Thanks for your helpful tips on manual focusing. It's a great idea to maintain focus at infinity to find faster focusing with 50mm: with this focal length, focusing by zones is complicated for me. And also to keep focus by taking steps forward or backward depending on the movement of the people (it sounds like a sort of dance).
Thank you very much for those tips. I hadn’t realized how obvious that last tip was, especially for someone who is very used to “catching” passing bicycles and the like for background blur in a sideways action rather than longitudinal for approaching subjects!
This awesome is great as usual, but your last tip by moving the body at the same rate like the subject instead of refocusing the lens blew my mind 🤯 Thank you very much for sharing. I love learning new stuff from you :)
Thanks for this. Understanding zone focusing before was a little bit confusing for me but this makes it more clear. I shoot with a Voigtlander 35mm on an M4 which I recently purchased this summer.
Very inspiring video. Yes generally the distance scale becomes reasonable not before f/5.6. And mostly all lenses have f/8 on its distance scale. But for the distance part of the scale normally there is much guesswork necessary, especially because there is no linear relationship. I shoot mainly on digital mirrorless cameras with older manual lenses where focus peeking is not very accurate for those older lenses, so I use magnification to bring the target object in focus....
For comfortable work on digital mirrorless and SLR cameras with old lenses for film cameras, there are not so many options for modern cameras. Among them for comfortable work we can perhaps include Hasselblad series "H" for example H6D or Leica series SL, SL2, SL2-S, SL3, etc. All other modern cameras in combination with manual focusing are only continuous compromises, unfortunately. Contour or zonal illumination, the so-called (Focus Peaking) of manual focusing is very often inaccurate and only an electronic magnifier gives accurate and the best results in terms of focusing accuracy.
Well.... I finally did it. After a couple of years with de Leica Q, I found a good deal on a Leica M 240 with the Elmarit 28mm 2.8 Asph. And the weekend starts tomorrow :) I want to say that I dont really get it how your channel has only 31k followers. Your videos are amazing, and even for someone that only started using Leica M now, and looking at your videos was kind of torture until now :), I always find these very informative and the photographs inspiring. If you ever come to Portugal, please let us know if you plan on doing a meetup or a workshop. I have a ouple os wuestions. The framelines on the 240 with the 28mm are right at the edge, making it hard to see even on normal conditions. But I really would not like to loose the rangefinder experience by using an EVF. Is there any way to make it a better experience? Also I'm thinking about a 35 or 50mm that does not break the bank, and Voigtlander Nokton comes to mind. But older screw mount leica lens seems also a good option, in the sense are much cheaper :) . Do you have any recommendation on a good option, because while I got a good deal on the M+lens....I don't see a way to get a Summilux any time soon :) Cheers!
Thank you. We are happy with the growth of the channel. We don’t post every week and don’t follow the standard UA-cam formulas that a lot of the other channels do. We’d rather post good photography rather than reviews (god knows we’ve been asked so many times to do reviews!!) We use external viewfinders for the 28mm. There’s a recent video on this. They made the framelines a little tight with the viewfinder magnification. As for non-Leica M lenses, we’ve never used anything else so I can’t comment with any authority. Maybe someone else can chime in?
The other problem with a Noctilux is the weight. I am lucky enough to have the 0.95 Noctilux and it is very tiring carrying it on my M10R for a few hours. My daily 50mm is now the Voigtlander 50mm f2 APO Lanthar. Excellent colour rendition and great value for money.
Hey Jeff, I’m shooting a lot of live music at theatre size venues and use manual lenses on my Fuji X series body. I’m using a 50mm 1.2 and aim to have a high aperture to let every bit of light in that I can, but obviously this means I have a very shallow range to nail focus of a moving subject. Any tips on perfect setup? Thanks!
I would pick a position on stage (so near a mic stand or pedal board) and focus on that. These are popular positions for the band to be in. Concentrate the photography around those positions.
I’m shocked….it’s been almost 12 hrs and nobody has come into the comments to tell you how you’re doing everything wrong yet. There always seems to be at least one or two every video. Haha. But in all seriousness, this definitely gives me some inspiration to try a manual focus lens.
Hmm! I like your videos very much. Watch many of them. I am a novice shooting street (all I ever do) on film with a 50mm lens on a Zorki 2 using the fixed focus (12 foot for everything) technique that you describe here. But from what you say towards the end, I should perhaps change to a 35mm lens?
