Learn How To Zone Focus With Any Old or New Camera

Using manual focus lenses for street photography has become a thing of the past, but autofocus street photography today has its limitations. Many out there shooting 35mm film street photography today still use the art of zone focusing, or range focusing, to land their subjects in focus. This process is not talked about much today because autofocus is the default. You have options to adapt vintage lenses with focus zones on top of the lens, or even use these vintage lenses on a 35mm film camera. My Minolta X700 paired with my 28mm f/2.8 is a great combo to practice zone focusing on a 35mm film camera, but also pairing this lens with my Sony A7C I am able to practice this process without worrying about burning through film.
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[@GeorgeHolden]

Check out MPB here and grab a used camera deal! MPB UK: prf.hn/l/QLBLRLl MPB US: prf.hn/l/y8b8X8w MPB EU: prf.hn/l/BJ1JqJo

[@vernreed1969]

A good reminder about a technique that's been around for a long time. Those of us with grey hair and who grew up with manual cameras loved our 28mm and 35mm lenses for just this reason. I started out with just two lenses, an 85mm lens where I could step back a bit but knew I had to focus and a 28mm lens where I knew I could set the camera and the lens and get any shot I wanted. It's nice that there are the options of using some of the older lenses on today's digital camera. Great video!

[@GeorgeHolden]

Thanks! Yes definitely 28mm on a full frame feels like heaven, capturing the moment becomes much easier with that deep depth of field at the ready

[@PunkFerret-x7l]

Glad to see someone has done a video on this technique that is really comprehensive. I use to know it as the Hyperfocus distance or Hyperfocusing

[@lolkthnxbai]

Drop me in any city to do street and I will almost never swap out my vintage 28mm f2.8, hands down my favorite for street.

[@aaaaanh]

Many moons ago, my dad managed to buy me a Nikon 28-70 f2.8 lens for a cheap price for my D700 because it had (still has) a broken AF motor. I struggled a lot with the manual focus at first. But as I shoot more and more with it, I build up this muscle memory of managing between focal length, focus, shutter, f-stop, and ISO to the point that I can confidently quickly snap a shot from more challenging angles without previewing through the viewfinder first (cuz D700 doesn't have a flip screen).

[@GeorgeHolden]

Thanks for sharing!

[@robertordonez9242]

Important to note about diffraction. Depending on the lens, sometimes f11 or f22 gives you really nasty diffraction that renders zone focus useless if you’re after sharpness.

[@GeorgeHolden]

Thanks for sharing!

[@mrca2004]

Not the case on my zeiss or voigtlander glass. And if I want sharpness, I'd shoot digital 46 mp with a zeiss lens so sharp that it would make your eyes bleed. I have shot at f/22 with barely noticeable diffraction issues. And if I have a choice between blurry from camera shake or subject movement that completely ruin a shot or minimal diffraction, I'd choose diffraction all the time. And I print large, up to 24x36 on my printer so any flaw is magnified. It's why I carry 2 cameras, one with 100 iso, the other 400 pushed to 1600. Ok, maybe a third in the bag with 400 color film shot at 200.

[@jeffslade1892]

It was sometimes called hyperfocal focusing, because it relies on the hyperfocal distance, and that varies as you describe with the focal length and aperture. A lens with its range marked on the lens ring is great (you will notice the focus distances on the ring are not linear) but manual focusing has never been fast and a focusing screen was probably better than focus peaking. Where to focus - rule of thumb, 2/3 of the way between you and the (anticipated) subject. The foreground should then be in focus and on to infinity in acceptable. More-or-less. You can pre-set some distance in MF or drop the AF zone to the ground in a band or wedge, whatever works for you. You do have to sort out the DoF on the aperture. Smaller for long lenses, wider for short ones, never wide-open. Do you have a S-OVF function to simulate closed aperture DoF?

