LeicaLux
  • Blog
  • Gallery
    • My Quick-Share posts
    • Leica-M-Mount Lenses on Sony NEX camera
    • Black and White
    • Color
    • Downtown LA
    • Fireworks Bokehs
  • Personal Gallery
    • 2012 >
      • Cerritos Library
      • Renaissance Faire
      • Lake Isabella Camping
      • Mother's Day
      • Happy Birthday, Dylan
      • Legoland, California
      • Camp Williams
      • LA County Museum of Art (LACMA)
      • Helen's Graduation
      • Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas
      • Tina's 3? Birthday
      • Sequoia National Park
      • Adreana, Priscilla, Sweet 16
      • Lake Cuyamaca Camping
      • El Capitan, Santa Barbara
      • Thanksgiving, and the foggy morning after...
      • Disneyland
      • Oahu, Hawaii
    • 2013 >
      • Disney California Adventure
      • Disneyland, with 90mm
      • Discovery Science Center and Jayden's Birthday
      • Kelson 3 Years Old
      • Train Ride to Chinatown
      • Spring Festival Weekend
      • Disneyland, with 50'Lux
      • Memorial Sunday at Jeff's
      • Remote Control Convention
      • Dylan 2, Vivienne 1
      • Sunday Fun with Evan and Jake
      • Camp Williams 2013
      • Preschool Graduation
      • Jessica High School Graduation
      • Rancho Cuyamaca State Park
      • Ringling Bros. Circus
      • Las Vegas and Valley of Fire
      • Aidan's 5th Birthday
      • Huntington Beach
      • Disneyland, with 35'Lux
      • Union Station to Pershing Square
      • Legoland
      • San Francisco
      • Bolsa Chica, Jane's 19th Birthday
      • Kevin's Homecoming Dance
      • Austin and Jonathan's Birthday
      • Museum of Contemporary Art
      • Xmas / Kevin Birthday
      • Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica
    • 2014 >
      • Annie's Forty
      • Downtown LA, Again
      • 80 Years Young
      • Valentines
      • First Rolls from Rolleiflex SL66
      • Bowers Museum
      • Kelson 4 Years Old
      • Spring Break Road Trip
      • Hot Weekend in Palm Springs
      • Echo Mountain
      • Lunch at Redondo Beach Marina
      • Dylan 3, Vivian 2
      • Frank's Wedding Reception
      • Father's Day Dim-Sum
      • Alice's Birthday
      • Darren's High School Graduation
      • Echo Park and Hollywood
      • July 4th Fireworks
      • Getty's Museum
      • Visiting Palos Verdes
      • Silver Saddle Ranch
      • Darren's 18th Birthday
      • Weekend in San Diego
      • Halloween
      • Vegas-bound
      • DDC Xmas Party
      • Taiwan
    • 2015 >
      • CicLAvia Bike Ride
      • Gaviota Camping
      • Double Birthday Party
      • Dylan 4, Vivi 3
      • San Diego County Fair at Del Mar
      • Cerritos High, Class of 2015
      • Barton Flats Campground
      • Cuyamaca Camping
      • Getty Villa
      • Halloween
      • Sunny Black Friday
      • DDC in Santa Barbara
      • Xmas in Oahu
    • 2016 >
      • Big Bear Snow Play
      • Desert Springs
      • Mother Sue Birthday
      • Museum Day
      • Gaviota, Again
      • The Broad
      • Santa Monica via Metro
      • Barton Flats
      • We Love Camping
      • Aidan is 8-year old
      • Silver Saddle Ranch
      • Universal Studio
      • CicLAvia - Heart of LA
      • DDC Xmas 2016
    • 2017 >
      • Lake Arrowhead
      • Universal Studios Hollywood
      • Universal Studio Spring Break
      • Gaviota State Beach
      • RV Camping at Owen's River
      • Aidan 9 Years Old
      • Jenks Lake
      • CicLaVia - Heart of LA
      • Victoria's Beach
      • Miller Canyon
    • 2018 >
      • Vacation in Waikiki
      • Revel Roadtrip
      • Point Dume
      • Sequoia National Park
      • Zion National Park
      • Borrego Springs
    • 2019 >
      • Mission San Juan Capistrano
      • Yosemite
      • Mojave National Preserve
      • Angus Graduation
      • RoadTrip PNW
      • Labor Day: Yucca Valley
      • Trona Pinnacles
      • DTLA with Roy
      • Bolsa Chica State Beach
    • 2020 >
      • President's Day
      • Needles
      • Prewitt Ridge, Big Sur
      • Eastern Sierras
      • Thanksgiving in Utah
    • 2021 >
      • The Mojave Road
      • Fossil Falls to Lake Isabella
      • Oregon Roadtrip
      • Point Reyes, Pinnacles National Park
    • 2022 >
      • Death Valley
      • Aidan 8th Grade Promotion
      • Roadtrip to Orlando
      • Grand Canyon and Sedona
  • Gears
  • Light Meter Glassware
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Policy

