Measure the Distance to Get the Focus Right

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Here is a tipster that will show you how you can get the focus right every time. All you have to do is measure the distance between your camera and the subject that you are shooting.

Focusing on a Lomo LC-A for instance, is very tricky. If you don’t get it right, you get blurry and out of focus photos. The zone focusing in the LC-A has 4 options : 0.8m , 1.5m, 3m and infinity. Basically, what I do is measure my hand. The whole arm is about 0.78 meter, two arms is equal to 1.5 meters and so on. (take a meter stick or ruler and measure yours, from palm to your shoulder).

So there is 0.80m from my eye to the wall. That’s how I estimate the distance when I’m shooting with a Lomography Camera. Do this or carry a meter stick/ruler and measure every time your subjects are at a distance. Either way, it’s important to get the distance right so your photos to be as sharp as they can be.

written by pvalyk on 2011-11-27 #gear #tutorials #camera #distance #tipster #zone #focus #lomo #measure #quickie-tipster

6 Comments

  1. angelhaken
    angelhaken ·

    this is a point where LC-A is better than LC-A+. The zone focus is visible in the viewfinder why got this feature lost in LC-A+ ?. - If anyone has problems with focusing right .. get a fisheye and forget about "being out of focus" :P

  2. gvelasco
    gvelasco ·

    Another trick is to measure the strap, or to use a strings cut to specific lengths attached to the camera.

  3. domo-guy
    domo-guy ·

    My friend once told me "1.5m is like me lying down." and it got stuck in my head forever...

  4. cmgawthorp93
    cmgawthorp93 ·

    Thank you so much for this! I still can't get the hang of it myself, especially since us Yankees use feet and not meters.

  5. iskandar
    iskandar ·

    how to measure the distance between 1.5 and 3 metres?

  6. thomasbertson
    thomasbertson ·

    With my own experience I think the best way is to practice each mark of the focus scale separately. For example; Go out and shoot subjects that are 0.8/1m away from the camera for 3 days or one week, then the 1.5m, and so on til you master each focusing distance, Ultimately it will become intuitive, and you will be able to switch between the 4 distances instinctively with no pressure. Good luck everyone!

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