the Olympus E-P1 and E-P2 or the Panasonic G1 (camera's I've used).

You can move the AF to the AEL/AFL button. That prevents the camera from re-focusing every time you touch the shutter release. You then adjust your aperture and pre-focus at a predetermined distance that provides maximum DOF for the chosen aperture. You don't even have to be precise--micro 4/3 has massive DOF at each aperture. I'm sure you can find DOF tables online to download. As a guide, the DOF at any given aperture on micro 4/3 is about double that of the same aperture on 35mm (or "full frame") cameras.

By moving AF to the AEL/AFL button, you have AF available constantly without having to switch back an forth between AF and MF.

Good to know about assigning autofocus to the AEL/AFL button, I do that currently with my Nikon dslr. It would not seem there is any sort of distance scale which I could use for zone focussing though.

One question though, if you switch autofocus to the AEL/AFL button, can you focus and recompose, without the camera moaning it is not in focus?

 

[Dunn]

Good to know about assigning autofocus to the AEL/AFL button, I do that currently with my Nikon dslr. It would not seem there is any sort of distance scale which I could use for zone focussing though.

One question though, if you switch autofocus to the AEL/AFL button, can you focus and recompose, without the camera moaning it is not in focus?

I currently own an e-p2 with the panasonic 14 and 20mm just like you want. There is no real distance scale, but I have switched my af to the ael/afl button as well. It works great. The camera doesn't say anything about the focus. If you switch the af, the shutter button just fires the shutter whenever you want it to regardless of where it's focused. So, I just do like someone else mentioned and focus on an object about 2-3meters away and go for a walk.

And even if you want to focus on something specific you will get used to using the ael/afl button. It's just natural for me now.

 

[DNG]

With the 14mm, focus on a 8' subject, for f/5.6, and 4' to INF will be in Focus.

Turn the AF, make sure the camera is set up NOT to reset the when turned Off/ On.. You may want to place a piece of staffers tape on the lens focus ring and to a non moving area to hold in place.

With the 20mm, focus at a 8' subject for f/11, and 6' to INF will be in focus...

Used DOF Master Windows Calculator... free online.
Circle of Confusion .015
www.dofmaster.com
The same website that has the online DOF calculator.