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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!

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.

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?

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

OMG I NEEDED THIS VIDEO TODAY THANK YOU GEORGE!

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

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 !

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.

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

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.

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

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...

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

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?

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.

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

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

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?

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 :(

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

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?

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.

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.

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

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?

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

❤👏🏻

Hyper focal

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 :/)

Back button focussing is much easier and it costs nothing. Those zone focus rings are not that accurate btw. Just do a little math before you go out. Write down the right focus distance corresponding with the desired aperture and aim at that distance, push the button and you are set. Using 2 primes at 3 apertures each gives you a list of 6 distances. I bet you know them without having to look on your note within a day or two.

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