prefocusing a 50mm lens on a full frame camera

[Rangeman133]

I'm using this site to calculate distances for pre focusing http://www.dofmaster.com/doftable.html

maybe its just that i got spoiled with the olympus xa...with its very sharp, 28mm lens...it was a dream to use, especially with the ease of aperture priority mode...i could take photos in less than a second...lightening fast to use!!

recently i bought my first serious m6 rangefinder, and 50mm cron. i'm running into 2 problems: lack of aperture priority mode. and pre focusing the 50mm lens.

when i have time to set up the shot, and to focus, and make sure I get the correct exposure...and to compose...then its an absolute DREAM to use the camera.

but most of the time, i want to photograph in less than a second...bring the camera to the eye...and shoot.

With the m6, and a 50mm lens, I guess it does take practice to do everything at once...i guess i just haven't had enough time to practice.

just wondering what everyone else does here, as they walk through the steps of taking a photography... first think about focusing? and then get the correct exposure? and then compose? or do you still manage to prefocus...do you set the exposure through experience...do you generally set the aperture first...and then choose a shutter speed...or do you generally want your pics sharp above anything else...so you set a minimum shutter to 1/30 in low light situations?

for those quick candid shots that i took with my xa...i guess i'm trying to do the same with the m6...but its taking a bit of time to get use to. wondering if there is a way i could practice...and get good at using the camera a lot faster than i do now...thanks.

 

[Vics]

I can only help you with the pre-focusing part. In 2003 I inherited my father's Contax IIIa and 50 Sonnar 1.5. That fall, I went to Paris for two weeks and shot pre-focused MOST of the time. I used f11 as my default aperture and simply aligned the f11 mark on the lens with the infinity mark and the used the camera as a box camera. You can see my meager efforts here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/srca_house/sets/72157624586983512/

 

[hendriphile]

I used both the Olympus XA and the Minox GL during the early 80s. Loved them both...they were so much fun... the forerunners of today's digital point and shoots with automated exposure. Your Leica is a very different beast... especially with a 50 mm lens. If you want to get anything approaching the speed of the Olympus, first of all you need to get a lens of similar focal length to the Olympus, i.e., a 28 or 35 mm lens with its very wide depth of field. Outdoors with ISO 400 film you'll be at f/16 and everything will be in focus. With slower speed film, you can pre-focus using the zone focusing method or, if your lens has a focusing tab (as so many wide-angle Leica lenses do), as you walk about with the camera you can constantly be adjusting the focus tab with one finger so that you will always be ready (this technique is well-described here: luminous-landscape.com/columns/sm-dec-04.shtml. Pre-set your exposure using Sunny 16, compensating as needed for open shade (or use an onboard or pocket meter), and you'll pretty much be in a similar situation as you would with the Olympus XA... just point and shoot!

 

[ottluuk]

I'm using this site to calculate distances for pre focusing http://www.dofmaster.com/doftable.html


just wondering what everyone else does here, as they walk through the steps of taking a photography... first think about focusing? and then get the correct exposure? and then compose? or do you still manage to prefocus...do you set the exposure through experience...do you generally set the aperture first...and then choose a shutter speed...or do you generally want your pics sharp above anything else...so you set a minimum shutter to 1/30 in low light situations?

a) Just use the DOF scale on the lens. If that doesn't give you sharp enough, be conservative, use the f/11 markings when shooting at f/16 for example. Unless you plan to make very large prints, the markings should be good as they are.

b) Pre-focussing saves you a second. Pre-setting exposure can save much more. When out shooting, take a few meter readings in the light where you expect your subject to appear. Set your camera accordingly and keep the numbers in your head. When a shot appears, is it in similar light you metered before? If yes -> shoot; if darker -> open up a stop or two (learn to do this by feel, counting the click stops), shoot; if lighter -> close down, shoot. The aperture ring is easier to operate by feel than the shutter (except on M5, people will tell you)

Study the light. Try to guess what the exposure should be in various situations, then check with the meter. Outside is pretty easy, indoors, very hard. Your eyes and brain are better than any meter. Use them with confidence (although a little sanity check is always good).

c) Don't worry 😀. Think, shoot, study results, rinse, repeat.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Use a lens with a focusing spar or nub (ZI). Very quickly, you learn the relationship between spar/nub angle, and focused distance. And it's VERY quick and easy to make tiny adjustments, as you're raising the camera to your eye.

In 40+ years, I have seldom relied on pure prefocus, though there are examples here. http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps how zone focus.html Generally, I regard reliance on pure pre-focus and small apertures as L.M.F. (Lacking Moral Fibre.) Read the link and see if you agree.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Chris101]

I love to prefocus 35mm lenses, it makes any camera into a p&s. But for a 50mm, I call it misfocus.

 

[Particular]

Photographs rarely 'just happen'. They are typically the culmination of a sequence of events. The sport is to anticipate what might happen.
I tend to decide what type of photograph I am going to be taking. I pre-set the exposure, and I pre-focus on where I decide that the action will be. Often I will either focus on the subject before they do something interesting, or I focus on something which looks like it is at the same subject distance. When I bring the camera to my eye for the shot, I make the judgement if the focus is close enough, and timing is critical, in which case I frame and shoot. In most cases I adjust focus. I have plenty of blurry decisive moments, and sharp indecisive ones, but often enough I get it right.
A lot of great photographs are pretty mundane shots, that have one surprise element thrown in. If something unexpected happens while you are framing your shot you may have time to make one adjustment, like refocussing, or opening up a stop, but having to make two adjustments is usually fatal. There are always crazy things happening behind your back or across the street. Don't be distracted by that, just concentrate on what is happening in your viewfinder.