Zone Focusing Explained

Many compact, entry-level cameras of the film era relied upon zone focusing. It is simple, reliable and easy to use if you understand the basic concepts, which I explain in this video.
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[@richardsimms251]

Great educational video.
Thanks
RS. Canada

[@philhodgkinson1460]

A very good expostian indeed Brian.... God Bless you......

[@kencarnley7101]

You are a very good teacher. Have saved this video so I can refer to it often.

[@BriansPhotoShow]

Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad you found this helpful.

[@kevinwright1313]

Great! Very clear explanation. Thank you.

[@briantwombly1512]

Definitely the best explanation i've seen yet, especially for the nikon lens!

[@GONZOFAM7]

I have a voigtlander Vito II that I love. I've been zone focusing fairly successfully for a while. Time 10:00 was a eureka moment, I think I'll have more shots in focus now. Thanks for the video.

[@BriansPhotoShow]

Thank you for your kind words; I'm glad I could help. Enjoy analog!

[@mohammadvarzideh780]

Thanks Brian . Another useful and informative video . These concepts have become obsolete in photography today with autofocus cameras . i also forgot until you point them . Zone focusing is practical for street photography and somewhere like dim indoor when manual focusing is hard .
Regards.

[@philhodgkinson1460]

Useful video yep I saved it too.....
I got voightlander Vito B mk1 and mk 2....
Thanks for your help bud!!

[@BriansPhotoShow]

my pleasure!

[@seamanjive]

Excellent...thx

[@tommcgrath6299]

This is so informative! Thank you so much from a beginner!

[@BriansPhotoShow]

I'm glad it was helpful

[@danielbdbe]

hi brian , thanks for your videos !! the aperture F numbers ( 1.4 , 2.8,4,5.6, etc.. ) are the ratios between the focal lentgh and the diameter of the opening aperture ring of the lens when opened at 1.4 mark . the formula is F=(focal of the lens )/(diametre of opening ) .
In case of 1.4 and 50mm lens the diameter of the aperture is 35.7 mm .For a 200mm , 2.8 means 71.4mm opening diameter which explains why the diameter of front lens is very large .
this is valid for all focal lenses . hope this help . shana tova for 5782 ! daniel

[@iainmc9859]

Zone focusing, yeah, got it, it works. Hyperfocal focusing, never got it to work properly, always find things are out of focus more than expected on several different camera/lens combinations; even memorized the mathematical formula to nail it, nope, fuzzy pictures.
Gone back to a relatively foolproof method; (a) focus on your main point of interest at your widest aperture, (b) change your aperture (don't touch the focus ring) to an appropriate depth of field, (c) choose your shutter speed to give appropriate exposure. Steps b & c can obviously be reversed depending on the circumstances. No guessing distances required.

[@mohammadvarzideh780]

The tips that i use in photography everyday. Thanks 👍.
for some situations like street photography i can't focus rapidly and i need some autofocus camera where zone focusing is practical and useful.

[@iainmc9859]

@@mohammadvarzideh780 Yeah, zone focusing is king in street photography, although shutter priority alleviates most of the motion blur problem. I shoot mainly landscape at the moment so I really shouldn't miss focus, but I still do.

[@kennyiklei]

Thanks, Brian. Very informative video. I’m new to photography and have just bought a Nikon z50 with kit lens DX 16-50mm. Can I do zone focusing with this camera set? If not, should I buy a FTZ adaptor and a prime lens learn zone focusing? Any advise? Thank you very much.

[@BriansPhotoShow]

Any lens can be zone focused if it has the proper markings.

[@seamanjive]

Brian...what are your thoughts on the light metering on this model? I've been comparing to phone app LM and Olympus OMD...Retinette seems two stops under, but not consistently.

[@BriansPhotoShow]

I wouldn't rely on the accuracy of any fifty year old selenium meter. If you happen to get one which gives accurate readings, it's a bonus, but you can't assume it's accurate just because the needle responds to light.

[@seamanjive]

@@BriansPhotoShow Er...yes...that's why I'm comparing it with correctly functioning meters!

[@andrewbarr7620]

Why are you talking in meters??

[@BriansPhotoShow]

The camera I'm using for demonstration is marked in meters.