How many of you pre-focus, then shoot?

[Bill58]

Lately, I've taken up the practice of "snapshooting" unposed subjects (people) first w/ my Canon Model Ps/ 25 Canon, and now w/ my compact RFs. I pre-focus at about 6 ft, quickly shoot from 5-8 ft away, and then get the hell outa there. The results aren't always perfect due to distance estimating errors, but about 75% of the shots are fine. Most shots are taken at f 5.6 or smaller.

How many of you do that? Got any tips for improving the technique?

Thanks,

Bill

 

[berci]

I do it too, but I go down to f11 with a wide lens and set the focus by the depth scale on the aperture ring.

 

[oscroft]

How many of you do that? Got any tips for improving the technique?

I do it too, though usually from a greater distance with a fixed-lens RF. The 40mm lens (or thereabouts) isn't ideal - something wider would be better, but the really quiet leaf shutter makes it very stealthy.

Until recently my interchangeable lens RFs consisted solely of Voigtlander Bessa-R and Bessa-L, and the sound of the shutter on those would alert my subjects even if I was shooting in a graveyard. But I've recently got a Leica M6, which has a much quieter shutter, so I'll probably start doing stealth shots with a 25mm CV lens on that (and the M6 has the added advantage that if an annoyed subject should become violent, it' can be used as a defensive weapon 😀 )

 

[Axel]

Hello Bill,

my preset for street is mostly f5,6 or 8, 1/125s and around 3m on the 35mm cron (ISO200).
So it is possible to get some sharp hipshots (like your nice avatar for instance ;-)) in a distance between around 2-6m.
And it is a quick starting point for more exactly metering when needed because of the short ways.

Regards, Axel

 

[RML]

If I shoot like that (which isn't often) I try to keep shutter speeds in the order of 1/250sec or faster, with an aperture of f8 on a wide angle lens like my CV25/4. IIRC with f8 focused at 3mtr you'd get a good DoF from about 2mtr to infinity.

 

[kshapero]

I mainly prefocus when shooting on the street. I pick a distance than set my exposure and let the people walk by (usually at an angle) and click away.

 

[FrankS]

In certain situations, absolutely.

This technique is what makes RF's so quick and unobtrusive. This technique can also be used with SLR's but their focusing screen is just so seductive, the way everything comes into focus and goes out focus at max aperture.

 

[Tom Harrell]

It's the only way to go as long as there is ample light for one of the smaller f stops. All the easier with distance scales on the lenses. Ah the joys of photography!


Tom

 

[Biggles]

I'm not good at remembering to do it, but I try to do that on the street, most days. With 1600-speed usually in the camera, I can always get a nice fat depth-of-field dialed in, even with a 50mm lens.

I'll either set the center pointer at 8 or 10 feet, or set the far-focus pointer at or very near infinity. Depends on street width and crowd density, that sort of thing.

 

[pvdhaar]

Apart from the CV25, which can't even be used in any other mode than focus guesstimation, I also use prefocussing on the 50 when there's no time to fiddle with the RF..

At f11 and 3m set (10ft), the DOF covers something like 2-5m (7-15ft). A nice range for this focal length and field of view.

 

[FrankS]

Often, when the subject is sensitive to picture taking, I focus on an alternate subject the same distance away, then take a shot of the intended subject using the preset distance obtained from the alternate subject.

 

[Joe Mondello]

"Shoot first, focus later!" that's my motto!

;-)

hehe

of course, depending on the situation and the light, prefocusing can and does yield good results, which is one of the things I love about RF shooting.

 

[nightfly]

This is my preferred technique, since I mostly shoot street. With a 35 or a 28 you have a fairly wide depth of field. I don't think I personally could go much wider than 28 because shooting quickly, you are also framing quickly and I think I'd just get too much extraneous stuff in the frame and not be able to control the edges well which I'm finding much more important in making good photographs.

I don't have a specific aperture I use, really depends on the light. I try to keep it f8 or better but if there isn't much light, than I can't. Fortunately for this type of photography, blurriness isn't as much an issue as overall composition. Looking at even the best street photography, many times they aren't the sharpest pictures.

I don't think I could make half the shots I take without doing this, it's rare that I stop and carefully focus. I'm much more likely to be walking and looking ahead and adjusting the camera almost sub consciously at my side for light and focus as I see something interesting happening. Knowing the focus by the location of the lens tab (and using a lens that has a lens tab) does aid this technique. My 35mm Summicron with tab right the middle is 5 feet I know which way puts it closer and further without looking and by approximately how much.

 

[furcafe]

I'll often pre-focus to the extent of guesstimating distance using the scale on the lens before bringing the camera up to my eye, but always @ least attempt to actually focus using the RF when taking the shot. With practice, I can now hit the proper focus about 75% of the time. However, I've taken this approach because I prefer shooting @ the largest aperture I can get away with (usually f/5.6 to f/1) in order to limit DoF & eliminate extraneous detail (of which there is often a lot when shooting on the street), & therefore can't rely on zone focusing or hyperfocal most of the time.

Lately, I've taken up the practice of "snapshooting" unposed subjects (people) first w/ my Canon Model Ps/ 25 Canon, and now w/ my compact RFs. I pre-focus at about 6 ft, quickly shoot from 5-8 ft away, and then get the hell outa there. The results aren't always perfect due to distance estimating errors, but about 75% of the shots are fine. Most shots are taken at f 5.6 or smaller.

How many of you do that? Got any tips for improving the technique?

Thanks,

Bill

 

[350D_user]

As I'm hopeless at guessing distances, I use hyperfocussing... so I guess I do pre-focus. 😉

 

[ray_g]

I try to memorize the 6ft and 10ft positions of the tab my 35mm lens, and go from there.

 

[RayPA]

I do it, too. It's the best way to shoot on the street. I prefocus regardless of whether I hip-shoot or compose directly. By prefocusing when I compose (and focus) with the VF, I can minimize the amount of focusing I need to do. It's much quicker. Often, all I'll need to do is turn the lens a very small amount, or increase or decrease my distance.

The key is not to guess at the focus, but to be concious the about the space between you and your (potential) subject(s), and actually "measure" the distance(s) with the lens. It's a lot like knowing the different lighting situations and riding the apeture ring. You just have to ride the focus the same way. I try to keep about three - four distances.

There are a lot of prefocus tricks for street shooting.

🙂

 

[vrgard]

I do it, too. It's the best way to shoot on the street. I prefocus regardless of whether I hip-shoot or compose directly. By prefocusing when I compose (and focus) with the VF, I can minimize the amount of focusing I need to do. It's much quicker. Often, all I'll need to do is turn the lens a very small amount, or increase or decrease my distance.

The key is not to guess at the focus, but to be concious the about the space between you and your (potential) subject(s), and actually "measure" the distance(s) with the lens. It's a lot like knowing the different lighting situations and riding the apeture ring. You just have to ride the focus the same way. I try to keep about three - four distances.

There are a lot of prefocus tricks for street shooting.

🙂

Hi Ray,

I know you have a lot of experience with street shooting and I've admired your work in the past. Okay, now that I've buttered you up 🙂D ) I'd like to ask you to elaborate a bit more. Care to share any more of those tricks or techniques you've found to work well?

Thanks,
Randy

 

[FrankS]

I'm looking forward to hearing from Ray too.

Just want to add this technique: set the focus distance on the lens, then move yourself to that distance from your subject.

 

[OldNick]

I use the technique as well, and find it works best with a 35mm lens. With ISO 200 or above, I find it is about as simple as using a P&S camera, and gives much better results.

Jim N.