Tag: dslr

An Introduction to Zone Focusing for your Leica, Rangefinder, or DSLR

When I first started shooting street photography, I was always frustrated that my autofocus would always be too slow to capture the decisive moment. After trudging around the internet, I was first introduced to the idea of “zone focusing” by Markus Hartel on his blog.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with zone focusing you essentially use a high f-stop number with a deep depth of field (f/16 or f/11) and have your camera pre-focused to a certain distance to get your photos in-focus. This is beneficial because although modern autofocusing systems are quite good, they are not 100% reliable. Using zone focusing when shooting street photography allows you to get far more keepers.

Aperture at f/16 and focused to around .9 meters. You can see everything from .7 meters to 1.5 meters will be in-focus

Regarding the settings, I typically use the following when shooting:

  • Aperture: f/16
  • ISO: 800-3200
  • Shutter speed: Above 320ths/second
  • Prefocus: 1 meter
  • AV-mode
Why do I use the above settings? Shooting at f/16 allows me to get the deepest depth-of-field with my lens. I keep my ISO high so my shutter speed will be above 320ths/second (this allows you to capture people walking and not blurry). I don’t mind having extra grain or noise in my images. I actually find it to make my images more gritty and raw. Also I keep my lens pre-focused to around 1 meter– because that is how close I generally am to my subjects when shooting.

6 Tips How to Master Shooting Street Photography with a DSLR

Custom SLR Glidestrap and C-Loop
Seoul, 2009
Seoul, 2009

When it comes to street photography, I am a huge proponent that it doesn’t matter what camera you use. Each camera has its own strengths and weaknesses, and as long as it takes photos it works for street photography.

When I asked a while back on my Facebook fan page, I found out that the majority of the community shoots street photography with a DSLR, so I thought it would be a great idea to write an article on how to most effectively use your DSLR for street photography. Keep reading to read some more tips.

Continue reading 6 Tips How to Master Shooting Street Photography with a DSLR

The Journey from a DSLR to a Rangefinder

Note: Recently I did a blog post on the pros and the cons of rangefinders for street photography. I then came upon an insightful comment from Steve Foon about his experience from switching from using a DSLR to a rangefinder for street photography. Therefore I asked him to do this guest blog post and he graciously accepted! The post you are about to read is incredibly thorough and well-thought out. It is a must-read for anybody considering making the switch from a DSLR to a rangefinder for street photography.

Click to read more

As we roam the Streets to capture images, the tendency to look at the works from people who help create the genre like Bresson, Erwitt, Franks, Weeks, Maier, etc… just seem like the natural thing to do.

One thing kept coming up in terms of camera gear….. Rangefinder cameras.

Allow me to share with you my thoughts on this. Thanks to Eric for letting me share.

Disclaimer – I want to set the record straight that although I am using a rangefinder more and more, I still love what a DSLR can do.  Please don’t think that my comments towards rangefinders is a put down on DSLR’s or any other camera format.

This disclaimer comes from a recent posting I made about rangefinders that had some people in the DSLR camp in a rage.

Continue reading The Journey from a DSLR to a Rangefinder