Zone Focusing and Hyperfocal Distance Setting on Modern and Vintage Lenses with Focusing Scales
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 พ.ค. 2022
- Most vintage lenses and most modern manual focus lenses include a set of focusing aids called scales. These scales were engineered to help photographers identify the range of content in their photo, as measured in either feet or meters from the front of the lens, that would be in focus based on the aperture. The scales allow photographers to accomplish two tasks: zone focusing and hyperfocal distance focusing.
Zone focusing identifies a zone of distances that are in focus based on a focal point and the selected aperture. The lens' scales allow photographers to decipher the zone when reading those scales. Hyperfocal distance is the maximum distance, from a close point to infinity, that a lens can have in focus at the smallest aperture (largest number.)
Zones and hyperfocal distances vary by lens focal length and, to an extent, by the specific optical design and flange focal distance of different lenses of the same focal length. All focusing scales work in the same basic manner, however. This video explains how to use focus scales to identify different zones of focus at different focal points and with different apertures as well as identifying how to set a lens to its hyperfocal distance.
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The best and clearest expansion I've heard about zone focusing and hyperfocal distance
Thank you!
Always smiled when people asked why all these increments where indiscriminately laced about the rings on their gifted film lenses, after being told just how savvy they were in photography. Hope this clears their clouded expression and aids them with shooting with older, less well know lens maker's who haven't the dialed reputation that some enjoy. Great video. Thank you!
Thank you, Murray!
Best video on TH-cam, covering this subject.
Thank you!
YOU HAVE A WAY OF EXPLAINING THINGS SO EASILY TO MAKE EVERYONE UNDERSTAND! GREAT EXPLANATION!!!🤘🏾🤘🏾
Thank you!
I'm new to film photography. This was incredibly helpful. Thank you 🙏
Thank you!
David Hancock! You are incredible! You always know which videos I have to see. I've been wanting to shoot a few scale focus only cameras I've collected, but now I'm inspired to go through with it. Thank you.
thanks for this. i always wondered what all these numbers were. you explained it so well that you've inspired me to get a manual lens for myself.
Nice! Manual focus lenses are a lot of fun to use.
Thank you for another great tutorial video. Very clear and easy to understand. This will be an essential technique for street photos. I will start using more vintage lenses.
Thank you!
Great video! Extremely informative, easy to understand.
Thank you!
I have a vee vintage lensjes and use them from time to time. Never could vind an explanation to these Numbers. Thank you, Will
Thank you!
This is great coming from digital lenses to help me learn about aperture and DOF…….fantastic!
Thank you!
Thank you! Short and sweet! This video compliments your video that I watched from 10 years ago.
Thank you! Yeah, the old video is offline now. I'm replacing some of the old ones.
@@DavidHancock I saved it on my iPad years ago, I bought a new manual lens and though I would revisit it. Thanks again!
Hi David!
Nice video clearly explaining the two terms. Only last weekend I shot a roll of film at a concert where I applied this concept of range focusing. I am hoping I will get some good pictures once the lab develops the film and shares the scans (fingers crossed!). Prior to this I was working with critical focusing and it wasn't very helpful in such fast situations where I'd need to quickly frame and shoot. It took some time to understand this concept but I hope I did use it in a correct manner.
Again, great video as usual. Keep them coming!
Cheers from India!
Thank you, Suchit!
Thank you for this amazing explanation! Now I actually understand how to do this.
Thank you!
Very helpful-and so well spoken. Thank you 🙏
Thank you!
Great explanation, I finally understood them. Thanks
Thank you!
Thanks David! Very helpful of you :D
Thank you!
Thanks. Great explanations!
Thank you!
very straight forward and informative, thanks a lot!
Thank you!
I love these tutorials
Thank you!
Zone focusing is something I need to get more comfortable with, thank you.
Thank you and it's super easy. I started to get comfortable with it using viewfinder cameras.