[@GeorgeHolden]

Yeah I have a push button on the X-700 to preview DoF and then when adapting the rings are closed by default to the set F stop

[@trevorbrooks813]

Hi George, another excellent video, thanks. I grew up with film but sadly those days are coming to an end, the challenge to my wallet has become too great. I agree the O-MD cams are great for street and the Olympus 45mm is a fine lens, though I often prefer the view with my Sigma 30mm f2.8 on my E-M5. For zone focusing on my Canon apsc I have a Meike 25mm f1.8, which gives me the currently popular 40mm equivelent focal length. Both cost effective lenses giving excellent results. Thanks again for another thoughtful post.

[@GeorgeHolden]

Thanks Trevor, appreciate the feedback. Yes I find myself equally torn with film at the moment, often the feeling I get when capturing some shots is much more satisfying and I think more intentional than showing digital. Manual focus and an OVF does definitely do something different for me when shooting street, despite the obvious advantages of EVF and AF lenses!

[@michael_177]

OMG I NEEDED THIS VIDEO TODAY THANK YOU GEORGE!

[@GeorgeHolden]

Happy to help!

[@RiskyBizness33]

Great video George. You explain zone focussing in a simple easy to follow way. I've joined your membership and I'm looking forward to trying your presets with a couple of vintage lenses that I have ordered. I've followed you on instagram as well.

[@GeorgeHolden]

Thank you very much, I am really happy this video was helpful - I think I will do an updated version soon having now had more experience too. Your follow on Instagram and membership sign up is hugely appreciated, it's great to have you on board!

[@j.c.103]

Nice and precious video ! I use this gear too : the Minolta X700 is a great SLR and the Minolta MD or Rokkor MD 28mm lenses are wonderful !

[@abchappell01]

That was a very helpful presentation. Thank you so much 😊

[@GeorgeHolden]

Glad it was helpful!

[@yumenolala]

That's really cool using the Minolta lens and film camera. When I first had my m43 camera there were little affordable m43 lens choices so I bought Minolta manual focus lenses and an adapter. The Rokkor MD 50mm F1.4 was one I used the most. I don't have a Minolta film camera but I do have a Nikon F3. I developed 2 rolls of film on it but it seemed too expensive, lol. The postage and development cost was already high and then need to factor in the film cost.

[@GeorgeHolden]

The 50mm 1.4 looks very nice! Yeah luckily I have a film lab 10 minutes walk from where I live, it’s not for shooting everyday but it’s a nice change once in a while

[@yumenolala]

@@GeorgeHolden That is handy. Do you develop to CD or to prints? Shooting film, every shot is precious.

[@GeorgeHolden]

@@yumenolala Usually I develop to medium res JPG which the lab send via email, then if I have any shots that I'd like to use for prints I'll get a couple of re-scans as TIFF files

[@bradleyeid9260]

Nice video. Money saving tip. Zone focusing can be done with autofocus lenses on some mirrorless cameras. Maybe no need to buy vintage lenses and adapters. Some Olympus cameras have a preset manual focus (pre-MF) option. When pre-MF selected the camera snaps to a user defined focus point. The feature works with any auto-focus lens, not just Olympus lenses. Be advised the camera distance scale is not even close to accurate except with a few Zuiko lenses. Best to use the manual focus ring with focus peaking to set the focus point.

[@GeorgeHolden]

Yeah some do! Annoyingly on Sony there aren't many elegant solutions - on DSLR there are plenty of good options luckily

[@Martin_Siegel]

Use short focus lengths and fast film. Slower lenses are much more affordable in the same focal length. You don't need a 28mm/2.8 for doing this or a 50mm/1.4 mm when a the price difference to a 28/3.5 or a 50mm/2 will buy you some rolls of film.

[@GeorgeHolden]

Very good point! On another camera system soon I'm likely to pick up a 3.5 lens vs the faster option for this reason

[@jeffslade1892]

Developing your own mono negs can be economical but then you want a decent negative scanner. Me, I bought a Chinon CE-5 years and years ago but that then gives me access to the humongous range of Pentax and third party PK lenses, and they adapt well, and they all kept the same flange distance. The flange to sensor distance is critical to within 0.25mm and not all adapters are created equal. Some can be out of distance or insecure fit, the lens must be fitted square-on to the camera. Yes do use the higher ISO available on digital that is its advantage. Mono film can be pushed to higher ISO more-so than colour, it has a certain look, but you have to do it for the whole roll, and adjust development.

