Focusing Ultra Wides

[bessasebastian]

Please explain one SLR shooter (thats me) how to focus ultra wide lenses on a Rangefinder with that external finder.

Do you just set the lens at infinity and snap away? What happens to the rangefinder patch in the rangefinder?

I have no idea, hope you can help

That Voigtländer 12mm is tempting.

 

[pvdhaar]

Depends..

If the lens is RF coupled, you can focus using the RF patch of the finder in the body, and then look through the external finder to frame the shot.

There are wide lenses that aren't RF coupled though, and then it's a matter of scale focussing (guesstimate distance) and framing through the external finder..

 

[peterm1]

If the lens is rangefinder coupled you just focus normally by looking thru the cameras' built in viewfinder. Then when you have focussed move your eye to the add on viewfinder mounted on the accessory shoe and compose your shot and shoot normally.

If however the lens is not rangefinder coupled (which I think is what you are getting at) I would advise using hyperfocal focussing. Most lenses are marked to show the depth of field - i.e. either side of the focussing mark on the focussing ring of the lens you will see marks indicating f5.6, f8, f11 etc. You will also notice that there is one such mark on either side of the focusing mark for each of these aperture settings. One indicates the nearest limit to the zone of focus and the other the furthest limit to the zone of focus at that aperture. If your lens is set to f8 say, make sure the furthest mark for f8 is set to infinity. When you focus in this manner it maximises your usable / useful depth of field. I happen to have a 35mm lens on my camera and know that at f8 when focussed in this way, everything from 8' to infinity will be in focus. For a wider angle lens the range of focus will be even more e.g. - for a 12mm lens probably everything from a couple of feet to infinity will be in focus. You can ignore the cameras rangefinder / viewfinder then. Just point and shoot. If this is too confusing - Google "hyperfocal focusing" and you should get an alternate explanation.

(edit) Ok just found link with pictures

http://www.great-landscape-photography.com/hyperfocal.html

 

[Kim Coxon]

The 12 and 15mm CV lens are not rangefinder coupled so you need to "zone" focus. The DOF is so great that for all normal pictures this makes no difference.

Kim