I am relatively new to street photography and want to learn to focus more quickly than I can now. I use the 28, 35 and 50 mm lenses for street photography. Is there anything I can do other than practice?

-- David Enzel (dhenzel@vei.net), February 07, 2002

Answers

Buy a Nikon AF camera.

J/k of course. Practice practice practice is the only way to quickly focus an RF camera. If your lens has a focus tab, you can use the method of getting used to where the tab is for any given focal distance. then practice moving the tab to aprox that point when you are bringing the camera up to your eye. From there, fine focus should just take a half a sec. In theory anyway, I mostly use wide angles and prefocus to avoid the problem.

-- Josh Root (rootj@att.net), February 07, 2002.

Depends on how you want your pics to look. Do you like to isolate people from their environment and shoot tight shots? Then practice focusing the 50 quickly. Do you like broader scenes showing several people interacting or where the subject's environment is critical? Then that's easier; use your 28 or 35, stop down, pre-focus and go at it. After a while you'll develope your own tricks suited to your particular style. Just keep shooting a lot and don't be afraid to experiment. Good luck.

-- Dennis Couvillion (couvilaw@aol.com), February 07, 2002.

Set your lens to a fixed distance (say 2.5m for a 50mm lens) and then teach yourself to estimate this distance. Approach your subjects and then just take the shot. Allows for very quick working and minimal viewfinder fiddling.

-- Andrew Nemeth (azn@nemeng.com), February 07, 2002.

Guestimate the distances...use your depth of field. Do not go to AF...my Canon Eos way slower than my M6/M3 point and shoot.See some of Cartier Bressons photos not always that sharp. His eye and moment were though.

-- jason gold (leeu72@hoymail.com), February 07, 2002.

Has anybody mentioned practice? Another trick is to "learn" where the location of your focusing tab needs to be for a few relevant distances. Lastly, If I am not shooting furiously in a group, I habitually re-set my lens at infinity after a shot. This way I at least know which direction and about how far I need to twist the ring to bring my next shot into focus.

:-),

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), February 07, 2002.

I'm with Jack. Practice.

Shoot alot. Shoot away alot of those OOF shots.

Pretty soon your experience and your sense of economy will point you in the right direction. ;-)

-- John (ouroboros_2001@yahoo.com), February 07, 2002.

Resetting the lens to infinity when finished shooting also means that the camera is more compact.

-- Dave Carlisle (dave_carlisle@hotmail.com), February 07, 2002.

Stick to one lens - no time to keep changing, the 35 is the best compromise. Then just take a reading, use preset focussing and point and shoot!

With a 35mm at F5.6 set to 2 metres you are covering distances roughly 1.5 metres to 3 metres; set at F5.6 and 3 metres takes you from 2 - 5 metres and on 5 metres you can cover 3 - 12 metres.

The other trick I use is to remember (with a 35mm) a person filling the frame in portrait format will be at roughly 2 metres away and in landscape format roughly 3 metres.

-- Giles Poilu (giles@monpoilu.icom43.net), February 08, 2002.

1)Forget all about auto-focus, A-(lot of time good) and P-(ractially always good) modes and zoom

2)Before you start, set the apperture that corresponds to the dof you would like (some people prefer blurry background (eg 2 or 2.8), other sharp (e.g 16)). To start with use e.g 11 or 16 as it is most tolerant to errors in distance.

3)Using that apperture settings, define the distance you would like to use, with the aid of the indicators on the lens for the choosen apperture.

4)Now use a grey card to measure the available light (you can also use grass or a concrete road) and set the shutter release.

5)Now you are ready to practice and try and fail and adjust and re-try and fail and re-try and be lucky sometimes :-)

tip 1) you can start with taking a fixed position on a good spot, focus on a reference point and wait for things to happen. May also result in nice stuff and you will be suprised about certain things keep repeating or suddenly change on that point once you take the time to look. I recently made some nice stuff like that, I will see if I can share when I have made the prints.

tip 2) a tele (180 or 250/280) can result in nice prints as well as you don't have to put the camera in the peoples face. But it should be done with care to avoid a messy picture. You should use it to make (similar) pictures that you could also have made by getting real close.

tip 3) use a modern fault-tolerant film (e.g. T-max 100 for B&W)

good luck

Reinier

-- ReinierV (rvlaam@xs4all.nl), February 08, 2002.