[@GeorgeHolden]

Great info thanks Jeff!

[@flagger2020]

Good video, and some great Ilford shots. Don't forget if your on a sensor smaller than FF the DOF expands, use a calculator to see how much.

[@GeorgeHolden]

Thanks for the info!

[@melissaparks5947]

My first camera Minolta x700 still have it. I have been wanting to do some filming photography.

[@GeorgeHolden]

Definitely do! I've had mine 10 years and love it

[@melissaparks5947]

Well mine was my graduation present so it a little older, but I am play on taking it to London.

[@ulfjonsson2122]

Great video! It's too easy to just shoot multiple images, I think it's wise to slow down and just take a few exposures of your image!

[@GeorgeHolden]

Agreed and thank you for watching!

[@mrca2004]

For street, I have one vintage camera with a 35 mm lens zone focusing, ie a point and shoot with awesome zeiss glass. The other is a F5 with back button auto focus and an auto focus 85mm lens. I too use HP5 with the zone focus but instead of shooting it at 400, shoot it at 1600 iso. Gives deeper blacks and a bit more grain, but I tend to darken blacks with hp5 anyway and don't mind the grain as I also shoot 3200 at 1600 and in 35 mm film that's pretty chunky grain. On 645, goldilocks grain. At 1600 I can shoot at f/11 or even f/16 with a 50 mm and still have plenty of shutter speed here in sunny florida. On the auto focus film camera, I am shooting an auto focus 85mm at f/2, 2.8 or 4 on 100 speed fine grained, high detail t grain film. Both quick reacting. But if I miss a shot, I don't care, I'm not being paid for this.

[@GeorgeHolden]

Thanks for sharing!

[@bobmorr2892]

Great video. I have noticed on adapting old lenses many times to Sony mirrorless and Canon dslrs that sometimes the distances listed on the lens are not accurate. Better to do some tests images and compare.

[@GeorgeHolden]

Yes mine have all been very accurate so far, I've tested across the range of focus so luckily it's reliable on this set up

[@trungsamshow5040]

The first time i use zone focus í with the Pen EED really fun to use

[@GeorgeHolden]

That's awesome!

[@pandoranbias1622]

Zone focusing was how cameras were focused before the INVENTION of the rangefinder! The original Leica models used zone focusing with an available rangefinder attachment.

[@GeorgeHolden]

That is true!

[@Jim-BobWalton]

Q: does the focusing scale change relative to sensor size? That is, if I use a 50mm lens (from your Minolta 50mm lens), is the focussing scale true for APSC cameras? Or do I need to also multiply a crop-factor?

[@Fecho33]

Zone focus works the same with an aps c sensor? If I use a let’s say 27mm on a Sony 6400 and I use this technique following the markers on the lens will it work in the same way?

[@sabergo1]

Very useful video.

[@GeorgeHolden]

Glad it was helpful!

[@giulianomarialodi3722]

Amazing video, George! Are you satisfied with the Neewer MD-NEX adapter? I've read reviews for other adapters that seem less impressive, particularly regarding infinity focus.

[@GeorgeHolden]

Thanks! Honestly, it's the one I went with, I can't say much negatively or positively about it - it does have a TINY amount of roll/wobble which isn't ideal. But in terms of accuracy and effectiveness, seems to be good. And for these manual adapters, the cost is so low it's hard to complain 😂

[@marcp.1752]

My #1 focal length since the 80's is 35mm, 2nd comes 40mm, then 28mm. ;) 50mm...not so much, but for my taste, it's either way too narrow from PoV, despite the gazilllions of "nifty-fifty" lenses out there - because it was always being the "kitlens" of the 70-80's 35mm SLRs...

