How to Take Sharp Photos Without Focusing
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- Опубликовано: 29 окт 2024
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My name is Matti Sulanto, I'm a photographer based in Helsinki Finland.
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That takes me back in time. Thanks Matti.
Enjoy Bangkok. I love Thai food and hope you too appreciate it.
Thanks. Enjoying every moment😀
Yep. That was what I did a lot back in my film days. F8 & wait!
This was a trip down memory lane for me. Almost always my method back in the film days and still is when I take my old Olympus film cam out for some exercise. With my Canon M6 I sometimes use a Meike 25mm f1.8 manual lens and use it exactly the same way. My preferred street lens is a 28mm but the Meike gives me a very trendy 40mm equivalent on the Canon and works a treat. I do get some high iso values, just as you say, even down here in the bright Aussie sun, but then I guess we can call the increased granniness 'filmic', ha ha. Great vid, thanks for posting.
Thanks for sharing. I actually liked the grainy look in my photos, very filmic😀
I used to do this when photographing swifts. Never considered doing if for street before.
True, Fuji has pixel basis and film format. I tend to use pixel basis as that gives some room (until reaching film format).
Thanks for confirming that.
I use zone focusing when shooting film on the street, usually 5 meters. Typically f/11 with shutter speed varying depending on light (and verified with my phone's light meter app). It works. I have a DOF Finder app on my phone, too, for my low-information/digital lenses. Easier than worrying about it.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Matti!! Hope Bangkok and Thailand are treating you well! What a great video, trying and teaching the old techniques of film!! Personally I think its a great option and technique for doing street photography with a MF only lens on a digital camera body. I never tryed it I must say, but I would be up of the challenge... Regarding your question, I think the Fujis have that option for film depth of focus you talked about... I haven't got mine back yet from repair. All the best my friend!!!
Thanks so much my friend.
Used zone focus for an event a few months back. My 2nd body was out for repairs and I had to use my Oly em10mk3, which wasn't autofocusing properly in the low light. The results were pretty good in the end!
Edit: Actually, the light might not have been the real problem.. Changing af points on that camera is a bit slow, which is more likely why I used zone focus.
The Oly's also have the AF limiter function which is similar to the Ricoh's Snap feature. It’s so easy to do zone focussing on them. Also, and unlike the Ricoh and Leica M's, the Oly's are weather sealed, so you can go out in the rain. The Olympus brand is such an underrated street tool.
Thanks for sharing!
A similar method but using AF, if your lens does not have focus distance markings - is to set the focus point on the ground (if it is moveable) at some distance. It is easy to knock the focus ring, perhaps it can be turned off, or not.
Thanks for the tip. The problem is exactly what you said, too easy to knock the focus out accidentally.
It works well with a lens that has the focus distance and range printed on the body. It was easier to manually focus a 135 film SLR that had a focusing screen than it is now even with focus peaking. I know the technique as hyperfocal focusing where, without going into the maths of hyperfocal distance, we would focus about 2/3 of the way to the subject (guesswork) so that from the near foreground to practically infinity would be in acceptable focus. The idea is to get 1/3 in front and 2/3 behind from that forward focus point, the subject being in focus there. Film SLR usually had a lever that would open the aperture so we could check the DoF, digital may have a SOV that can emulate this. Our eyes will accept the distance being blurred (or hazed) but not so much the foreground.
Thanks for your insights.
Get a DOF Finder app on your phone. That's what i do, anyway. Bob's your uncle.
Great idea shared .thank you very much.i can try it with variable aperture lenses with more aperture number in tele end in day shoot.without wrryying about focal range..nice thanks again
Thanks for watching.
Excellent video!
Thank you very much!
Zone focus from the chest or the heap : lots of horizontal unlevel pics, lots of too low or too high framings, a little beter with a 24mm
Using the visor ok
A zoom manual lens : Alone? Nice! With friends? They don't have patience for you to zoom frame, select the diafragm, magnify focus, ( a auto-focus lens focus plain open, if your are at f9 do you go to f2.8 to focus and go back to f9? :-) Last I received the advice to throw my camera... :-)
Thanks for the tips!