Thanks for the useful videos by the way, my mom gifted me her old ae1 a couple years ago and your videos were a great help getting a grasp on the basics for film. Using the vgt bessa 6x9 and getting better at zone focusing would really make it easier when trying to move fast. Not much of a viewfinder, it's making me itch for large format!
Amazing video; thanks!
Thank you!
Very good explanation.. Thanks!🚀
Thank you!
David you imply hyperfocal is only at f/22. The hyperfocal distance will vary with aperture, ie set the infinity mark to the aperture you are using and you have set the hyperfocal for that aperture. Of course it is good to know the circle of confusion the lensmaker has used, usually assumed to be around 30 microns on a full frame, but not always, eg the Irix lenses assume a more exacting CoC. Once the hyperfocal is set, you may wish to move the lens towards infinity, ie to set the infinity blur. For example, if you are hyperfocal focused at x feet, then if you double the distance, the infinity blur will approximately half. You can also use the scale for focus bracketing ;-)
So hyperfocal is at the smallest aperture the lens offers, yes, and is the maximum DoF the lens can provide anything with a larger aperture, say f/8, even with infinity focus on the far point, is zone focusing. So using the scales is always zone focus, hyperfocus is a single and specific zone focus setting. And yes, there area lot of different factors in the exact zone focus DoF such as CoC engineering calcs used by the designers as well as the aperture placement, aperture-image area distance, and also the flange register distance as the exit pupil can potentially have bearing on that because that effects lens design.
@@DavidHancock it looks like we have different perspectives. As hyperfocal is defined by the aperture. The hyperfocal is simply defined as f +(f*f)/(N*c) from the front pupil, or front principal if ignoring pupil magnification ;-)
Thus the hyperfocal varies with the aperture (N) and you can dial in whatever aperture you wish on the lens, ie to find the hyperfocal at that aperture.
@@garrygeorge2811 I'm with you on this. David's explanation of hyperfocal struck me as not quite right.
Top man, thank you
Thank you!
Thank you, very useful 👍
Thank you!
Nice explanation 👍👍
Thank you!
Very educational video. Thank you.
RS. Cany
Thank you, Richard!
Thank you.
Thank you!
Very good explanation! I guess a lot of people will find this useful, as I often see people using a phone app to calculate the hyperfocal distance when using lenses like this! It is a simple concept, and the lens is your calculator! Of course with zoom lenses things get a bit more complicated, but older lenses used to have corresponding lines printed on them. Newer premium lenses just show rudimentary indications of the hyperfocal distance, while cheaper lenses don't even have a distance scale. I find such small things tell you a lot about the way things are going, if you know what I mean...
Thank you! I concur in some ways yes. More concering for me is that the inexpensive third-party lenses being made today have wildly inaccurate focusing scales and aperture markings.
Early optocolgy specialized precisely ground lens, which has been replaced by the ever increasing grinding push of emerging artificial intelligence .
I do not have experience in this but I beieve I have read someone else's comment saying that the zones printed on a lens assume you are making a normal size print and are viewing it from a normal distance. I have therefore understood that if you are planning on making really big prints or plan on viewing them under a microscope or something you may want to think of the zones as a bit smaller than the printed numbers.
This is assumimg whoever wrote that comment knew what they were talking about and that I understood their comment correctly.
Yes, that comment is technically correct but misses the point. Noting that this works on, say, an 8X10 viewed at arm's length ignores that this also works with an image to be printed huge and viewed from a distance, like a billboard viewed from a car.
And also, all images taken at the smallest apertures will have diffraction softness. So the hyperfocal distance will have the maximum depth of field in focus and it will be slightly softer due to diffraction.
Lenses require compromises always. All lenses have a best aperture and a best focus distance. Everything else is simply pretty darn good or, at minimum, good enough for the intended purpose (be it professional photography or consumer photography, the lenses will behave much differently.) So noting that this technique may not be effective for overly-large enlargements viewed too close or when inspecting the negative under a microscope absolutely misses the point. No image should be treated that way as a baseline. Getting hung up on technical details like that skips right past the point of photography, that we're capturing a moment to spur a memory or stir an emotion, not a test pattern used for scientific analysis.
