Tried and true faster focusing for the street with a 50mm.

[wrs1145]

I apologize for the redundancy if mentioned here before, but here's a method for fast focusing that I picked up on YouTube recently: from a Pro in London Set aperture at f/8 or f11, then back off to focus. Set shutter speed at 500. Voila! that's it.

Best of luck,
Bill

 

[seany65]

Of course, You do have to make sure you're not walking backwards into traffic...

lol.

 

[Deleted member 65559]

Of course, You do have to make sure you're not walking backwards into traffic...

lol.

Exactly.
At 1/500th @ f11 assumes a lot of light.
The backing up is exactly why i prefer a wider lens for street shooting.

 

[d_c]

Certainly if you can see a picture "arriving" then roughly pre-focussing allows you to take a step towards / away from the subject to quickly get precise focus.

As above, I wouldn't recommend walking backwards in a London street without having a very clear idea of what lies behind you. ☠️

 

[raid]

I try using the max aperture as often as possible in street photography. Even the smallest errors results in OOF images. However, when there are no focusing errors, the results can be quite good. Using F 8~ F11 gives you more depth of field, but often the results are less interesting. Such apertures are useful with landscape photography. Just my opinions. Thanks for this thread.

 

[pggunn]

I may be wrong, but I think what is meant by backing up is backing off on the distance scale after setting infinity to your chosen f stop. See the section called Modified Hyperlocal Method seen here:

HYPERFOCAL DISTANCE FOCUSING TECHNIQUE

And please correct me if I'm wrong. I know that you will. 🙂

 

[Godfrey]

I apologize for the redundancy if mentioned here before, but here's a method for fast focusing that I picked up on YouTube recently: from a Pro in London Set aperture at f/8 or f11, then back off to focus. Set shutter speed at 500. Voila! that's it.

Best of luck,
Bill

I'm not sure what "then back off to focus" means. Back off what?

G

 

[TenEleven]

The one thing which can be somewhat useful in this technique (assuming I read it right to set the lens to or near minimal focus) is that it is indeed better to be front focusing than back focusing as you will always have more depth of field to the back.

I do the same by just focusing as quickly as I can and not worrying about "overshooting" a bit - even with a 50mm at f8 you still have a good bit of leeway before it is truly out of focus.

 

[pggunn]

The one thing which can be somewhat useful in this technique (assuming I read it right to set the lens to or near minimal focus) is that it is indeed better to be front focusing than back focusing as you will always have more depth of field to the back.

I do the same by just focusing as quickly as I can and not worrying about "overshooting" a bit - even with a 50mm at f8 you still have a good bit of leeway before it is truly out of focus.

Yes, that's how I read it. Or how I thought I understood it.

 

[Deleted member 65559]

I apologize for the redundancy if mentioned here before, but here's a method for fast focusing that I picked up on YouTube recently: from a Pro in London Set aperture at f/8 or f11, then back off to focus. Set shutter speed at 500. Voila! that's it.

Best of luck,
Bill

Bill, that's not very clear. Is there any chance you could provide a link to the youtube content?

 

[Ororaro]

“A Pro in London”.

I’m sold.

 

[Out to Lunch]

I may be wrong

Nope, that's it.

 

[Richard G]

This is the most confusing thread I’ve ever seen on RFF. Raid’s maximum aperture - aperture number, smaller aperture; backing up, backing off, either with the feet going backwards, or backing off from infinity focus; or backing off from close focus. And each successive correspondent contributes as though the other inhabitants of this unexpected Tower of Babel were all perfectly intelligible. It’s partly that we are all sufficiently informed and clever and experienced to make something of this mess.

 

[Out to Lunch]

Tower of Babel

The link in pggunn's post clarifies.

 

[Deleted member 65559]

The link in pggunn's post clarifies.

....basically hyperfocal distance.... what's the news?

 

[raid]

I meant using the lens wide open. The max opening is meant by max aperture.

 

[raid]

Peter Karbe told us in Wetzlar that Leica lenses should be used wide open whenever possible.

 

[JohnWolf]

Still not getting it. “Back off,” as in step backwards, into the hyperfocal zone?
What if stepping back does not give the framing I want?

And, Raid, so much of SP is setting; blurring it out makes no sense to me at all. Seems to me that Peter Karbe contradicts much of the rich history of Leica street/documentary photography.

 

[Deleted member 65559]

Peter Karbe told us in Wetzlar that Leica lenses should be used wide open whenever possible.

Like any rule..... meant to be broken.

 

[Coldkennels]

And, Raid, so much of SP is setting; blurring it out makes no sense to me at all. Seems to me that Peter Karbe contradicts much of the rich history of Leica street/documentary photography.

Considering a good chunk of early Leica street photography was shot with a 50/3.5 Elmar... shooting wide open with that isn't going to lose you a lot, especially at the sort of working distances you use for street shooting.

I don't get this thread at all, though. What's wrong with zone focusing and/or the muscle memory of constantly using a good tabbed lens? It's not rocket science.