My Journey into Leica...

A path not to be taken lightly, not without reservations, and not without dedication, but the results can be sweet, OH SO SWEET!  This is a documentation of my trials and tribulations into the world of Leica Rangefinder Photography, and I hope you'll enjoy coming along with me.

If You Only Want To See Images

Pre-focus, Zone-focus, and Hyperfocal distance...

4/12/2012

6 Comments

 
All three terms will sound familiar if you read about street photography with rangefinder cameras and lenses.  Finally, I decided that if I was to grow as a photographer, I better understand them natively so I can use the techniques quickly when I need them.  You can read all about them at Wikipedia, but I will try to sum it up in a way that's easier for me to understand.
Picture
Rear view... ZM50 f/16 ISO 200
Pre-focus
When shooting street, kids, or anything that doesn't stay still to wait for you to focus, you will have to rely on pre-focusing techniques so you can simply point-and-shoot.  This also allow you to shoot from the waist, or from anywhere, if you don't want to draw attentions to yourself by holding the camera up to your eyes.

Depth of Field (DOF)
Rangefinder cameras don't have auto-focus, so all the magic is achieved by understanding the "depth of field" and its relation to the lens aperture.  At any given aperture, there is a range of distance that things will appear to be in focus.  I won't explain the physics and math behind it, but put it simply, the more open the aperture, the shorter the DOF, and as you stop-down or close up the aperture, the range of DOF is increased.  Since we'll want a large DOF zone, we'll probably be setting the aperture at f/8 up to f/16 or higher.  All rangefinder lenses will have their DOF scale engraved on the barrel, however, the scale is not 100% accurate, especially with digital sensors, so use it only as a suggestive value.

Picture
Zone-focusing at f/8
Zone-focusing
Using the image on the left, you can see my aperture is set at f/8, and looking at the DOF scale, you'll see there's an 8 on both sides of the arrow.  If you follow the line of the left-sided 8, it points to about 2 meters, and you if follow the line of the right-sided 8, it points to about 3 meters.  So, that's my DOF zone of about 1 meter, and if I shoot with the camera as is, everything that's 2 to 3 meters away from me will be in focus.  Similarly, if I change my aperture to f/4, I will decrease my DOF zone down to about 1/2 meter (somewhere between 2.3 meters to 2.8 meters away from me), which means it's more likely to mis-focus.  If I change my aperture to f/16, my DOF zone will increase to over 3 meters (somewhere between 1.7 meters to 5 meters away from me).  How is this applicable?  With this DOF zone, you can practice by shooting things that are 2-3 meters away, which is about 2-3 arm's length away from you.  Once you get used to that distance, you will feel comfortable to shoot people and things that are in that general zone, all without focusing!


Picture
Hyperfocus at f/8
Hyperfocal Distance
This is similar to zone-focusing, except we push the maximum distance of the DOF zone to infinity, and the minimum distance will become the hyperfocal distance.  By turning the focus ring so that the infinity mark lines up with my aperture number on the right side of the arrow, you'll see something like the image on the right.  Looking at the left side of the arrow, you can see my hyperfocal distance is about 5 meters.  So if I was to take a shot, everything beyond the hyperfocal distance of 5 meters will be in focus.  This technique is less useful than zone-focusing because it requires you to be much further away from the subjects.