The funny thing is that the scale was invented by a Finnish photographer in the 1920s. He put it on his lens. Then his camera broke and it was sent to Leitz to be fixed and they copied the idea. They gave him a free lens for compensation.
Yes the scale is based on circle of confusion of 0.03 mm. That is just 1/1200th of the width so it is in the order of one megapixel or even less. Considering there are 50 megapixel cameras with ultra sharp lenses that is nit much.
I absolute sharpness is needed you must focus on the subject.
Thanks
Hey David!
Great video and it's a great tool to use. As starting out in the digital era of photography this is sadly a technique that has been forgotten. I've had experiences with adapted manual lens on digital cameras to differ in were the infinity mark is. Where on that laying eight should the infinity be? Is it at the "waist" or somewhere else? Hope you understand my question and thanks again for an excellent video.
Hey, Robert, I think I understand. So if you're using a new, third-party lens some of them have very accurate focus scales and some not. I would look at Pergear as an example of a company whose focusing scales have, for me, been consistently and significantly inaccurate versus vintage Nikkor lenses which have had consistently accurate and, honestly, conservative markings.
In general, if there is no line pointing to the infinity symbol (fun fact: proper name for the infinity symbol is the lemniscate, which I just learned today), then the cross point is generally understood to be the infinity point. That assumes that the cross point when at the focus mark is the infinity point and that it's accurate. So if you find on your lens that your infinity focus, wide open, zoomed in on live view, is slightly different than as marked, the difference in infinity marking accuracy will likely translate into the difference in hyperfocal accuracy. You can verify that in live view and with test photos, too, as some lenses exhibit focus shift as they stop down and that can, on digital more than film, affect focus scale accuracy (asterisk that at hyperfocal distance that tends to be less noticeable than with mid-range apertures and the lens focused to less than 20 feet away.)
APS-C cameras have less (yes less) depth of field so you should look at one larger aperture. That is if you shoot at f/8 you should look at f/5.6. People often say they have more depth of field but this is when one uses equivalent (shorter) focal length, not the same focal length.
I made a video about exactly this subject with practical testing. th-cam.com/video/u0qghlL-gTQ/w-d-xo.htmlfeature=shared
Very nice and to the point video.
Now... hopefully you get to read this...
How to do this with a modern lens? when they have no aperture ring, etc...
Thank you
Thank you and many November modern lenses lack the scales. If your lens has scales and if it's OEM, then this will work. If your lens has scales and it's one of the brands sold on AliExpress, the scales will not be accurate at all and can't be trusted.
Informative video! Also, your voice made me drowsy like an asmr video XD
Thank you! :D
Presto, how to turn your mega bucks SLR into a Brownie box camera. Excellent presentation and my comment is intentionally tongue in cheek. What’s beyond me is why this isn’t understood and used by everyone. We covered it in my intro to photography classes back in 1968. I use this knowledge frequently and it should be of immense value to would be street photographers or as it was, to photojournalists in the past. Excellent presentation, thanks.👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
Thank you, Paul! I think that the understanding of this really faded when manufacturers started to remove focusing scales from their lenses. They weren't there and people didn't know to ask what they did.
I’m thinking about adding a Nikonos to the Nikon Film arsenal. It’s specifically set up to do zone focus and with the available
28mm f3.5 lens should almost never require refocusing. It’s boat anchor durable, uses a Nikkormat shutter and isn’t complicated until you get to the IVA model which has built in metering. There’s also a nice 20mm Nikkor lens for it…Nikon interchangeability.