Good timing on this and salvation for manual focus lenses. Zone focusing had become a lost art since modern cameras have such accurate and fast autofocus. And to make it worse, many hybrid mirrorless cameras are PASM making that holistic manual photography experience that much more difficult. So I recently tried this focusing technique on street with my Sony FF camera using a Loxia 35mm F2 manual lens which I’d considered selling… what a game changer. Aperture priority or manual at f11 or f16 with a cap on ISO at 800 and shutter >60, I’m getting better photos (daytime) from the hip than if using autofocus ‘spray and pray’ for street. I also turn off eye focus which helps in crowded situations. Keeping my loxia’s..
Thanks for sharing. I used to own the same Loxia as well and I traveled around the world with it mounted on the Sony A7RII😀 It was my only camera and lens on the trip. I regret selling the Loxia, what a fantastic lens.
Used zone when doing daytime sport photography on my k5 with manual lens and yes it worked well (in the days I wanted a 3d tracking afc camera..) but it is my default on all my Ricoh's GR/GXR/GX100 where we call Snap focus.. surprised as a GR3 user you didn't mention it. Enjoy the trip avoiding winter in Finland!
Thanks. Don't want to talk about the GR in every video😀
I here nowadays canon sacrificed dynamic range to get focus may be this technique can also be used in full frame company's if they see this again 👍 great odea
Was very interessting and something to try next time :-)
Thanks. Give it a try😀
In regard to your comment about depth of field, a 35mm film camera with an f/2, 35mm lens has the same depth of field and produces the same angle of view as a full frame digital camera with an f/2, 35mm lens, assuming that both lenses have the same minimum aperture (e.g., f/16 or f/22).
Correct. Plus, many 35mm films in fact can have a higher resolving power than most digital cameras today, so they are not 'softer'. There is no difference in DOF on digital or film if the same lens is used. The lens and it's apertures defines the DOF, plus the viewing distance of the reproduced image.
Thanks for sharing your insights. You seem to know a lot about films and you probably have awesome film shots too. Please share a link for you online portfolio so we can have a look.
Thanks
Thank You!
this reminds me of the spotfocus/recompose times - the "no compromise"-way
one could start with a 24mm to make it easier and get a feeling for distances... what do you think? stick to one focal length?
exciting!
thank you Matti
I think it's a good idea to experiment and not everyone likes the same focal length.
Want to have some fun. Get a vintage lens. I use my EM-10 with old OM lenes. Its a lot of fun and these old lenes have great character.
Legacy lenses are great fun indeed.
I think I'm going to stay a aperture mode, because for me the street and surroundings counts more than humans 😊 and I think busy streets is also a popular mode, with still environment and blurred humans 😊
Sure thing, to each their own. The main thing is to find your own style😀
I hope you’ll one day realize that the street and surroundings were made by humans.
Well, one has to define what sharpness is, such the eyes instead of the eyebrows. Otherwise, I regard zone focusing as focusing for dummy. No difference from those P&S that had a focus selector with icons representing the zones. Of course, it was our preferred method when firing the motor drive while holding the camera above our heads in the past, using a WA lens.
Thanks for sharing your preferred method, sounds interesting😀
Even though I have a GR2, most of my street pics are still shot on my Olympus E-M1 mk2 using this technique and 95% of images are pin-sharp, shot from the hip etc. Also, you don't need autofocus-free lenses. A good 28mm equivalent will do. I use the PanaLeica 15mm 1.7 set on manual focus with 'lens reset' set to 'off' and just set the focus using the back button technique with focus set to 1.5m (collar bone to ground, roughly that), camera on manual setting, f8-11, shutter speed 400th/sec, Auto ISO. There's a lot of hype about the Ricoh and Leica M system, which isn't really fair because there are so many other great and equally capable cameras out there such as the m43 system that are just as good and effective. 35mm film also stupid money these days. Save your money and spend it on coffee and travel fees instead.
Thanks for sharing your tips.
Thank you sir
Welcome.
Greeting from Bkk Thailand.
Thank you.
Have you considered or had experience with Techart adapters, that can add auto focus to vintage lenses?
I have heard of Techart adapters but have never tried them.
A live here in Bangkok and would buy you a coffee in person if you can somehow DM me. Really enjoying your street photography in this place I have resided for nearly 20 years. btw. Also own a Rich GRIII. As a side note, iff you don’t already follow her on RUclips/ T.Hopper does great commentaries on notable photographers. Great resource especially for aspiring street photographers
I'd love to have a coffee with you. Please, go to the about tab on my RUclips page, find my email and send me a message. Use a computer, since the email is not visible on the RUclips mobile app.