Quick question on the Leica 50mm Summicron you have. Is it the F2? APO or non APO? How do you find its character? I am looking for a 50mm and is debating between the Summicron and the Summilux F1.4 ASPH FLE 2 (I have the 35mm and absolutely love it).
A very nice and helpful video. Could you tell some more about the range focusing ? I use mostly 28mm and my most used distance is around 1,5m. DO you thing adjusting to 0,7 when im close and turning to 3 meter for far away could let me use my lens as a 3 stop focus for close normal and far ? My lens has also markings for 1m, should i consider that too ? im trying to learn that focus system now
Yes the theory is sound but you seem to be working extremely closely. With 28mm I work mainly at 12 feet so that’s where I set things. If I’m working in a tight crowd or a situation where I can’t get back enough, I will sometimes move the distance to 6 feet. I’m effectively moving the zone of focus around to fit the situation.
Hi Jeff Thank you for your video. Very good indeed. For 28mm fl: would your focus distance remain the same for street portrait photography. thinking about filling the frame?
I don’t do street portraits but I asked Sarah (who does) and she varies the distance depending on the background. Everything is focused. No zone focusing.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Very, very useful focusing tips. As usual, an excellent video production. No annoying background music. Nicely paced. Very clear audio. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching.
Thanks for your helpful tips on manual focusing. It's a great idea to maintain focus at infinity to find faster focusing with 50mm: with this focal length, focusing by zones is complicated for me. And also to keep focus by taking steps forward or backward depending on the movement of the people (it sounds like a sort of dance).
Thank you. Yeah it can be but oftentimes it’s just a step forward or back if the subject moves position.
Thank you very much for those tips. I hadn’t realized how obvious that last tip was, especially for someone who is very used to “catching” passing bicycles and the like for background blur in a sideways action rather than longitudinal for approaching subjects!
🙏
This awesome is great as usual, but your last tip by moving the body at the same rate like the subject instead of refocusing the lens blew my mind 🤯
Thank you very much for sharing. I love learning new stuff from you :)
Thanks for watching
Thanks
Thanks for this. Understanding zone focusing before was a little bit confusing for me but this makes it more clear. I shoot with a Voigtlander 35mm on an M4 which I recently purchased this summer.
No problem. Glad you found it useful.
Great stuff, pragmatic and down to Earth. Especially the OVF magnification ratio configuration.
Thank you so much 🙏
great tips, thank you! the walking backwards at the same pace is clever
Thank you 🙏
Another good video Jeff. Manual focus all the way :)
Cheers Derren 🙏
Thanks, Jeff that was useful. I mainly use a 21mm or 35mm so I'll give that a go
🙏🙏
Very inspiring video. Yes generally the distance scale becomes reasonable not before f/5.6. And mostly all lenses have f/8 on its distance scale. But for the distance part of the scale normally there is much guesswork necessary, especially because there is no linear relationship.
I shoot mainly on digital mirrorless cameras with older manual lenses where focus peeking is not very accurate for those older lenses, so I use magnification to bring the target object in focus....
I haven’t shot with manual lenses on mirrorless for a few years. I always remember it being a little awkward.
For comfortable work on digital mirrorless and SLR cameras with old lenses for film cameras, there are not so many options for modern cameras. Among them for comfortable work we can perhaps include Hasselblad series "H" for example H6D or Leica series SL, SL2, SL2-S, SL3, etc. All other modern cameras in combination with manual focusing are only continuous compromises, unfortunately. Contour or zonal illumination, the so-called (Focus Peaking) of manual focusing is very often inaccurate and only an electronic magnifier gives accurate and the best results in terms of focusing accuracy.
Hello Jeff,
Another interesting video... lots of useful information, thank you.
Take care.
Paul,,
Thanks Paul 🙏
Thank you for the helpful video!
Thanks for watching 🙏
Well.... I finally did it. After a couple of years with de Leica Q, I found a good deal on a Leica M 240 with the Elmarit 28mm 2.8 Asph. And the weekend starts tomorrow :) I want to say that I dont really get it how your channel has only 31k followers. Your videos are amazing, and even for someone that only started using Leica M now, and looking at your videos was kind of torture until now :), I always find these very informative and the photographs inspiring. If you ever come to Portugal, please let us know if you plan on doing a meetup or a workshop. I have a ouple os wuestions. The framelines on the 240 with the 28mm are right at the edge, making it hard to see even on normal conditions. But I really would not like to loose the rangefinder experience by using an EVF. Is there any way to make it a better experience? Also I'm thinking about a 35 or 50mm that does not break the bank, and Voigtlander Nokton comes to mind. But older screw mount leica lens seems also a good option, in the sense are much cheaper :) . Do you have any recommendation on a good option, because while I got a good deal on the M+lens....I don't see a way to get a Summilux any time soon :) Cheers!