Hello David. Times have not changed the shooting habits of the Leica street shooter. The following quote is taken from Leica Fotografie magazine No.2 1972 on professional German "Stern" magazine photographers:

"All those Masters of the Leica who work in the Stern team go around ,as ever, with the Leica and 35mm Summicron or even the Summilux. As Fred Irt says:When we are off duty,i.e.with no fixed assignment on a private stroll, we only take the Leica and 35mm;for we must always be prepared, whether on or off duty.Loaded with Tri-X, with the lens set to f/5.6 and a shutter speed of 1/250 sec. and focused on 5 metres, there is no risk of missing anything for we are always ready to shoot." Regards.

-- Sheridan Zantis (albada60@hotmail.com), February 08, 2002.

This is an advantage of learning with a rollei 35 . Since there is no rangefinder , you learn to appreciate depth of field . Just set the aperture at 8 or 16 , as it should make everything in focus from 10ft ( or so ) to infinity . Or you can get a 12(!)mm lens and not even have to think about it .

-- leonid kotlyar (kotlyarl@mail.nih.gov), February 08, 2002.

Thank you all for taking the time to offer some very helpful suggestions.

-- David Enzel (dhenzel@vei.net), February 08, 2002.

Here's my late and simple-minded advice.

Make sure that you take advice from people who are capable of doing excellent street photography. Ask to see some examples. It took me a while to realize that a lot of advice doesn't come from first-hand experience.

Grant Lamos and Rob Appleby are two excellent street shooters on this forum, although neither seems to have weighed in here.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), February 08, 2002.

Street photography is my life. What I do may not be what turns you on, but here goes. Have your grains of salt ready.

My constant film of choice is color 800 ISO. Fuji I find to be better than Kodak -- finer grain. My cameras are Leica M's -- these days mostly M-2 and M-6--and CLE's. I also use a Hexar RF, though it's shutter release is uncomfortably slow. I prefer automatic exposure. The manual Leica's are far more quite--and low noise is generally extremely important to me. I use a top mounted meter on the M-2; this spares my looking into the finder when that would be a give away. Lately I've been using a Bessa T--a nice camera but with a noisy shutter. I occationally use a Leica IIIf and IIf, CL and (rarely) Canon P and VT.

Specific situations.

1. Wandering about either looking for the unexpected, or shooting the predictable but fleeting. I use a lens wider than a 35. 28 stopped down to about f 11 or 16 is ideal for me in bright light. A 25 and 21 are excellent in more subdued light. You have excellent depth of field at f 8 or even f 5.6. I prefocus and much of the time frame with my eyes and imagination with my Leica at chest level. Often I look away from the subject when I am pressing the shutter button. Often I use a 15/4.5 -- but it requires I be almost on top of the subject.

2. Stationary or walking along a familiar line. On trains here in Japan the distance between seats facing each other is 8 feet. I focus on 8 feet and shoot from the waist with either a 35 or 28. Sometimes I use a 50. If illumination is totally artificial I shoot wide open (f 1.4 to f 2). In some places I can follow the lines of pavement and shoot at a standard prefocus.

3. To Auto focus or not. I've had some excellent luck with a Konica AF, which has a super silent mode. Subjects should either be stationary or moving fairly slowly. I missed a great shot--a man on a bicycle with a cat on his head--thank to the Konica AF and have generally left it at home since then. In low light with stationary subjects and fash film it is great for shooting at chest level.

I try to be as unobtrusive as possible. I aim for near invisibility. I don't like people posing for me. But there are time, of course, when the exact opposite is called for.

This is me. It might not be you. If you do shoot at chest / waist level you need to practice every day. I find I'm better off holding the camera vertically when shooting "blind."

-- Alex Shishin (shishin@pp.iij4-u.or.jp), February 09, 2002.