How To Be FASTER Than Autofocus | Zone Focus 

100% - I often say that Photography (verb) is more fun than Photography (noun)!

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Same here 😂😂😂😂

Nikon always looking out for us

Thank you hahaha

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That's actually a great point!

I have a Sony Batis lens Is this what you’re describing?

Exactly!!

I'm so glad it helped!!

Thank you so much!! I'm so glad I could help, that means a lot ❤️ can't wait to see what you make with it!

Sick! I'm glad I could help.

Good luck!

To be honest I literally switch between meters and feet depending on the day - I prefer inches over cm, and km over miles...

@@huntercreatesthings oh yeah, 100% context dependent, but i meant in terms of pre-focusing my 50/1.4 or 85/1.8 via the window and then getting gud™ at being able to consistently place myself in position, switching my brain to think of 10ft as 3m instead helps me like... idk sorta visualize it in my head? like i can put a mental overlay of two subdivisions between me and the subject a lot better than nine of them lol fewer bigger chunks are easier for my brain to grasp i suppose, but again thats just in the context of street photography, other applications definitely benefit from other yardsticks

I hope you realize yards have existed this whole time.

Handy innit!

I like to keep myself grounded

@@huntercreatesthings sure, don't get me wrong. I absolutely love that kind of humour - very British! :D

Honestly, I almost never shoot wide open

Thanks Sebastian!

Thank you!!

It's a weird concept - maybe try it with a friend as your subject so you can play around with it?

Thanks mate! It's honestly such a game changer once it clicks in your brain

@@huntercreatesthings Yeah! I´m going to practice that today! he he.

Wow, I've never played with a Stereo Cam, what's it like?

​@@huntercreatesthings Similar to shooting a regular 35 but with a few tweaks. Shutter speed is limited to 1/200 by the need for synchronized mechanical shutters. There are sliders instead of rings or dials for ss and aperture, to make sure they stay consistent between the two lenses, and focusing one lens changes the other as well. Zone focus marks on one lens, but less technical marks like “close ups,” “groups,” or “scenes” on the other. Probably the biggest difference is remembering you have square exposures instead of 4:3 for composition purposes, and also that the more layers of depth in your shot, the stronger the stereo effect. So you think more about foreground and background when choosing subjects. Mergers are less of a problem because the stereo effect creates so much separation, even when you have a deep field. I made a beginner’s walkthrough back when I was getting started with it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xYOHaAeQRSk.html

@@huntercreatesthings It’s FUN. Hmm... Main differences would be camera controls (more sliders and levers than dials and lens rings), and then various limitations/accommodations/opportunities that come with shooting in stereo. For example composition is different because you have a square aspect ratio (at least with the camera I use), and depth is probably the single most important factor in choosing a subject. Why shoot in stereo if the interest is all at the same distance? So you think a lot about foreground and background, and often use a deep field. You look for subjects that recede into the distance or scenes with points of interest at different distances from the camera. It still works with a shallow DoF, and that can be stunning, but the camera has a larger minimum focus distance, and a fixed focal length, so a shallow field is harder to achieve with many subjects. But once you understand that the stereo effect makes up for this, you see it as a feature instead of a bug. Mergers are much less of a problem because you can perceive the depth, so shots that look messy in a flat photo can have clear separation in a stereograph. Techniques you would use to guide the eye through a 2D image either don’t work as well or gain new power or complexity in a 3D one. Experimenting with that is really fun. Some people use dual camera rigs to overcome some of the limitations, which is cool, but I’ve never tried that. Never had two identical cameras and the time to dial them in. Once you go through the process of getting your stereo pairs developed, sorted, printed, and mounted, seeing them though a stereopticon/viewer is incredible. Focus looks sharper, differences in color or exposure are largely averaged, which can be interesting, and the sense of depth you can achieve is truly remarkable. It’s very accessible if you know how to shoot manually, but in some ways it's unlike any other type of photography.

Hahaha 😅 the spoon mic is quickly becoming a part of my identity That's a great question! Luckily, the zone is determined by the focal length, which doesn't change no matter what camera the lens is mounted to. The even better news is that if you're using an APSC sensor, you can use even shorter focal lengths which give you a much larger zone to work with, in the same field of view - so a 35mm on full frame has a smaller zone than a 24mm on APSC even though they feel the same amount of "Wide" Does that make sense?

@@huntercreatesthings Yes it makes sense. I figured taht was the answer because the focusing takes place within the barrel of the lens, not in the camera. But, just in case, thought I'd ask. Thanks!!

OMG I do this too!! Would rather have a bit of "bonus zone" in the foreground sometimes

@@huntercreatesthings exactly cause most of times your subjects are going to be in the less than 20 30 range, otherwise it would be called bird photography 😂

You're very welcome!

Yep!! One of the first bits of advice I give people :)

It's a Pentax M 28mm f/2.8, and the button isn't a button at all - it's to show you where to line up the lens mount when you're attaching the lens :)

Not so good - generally in low light you need to shoot wide open or close to it, so unless you're an absolute chad at estimating distance your zone probably too small at F2 and wider

Good question and the genuine answer is that at this point I didn't own a camera with autofocus or have anyone to help me pull focus so I had to be operating the camera hahaha

@@huntercreatesthings Good answer, no problem, I guess you could update it at some point.

Completely agree with you - my default is 1/500th and f/8 and I almost never leave it!

@@huntercreatesthingshow do you adjust for lighting conditions while zone focusing? Noob here

That's actually a weirdly good way of explaining it

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If you are zone focussed then focussing takes 0.00 seconds which is faster than Sony even if it's 0.01 seconds

Thank you! Welcome aboard