Thank you. We are happy with the growth of the channel. We don’t post every week and don’t follow the standard UA-cam formulas that a lot of the other channels do. We’d rather post good photography rather than reviews (god knows we’ve been asked so many times to do reviews!!)
We use external viewfinders for the 28mm. There’s a recent video on this. They made the framelines a little tight with the viewfinder magnification.
As for non-Leica M lenses, we’ve never used anything else so I can’t comment with any authority. Maybe someone else can chime in?
The other problem with a Noctilux is the weight. I am lucky enough to have the 0.95 Noctilux and it is very tiring carrying it on my M10R for a few hours. My daily 50mm is now the Voigtlander 50mm f2 APO Lanthar. Excellent colour rendition and great value for money.
Yeah, I have to use a grip whenever I’ve got the Nocti on the camera. It’s a beast and it also covers 1/3 of the viewfinder.
Some useful information that will give me some food for thought in future purchases. ❤
Thank you 🙏
How do you use the distance scale on the lens ?
I can’t thank you enough for your tips and tricks Jeff. Moving your body instead of refocusing! What a brilliant idea 💡
Thank you. Glad you found it useful.
this got me excited to use my manual focus canon FD lens on my sony again
The Sony’s are great for that.
Very helpful. Thanks!
Thank you for watching 🙏🙏
Thank you
You're welcome
Great stuff!
Thank you 🙏
Hey Jeff, I’m shooting a lot of live music at theatre size venues and use manual lenses on my Fuji X series body. I’m using a 50mm 1.2 and aim to have a high aperture to let every bit of light in that I can, but obviously this means I have a very shallow range to nail focus of a moving subject. Any tips on perfect setup? Thanks!
I would pick a position on stage (so near a mic stand or pedal board) and focus on that. These are popular positions for the band to be in. Concentrate the photography around those positions.
I’m shocked….it’s been almost 12 hrs and nobody has come into the comments to tell you how you’re doing everything wrong yet. There always seems to be at least one or two every video. Haha. But in all seriousness, this definitely gives me some inspiration to try a manual focus lens.
Oh yes we get our regulars. 😂
Hmm! I like your videos very much. Watch many of them. I am a novice shooting street (all I ever do) on film with a 50mm lens on a Zorki 2 using the fixed focus (12 foot for everything) technique that you describe here. But from what you say towards the end, I should perhaps change to a 35mm lens?
Not if the 50 works for you. The 35 will give you better options for zone focus but the 50 is a special lens.
Quick question on the Leica 50mm Summicron you have. Is it the F2? APO or non APO? How do you find its character? I am looking for a 50mm and is debating between the Summicron and the Summilux F1.4 ASPH FLE 2 (I have the 35mm and absolutely love it).
11826. Bought it in 2001. Flares like hell in the wrong light but very nice in the right light.
A very nice and helpful video. Could you tell some more about the range focusing ? I use mostly 28mm and my most used distance is around 1,5m. DO you thing adjusting to 0,7 when im close and turning to 3 meter for far away could let me use my lens as a 3 stop focus for close normal and far ? My lens has also markings for 1m, should i consider that too ? im trying to learn that focus system now
Yes the theory is sound but you seem to be working extremely closely. With 28mm I work mainly at 12 feet so that’s where I set things. If I’m working in a tight crowd or a situation where I can’t get back enough, I will sometimes move the distance to 6 feet. I’m effectively moving the zone of focus around to fit the situation.
Hi Jeff
Thank you for your video. Very good indeed.
For 28mm fl: would your focus distance remain the same for street portrait photography. thinking about filling the frame?
I don’t do street portraits but I asked Sarah (who does) and she varies the distance depending on the background. Everything is focused. No zone focusing.
thank you very much for reply@@WalkLikeAlice
Jeff, did you and family come thru Storm Darragh ok?
We are all good thanks. It’s not so bad here. It’s blowing in from the sea but not as bad as some storms we’ve had here.
So funny, I just switched to only R Lenses with my Leica SL2s. 😀
Great lenses.
Thanks Jeff, good points to remember.
Thank you 🙏🙏
Useful; thanks!
🙏
Super useful. Thanks.
Thanks for watching 🙏