To me, there’s quite a bit behind the lack of education of many newer photographers however, I’ll give them credit for their curiosity and drive to experiment and learn. I lectured in photography back in the 70’s at Washington U. In St. Louis. I was also gainfully employed many hours a week making photos. Endless stories that likely don’t bear retelling but I loved it and still do.
Thanks David! I've started using an old rangefinder, your explanation about zone focusing helps me understand how to use it as a tool to get the images I want. It will also help improve my SLR photography as well! A question, if you have a lens, lets say a 50mm lens, on a bellows unit or with extension tubes for macro photography, how does this alter the hyperfocal distance? I know it dramatically decreases DOF and decreases the minimal focus distance...this sounds like another video, I know - thanks!
Thank you and good question! The further you rack focus, the narrower the DoF. That applies to a macro bellows. So if you shoot a 50mm with, let's say, 100mm between the rear element and sensor or film, your focus will be, at most, a few inches from the lens and the magnification around 1:1. Your DoF will be some millimeters too a couple of inches, even at f/16 or smaller. Basically, if you see at f/16 how much slimmer the DoF is on your scales vs. infinity focus, apply that principle even more so with bellows.
@@DavidHancock Thanks David, that helps alot!
perfect timing. now guess what video i need next
Hmm. No guesses. But I'm curious.
@@DavidHancock how about manual flash. maybe you have one.
@@sbarronmd I have an old video on calculating flash guide numbers. I'm not much of a flash user in all honesty and use the ones I have only about once a year.
Never knew that thx
Thank you!
Humble suggestion: supplement this video with a discussion of what is "infinity" (or more specifically, where does it start for a given focal length). When a lens doesn't provide a focusing scale (most modern AF and some pancake lenses don't), knowing the infinity starting point helps to determine where to set the focal point to achieve hyperfocal distance. But please oh please don't go into Scheimpflug Principle.
Good idea, as a general rule, infinity is (from a lens engineer perspective) 200X the focal length. I can probably work that into a video for later this year comparing DoF on different formats.
Thk uuuuu
hello! this video taught me a whole new concept because i’m still new to my minolta. i was practicing this theory on my 50mm lens and as you pointed it out, the markings are much closer.
my question however is that, if say i’m trying to cover a greater range and choose f22 as the aperture since it will focus a distance if 10-30 feet and its a sunny day, will it not affect the auto mode shutter speed ? as in yes it will let more light in to compensate for the small aperture but won’t it still affect the quality of the results?
i hope i was able to word it right. thanks
You are correct! An aperture like f/22 needs a lot more light. In full sun with 400 ISO film, you're looking at a shutter speed of around 1/160-1/200.
@@DavidHancock so its not a major concern to choose a smaller aperture for focusing since the shutter speed will compensate it?
secondly, won’t the prism split too much if i’m focusing on the general focus ares more?
@@yasmindiemon4828 Sort of yes, in different words. The aperture will increase the depth of field as it becomes smaller. So as long as the shutter speed is longer for the smaller aperture, then you will still have a suitable exposure, yes.
The split prism view screen shouldn't get darker if you have a lens that stops down when the image is taken and has the aperture open before.
@@DavidHancock thank you so much for your help! love your channel and all the videos you make because they've made film photography a lot less daunting and a lot more fun!
@@yasmindiemon4828 Thank you! The best tip I have is to keep taking photos!
Hi David. When you use zone focusing for rangefinders. Do you have to be concerned of the 2 images on the rangefinder patch to be superimposed with one another? I find it hard to focus with rangefinders and I am hoping zone focusing would fix that. Thanks!!
Good question and no. With zone focusing using lens scales, trust the lens markings.
@@DavidHancock what do you mean by lens markings?
@@kathreenmirate389 The lens markings are the focus point and zone indicators on the lens.
@@DavidHancock oh so I won’t have to worry about the patch on the viewfinder as long as I have the zone focusing right.
@@kathreenmirate389 you got it!
