Zone focusing is an essential skill to learn, especially for street, travel, and documentary photography. Even the latest autofocus technology on new expensive cameras can’t beat this method of taking photos quickly and in perfect focus.
What is zone focusing?
When you zone focus, you set your lens to manual focus mode – or preferably use a manual focus lens – and preset the focal distance using the distance scale on the lens barrel. You are creating an area where your subject will be in focus. Zone focusing is determined by the focal length you shoot and the aperture you use. The wider your lens, the easier it is to use zone focus.
The images below demonstrate this. Let’s say you focus on 10 feet in front of you.
First of all, if you are using the very popular 50mm lens And wanting to shoot at f/4, you really have a very short distance to work with, which means you have to be confident about where exactly 10 feet is and be really fast to take that shot. . If someone is moving fast, it is a challenge.
If we go to f/11, we have more distance to work with, but still, you need to develop some skills here to compose and capture a shot. Another consideration is that 50mm may not be wide enough to get your subject close enough into the frame at short distances.
My favorite street and general walkabout photography lens is the 28mm. This wide lens gives me 11 feet of working distance at f/4, whereas the 50mm has only 3 feet!
With an aperture of f/11, look at the distance I now have to work with. I can let the subject get as close as 4 feet and still have acceptable focus.
There are various hyperfocal distance calculators online that can give you an idea of what kind of range your chosen focal length and aperture combination gives you to work with, but they all seem to vary with their results. The best thing to do is to practice with your camera and lens. It doesn’t take long to find out. Whenever I go out now I find myself constantly looking ahead of me – even without a camera – wondering, “Is that subject 10 feet away?” I have programmed my brain to recognize different distances.
Why zone focus?
Not having to worry about focusing allows us to enjoy the photography experience more. We can focus on what’s happening and how to best frame a shot to capture a unique moment, reacting quietly and quickly to compelling scenes without relying on the camera’s autofocus system.
Zone focusing is usually discussed in relation to people walking around in street photography, but it can be used for all types of situations. Even taking travel photos of fairly stationary objects like the fishing boats below can be beneficial. I simply pointed the camera and framed the shot without worrying about looking for the focus point to find focus.
where to start
The best way to start zone focusing is to stand still. Perhaps sit on a bench and focus on a spot on the ground where you think people will walk by and be well within the frame. This lets you become familiar with what your chosen distance looks like. You can use visual cues to set your focus zone, such as a crack in the sidewalk or a lamppost that someone might pass by.
Once you’ve mastered this, you’ll find yourself constantly moving around trying to figure out what 6 feet or 10 feet in front of you looks like so that you can see it while you’re walking or while your subject is walking. So you can take pictures.
Although many street photographers themselves shoot moving subjects while walking, I think it’s best to stop walking if you see an interesting scene in front of you. Even with a shutter speed of 1/1,000 or 1/2,000 – my favorite speeds – it doesn’t always result in sharp images. To move or not to move, it’s all about practice as it is a skill that needs to be learned to get the best results.
lens selection
Many modern lenses no longer have a distance scale as they are designed to be used as autofocus lenses, optimized for the camera’s autofocus tracking technology. There are manual third-party lens solutions, or older lenses, that have markings for the distance we need.
In general with lenses, the trend these days is to buy fast primes like f/1.2, with people new to photography believing that the more “bokeh” the photo has, the better it will be. Of course, this is nonsense. If you use this for zone focusing wide open, good luck!
Because zone focusing requires a good amount of depth of field, it means slower lenses, which means you don’t need to spend a lot of money. My primes are f/2.8, yet I rarely shoot wide open. f/5.6 is my minimum aperture, preferring f/8 or f/11.
And as a bonus, those slower lenses are also smaller and lighter—perfect for street photography.
Are you using zone focusing?
