Scale Focusing

[dave lackey]

Hmmm...

Tried a half dozen frames using scale focusing (or zone focusing) to catch the kids playing since they are sometimes too fast to focus on. No luck!

Memphis warned me of that once and he was right...the Summarit 50mm 1.5 just did not work for me, at least wide open, it didn't. Glad I only wasted a few frames. Next time, I will get out my tape measure!🙄

 

[payasam]

Zone focussing is easier with wide angle lenses and at smaller apertures.

 

[newspaperguy]

"Zoning" with a 50/1.5?
...I don't think any of us are that good...
I know I'm not.
But, f8 or smaller... ah, the freedom.

 

[dave lackey]

"Zoning" with a 50/1.5?
...I don't think any of us are that good...
I know I'm not.
But, f8 or smaller... ah, the freedom.

Yeah, it must be very difficult...got lucky with one decent one. Working on a roll of color film now and tried a couple in daylight at F8...curious to see how they turned out.🙄

 

[johnwnyc]

...the Summarit 50mm 1.5 just did not work for me, at least wide open, it didn't.

Very difficult to do that. Use faster film if you have to, but personally I wouldn't zone focus on a 50mm unless I could use f/11 or f/16.

With larger apertures, you could "feet focus." That is, set your camera to a distance like 8 feet and get that distance ingrained in your head. Then -- without touching the focus ring -- fine focus on your subject as necessary by taking a half step closer or farther away and watching the rangefinder patch.

I remember hearing how Diane Arbus would sometimes tape her lens down so that it remained focused at 6' for street shooting and to achieve a certain consistency of composition.

 

[Al Kaplan]

Once in awhile for kicks I'll shoot the last few frames of a roll with scale focussing. Even with the 85mm at f/2 you can get pretty good at it, and f/2 lets you see which direction your errors take. It's probably a worthwhile excersize just in case you ever end up with a busted rangefinder and you'd be able to judge distance well enough to maybe get by with your 50 at f/4.

 

[Calzone]

With larger apertures, you could "feet focus." That is, set your camera to a distance like 8 feet and get that distance ingrained in your head. Then -- without touching the focus ring -- fine focus on your subject as necessary by taking a half step closer or farther away and watching the rangefinder patch.

I remember hearing how Diane Arbus would sometimes tape her lens down so that it remained focused at 6' for street shooting and to achieve a certain consistency of composition.

Thanks for the helpful ideas and info. I'll have to give them a try.

Calzone

 

[Gong]

Ive "Zoned" with some success using my canon 50/1.5 while traveling an the subway and shooting wide open, but a train has enough reference points to judge distance with reasonable accuracy.

 

[foggie]

While shooting in the dark, I set my 40mm Nokton to focus at 1.5meters and leave it on f1.4 - f2 at 1/30th and just get close to my subjects. I'm getting better at judging 1.5m now - only half of my shots are out of focus 🙂

http://flickr.com/photos/foggie/3098518875/

 

[Al Kaplan]

I leave my 15mm Heliar focused at 1 meter all the time, regardless of subject distance or aperture. There's plenty of depth of field.