[@GeorgeHolden]

That's great you've stuck with 35 for so long, I feel I'm still fluctuating a lot!

[@Sammy_zone1]

Hi so in order to do that zone focusing thing manual lenses is required or auto 50 mm prime lens will do?

[@yamyam_1978]

I had a bridge camera with AF & it was driving me up the wall - I now have basic dslr with MF & I much prefer it. I generally use the lowest aperture I can (wide open) & kinda guesstimate

[@GeorgeHolden]

That's great to hear!

[@DebiSenGupta]

Can I use a dslr lens for zone focusing? I have a canon 2.8 17-55 which has only one of these rings. Can you do a video showing one of those lenses until I can get a manual lens?

[@GeorgeHolden]

Absolutely you can, as long as you have the zone markers and the focal distance that physically moves you're all set 👍

[@DebiSenGupta]

@@GeorgeHolden Thanks. That was quick. If you know which lenses have these markers, please let me know.

[@GeorgeHolden]

@@DebiSenGupta caught me on an upload day, I'm always on the notifications 😂 I know the Canon 28mm 2.8 has what you need, great lens too

[@astrodoug]

I bought one of these a week ago. I'm having a terrible time with infinity focus. I'm using a Pholsy FD to RF adaptor. I used both F8 Nd F16 Zone Focusing. I had no luck. Even with focus peaking the distant objects were not in focus. I even tried focusing directly to infinity using focus peaking. These are also out of focus even though they show the red halo on distant objects. I'm I doing something wrong? Or is this simply an issue with the lense I bought?

[@hieppt]

It is in fact one of my most important regret when passing from FF to MFT: we cannot find a cheap vintage wide angle lens (like 14mm) and use the zone focus :(

[@GeorgeHolden]

This is true

[@adamgallardo1814]

I actually liked the shutter sound on my A7C! also which lens adapter are you using? I’m gonna try this out

[@GeorgeHolden]

I have a love hate with it! Sounds weird but I like the feel of it but the sound is weird to me 😂

[@fabianp3710]

Are the marks on the adapted lens still reliable if adapting to an aps-c sensor?

[@GeorgeHolden]

I can't guarantee, on full frame so far is perfect but for a crop there could be some changes although in theory it should work the same

[@melody3741]

I do just want to mention here that rangefinders and SLRs and TLRs, basically all forms of focus assist, have been around for quite a while. Not everyone is able to guess perfectly

[@GeorgeHolden]

This is true, thanks for mentioning!

[@petersmitham8273]

Good old ‘hyperfocal’ distance/point focussing…..😘

[@GeorgeHolden]

So many names 😅

[@andrewnicholls5745]

Just a little question ( might seem a bit of a stupid question!) but how do you do this when the lens your using hasnt got all these markings ? ( I have a Yunghuo 35mm 1:8, that just has a little window :/)

[@GeorgeHolden]

If the window has zones beside it you can make this work, otherwise honestly I'm not sure, hence using lenses with the markings like vintage lenses!

[@alwinbenjamin]

❤👏🏻

[@cristiancastro8024]

Hyper focal

[@GeorgeHolden]

Yes!

[@quantum_ocean]

it's called RANGE FOCUSING. Zone focusing is not a thing. Someone confusaed it with the zone system -- Ansel Adam's technique, to determine the correct exposure.

[@GeorgeHolden]

Research seems to confirm both

[@weisserth]

Yawn. Street Photographers Never Explain This Trick?! It's all over KZbin, REPETIVELY. I wish there was more than a thumbs down to punish such poorly conceived click bait titles.

[@GeorgeHolden]

I'm very in the street photo space and never see this discussed in detail?!

[@weisserth]

@@GeorgeHolden Geez. Really? Search KZbin for "street photography zone focusing" and you'll get pages of results. Nearly every popular street photography channel has done a video on this already. It's becoming the running gag by how repetitive this is by now.

[@GeorgeHolden]

@@weisserth well if you search the exact term then it's going to pop up 🤷🏼‍♂️ funny how that works