Focal Length as a Factor
In this post, I'm using my Zeiss 50mm C-Sonnar lens as an example.  If you go with a lens of a shorter focal length, like 35mm, then the DOF zone will also increase in size.  For example, looking at my 35mm Summicron version 4 lens, at f/8, I can have a zone of 2 to 10 meters, and the hyperfocal distance is about 2.3 meters.  If I set the 35mm lens aperture to f/4, then I get the similar DOF zones and hyperfocal distance as the 50mm lens at f/8.

The range of the zone also decrease rapidly as you move it closer to the camera.  You can see how the numbers of meters on my ZM50 lens' DOF scale are fairly evenly spaced, almost perfect for lining up the zone focus for f/8.  So if I turn the focus ring for closer focus, you'll see my DOF zone range goes from 2 to 3 meters (actual range of 1 meter), then 1.5 to 2 meters (actual range of 0.5 meter), and 1.2 to 1.5 meters (actual range of 0.3 meter).  Looking at my 35mm Summicron lens, I see the DOF scale is more optimized for reading the zones for f/4.  Perhaps, that should be a hint for us to know which aperture to use when zone-focusing on a lens of any particular focal length.
6 Comments
Anchalee
9/2/2012 06:08:44 pm

Great write up, one of the easiest to understand explanation I have read! Thank you.

Reply
Peter Evans
5/20/2013 04:12:33 am

I think your paragraph about hyperfocal distance is a bit misleading. It omits to mention the whole point of the hyperfocal distance which is to re-focus at the hyperfocal distance, in your example 5m, and then everything between half the focal distance,
(2.5 metres) and infinity will be in focus. This gives the maximum possible depth of field for the given F factor.

Pretty useful I would say, especially for landscapes.

Reply
David Young
5/20/2013 05:33:19 am

Hi Peter, thanks for the comments. I've revisited the wikipedia site just to make sure the math is correct. According to it, the formula is:

Hyperfocal Distance = (((focal_length)^2) / f-stop * circle_of_confusion) + focal_length

Which for a 50mm lens on 35mm full-frame camera is:

H = ((50 * 50) / (8 * 0.03)) + 50 = 10467 mm

Then it goes on to say that everything from half of that should be in acceptable focus, which is 5.2 meters. So, I think my mistake is in stating the hyperfocal distance is 5 meters when it's actually 10 meters. However, the fact that relying on the distance scale on the lens tells you 5 meters and above is still correct.

Thanks!

Reply
Peter Evans
5/22/2013 01:09:58 am

Yes, that's it. The Hyperfocal Distance is not the minimum focus distance (5m) it is the distance (10m) that gives the maximum DOF (5m to infinity) for the F factor.

My previous comment related to 5m being the HD.

:-D

Trype
12/8/2013 03:49:24 am

The best article on this topic I've encountered on the web so far

Reply
Gerard link
1/6/2021 06:23:34 am

Hi greaat reading your post

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    David Young
    Photography has been such a life changing revelation to me at late 30s.  I'm hooked, and yearns for more!

    Instagram Follow @Hosermage

    Archives

    August 2022
    April 2022
    November 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    November 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012

    Categories

    All
    28'Cron ASPH
    35'Cron IV
    35'Lux ASPH FLE
    50'Lux ASPH
    90'Macro Elmar
    Before / After
    Bucketlist
    #ciclavia
    Gears
    Inspirational
    InstantFlex TL70
    Lessons Learned
    #mavicair
    Quick Shares
    Quotes
    Random Thoughts
    Revel4x4
    Review
    Rolleiflex Minidigi
    Rolleiflex Sl66
    #throughglass
    Unboxing Video
    Vsco Film Preset
    WATE

    RSS Feed

© Copyright 2013 David Young.  All Rights Reserved.