@@mattisulanto when I get back home I will jump on my computer and message you. Thanks for the prompt reply. But hey, we are in the same time zone on this over cast day :-)
Salve. I made that with Olympus OM-D EM10ll and some 135mm russian lenses. At several football maches :))
Interesting set up.
Yep - zone focus is THE reason I will buy the Olympus 17mm 1.8 over the Leica DMG 15mm 1.7 - too bad we can't have both as native MFT with the option of autofocus for non street photography....
Thanks. The 17mm is a very nice lens, you'll like it.
@@mattisulanto Have it now. Tried it out - as Overgaard would say "I'm not a 35mm guy" - BUT: its super sharp and the images have a "documentary" look, even more so if shoot from lpw angle/hip where zone focusing is a "must have"... Bet will be mroe fun in a town for street then for trees in the woods :-)
@@kaptnwelpe5322 Sure, much more fun in urban areas or in a big city. Good to hear you are not disappointed at the lens.
I haven't tried Manual mode on my Olympus camera before. Have a lens with a manual focus clutch. This sounds like a fun challenge for today.
Thanks. Let me know how it went. Experiment and try different focus distances to see what works.
Wow! That was awkward at first, and a bit overwhelming; finally found my way. Started out with way to slow of a shutter speed for the aperture; overexposed several images. Ended up having a nice time walking around a park experimenting with my camera.
@@ryimpdx Good to hear you had fun, because that's what photography should be.
I still have a small card with DoF areas in my camera bag.
That's a great little tool.
Is this technique similar to the snap focus used on Ricoh GRIII? Thank you
Yes, it's essentially the same as the snap focus or the snap distance priority.
I like your video !
Thanks!
@@mattisulanto I once spent some time standing in train station and fixed my focus distance at 1~1.5m , then try to estimate people walking in this range . It is really fun and challenge !!
Thanks Matti...If we are using a micro four thirds ,would it help if we shoot in aperture priority (F6.3 and above) ,Auto ISO and manual focus preset at a distance of 3 metrers?
Depending on your lens F5.6-8 range should work and then you choose the focusing distance based on your shooting style. I'd guess about 3 m is a starting point.
@@mattisulanto I'd suggest 2.5m or less when using f5.6 - f8 with m43. 3m may be too far away. There's also a great little app called 'PhotoPills' on iOS that has an interactive DoF calculator, perfect for figuring all this stuff with apertures out. You can also specify the camera model, which is very useful.
@@tomfenn7149 2.5m could work, depends on what and how you shoot. Best to experiment and see what works for you.
@@mattisulanto Agree. But it’s so important to get in close, hence the 2.5m setting rather than 3m. Even better I’d say would be to go to 1m at f8-11 and push the iso higher. A bit of noise and grain can be a good thing.
Personnaly I use old legacy because of cheap prices, but this one 35mm 1.4 leica mount cost 429.00 $ so I will at this price certainly go for an auto-focus lens. But I reckon too I am a poor guy. :-)
Thanks for sharing your opinion. I'm not sure what lens you are referring to, but what would be a good 35mm F2 AF lens for the same money?
@@mattisulanto Error on my part speaking of the TTartisan 35mm 1.4 leica mount and your lens is the 7Artisans 35mm f2 and cost only 4.390 Baht in Thailand. Mea culpa!
oh dear! no chocolate on your coffee table! 😢
This idea of focussing not on focus with Robin
With the focus and aperture locked, isn't it in theory the thing we call snap shooting?
Maybe I should try this with the 12mm f2 🤔
I could be called snap shooting😀
Wasn't there a guy which became famous for a snap shot of a decisive moment??
Never thought about doing that, thanks for the tip !
Thanks. Try it and let me know what happened.
I hadn't thought about shooting this way. I end up missing photos because my Panasonic G85 misses the focus.
Try and see how it goes.
thank you! very interesting! must give it a try! 🙂
Thanks. Absolutely, try it and let me know what happened.
@@mattisulanto managed to take a few half-decent shots yesterday! very strange to be able to just merrily click away! i think with a few tweaks, it should be very good for street photography!
@@zenarobinson3851 Thanks. Good to hear you had fun and got some almost keepers too.
Thanks
Thank You!