Great vid, but I've always been in the impression that zone focusing IS all about taking advantage of the hyperfocal distance anyway, since most of the time (pratically all the time) we are indeed chasing that infinity mark by setting it against any chosen aperture - at least that's what I do when I'm doing street photography.
It is and isn't. The hyperfocal is a type of zone -- the one with the most depth. The old 1950s viewfinders, as an example, had two zones marked on the lenses commonly, f/8 and f/16 (the latter being the hyperfocal distance and the former being for close- and far-zone focus.) So basically the hyperfocal distance is one of the infinite potential zones a lens can focus to.
@@DavidHancock Fair point. Thanks for clarifying that.
Keep up the good and above-the-average work. 🙂
Great explanation, how does using a crop sensor lens or M4/3's lens adapted change zone focusing?
Good question and one I had not thought to answer. So here's my take:
From a lens physics perspective, no difference. It's the same as taking a shot on an FF sensor and cropping it. However, shooting styles change with FF vs. crop sensor cameras. If we took equivalent shots with the same lens, same framing, on FF, ASP-C, and M4/3, then for each smaller sensor the camera would need to be placed further from the subject. Using the same aperture at each of these hypothetical points would effectively increase the DoF because DoF is deeper when we focus closer to infinity. So because identical framing would require a focus point closer to infinity, effective DoF would be deeper.
This sounds to me like something I need to make a video about as soon as my OM-1 arrives in July.
@@DavidHancock its will probably be beneficial to explain what are the assumption these focusing scales are based on. in relation to depth of field, DoF and circle of confusion, (CoC) and image viewing distance/enlargement size in that video
@@CheeMengAuYong Good idea. It'll be based on viewing distance more than anything but I will try to make sure I include that.
@@DavidHancock yes make that video! So interesting! Please have a small section on how these concepts relate to larger formats too. I have a decent understanding but you lay things out so clearly, I'd be excited to sharpen these concepts. That would be great!!! :-)
With APS-C you should look at the values that are one larger (in the aperture size) than what you use (like f/5.6 instead of f/8). With MFT you should look at two larger. Smaller sensors have less depth of field with the same (not the equivalent) focal length.
To illustrate 28 mm at 3 meters:
FF f/5.6 DoF: 1.83 - 8.41 m
APS-C Canon f/5.6: 2.13 - 5.06 m
APS-C Canon f/8: 1.9 - 7.08 m (much closer to the FF values)
APS-C Canon f/9 (1 1/3 smaller) 1.82 - 8.49 m (almost exactly the same but there are not markings at 1/3 f-stop intervals)
APS-C Nikon f/5.6: 2.1 - 5.25 m
APS-C Nikon f/8: 1.87 - 7.62 m (even better than Canon)
MFT f/5.6: 2.27 - 4.42 m
MFT f/11: 1.83 - 8.41 m (now we are exactly at the same as with FF at f/5.6)
Calculated with DoFMaster.
I pretty much zone focus for all my rangrefinders ,,, F8 and forget it!!!
Best way to go. :D
It was f/8 and be there.
I wish I could make it where it's human eye focus because I just wish the picture wasn't so zoomed in but in human eye there not zoomed in like on camera view because I really need a camera or a way to rig that to happen
Sounds like you may need a different lens.
Hi. I didn't really understand what this red R letter represent.
Good question. The R is the focus point for infrared film use. IR light focuses at a different point that visible light, so that mark indicates how much of an adjustment is needed to focus to use IR film.
@@DavidHancock Thanks. I decided to browse digital infrared photography now )
what about. hyperfocal on zoom lens. with line and not apprerture scale.
Same basic concept, but as the zoom changes the lines will curve, just line up the aperture with the focusing scale lines at the selected focal length.
And what if I don't want to use this feature, and want to manually focus on the subject? Do I leave the infinity symbol in the middle where you have that white indicator or what?
Well, this is a manual focus only technique. If you don't want to use hyperfocal distance focusing then don't. Use a smaller aperture settings instead and just focus on the subject.