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For Street photography do you go with AF or zone focusing


Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

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Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

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Just wondered how you guys that already have the Q set up your focusing for street photography.

When I was using a M for street photography many moons ago I used to set it to F8 and set the distance to 10ft all the way to infinity and shoot away..............yes I missed a few but I also nailed a few.

With the Q having AF can you just shoot from the hip with AF and hope for the best that the AF focussed on the right subject or would you still need to put the camera to your eye to get the AF where you want it. The second option would be to shoot the Q the same way I did with the M and hope for the best......................So the question is what do you guys do????

 

My New Q will arrive next Friday, so really looking forward to getting out with it on the streets of KL

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I have a preset set for street with AF set to continuous and face recognition (multi point when it doesn't detect a face) and have been somewhat amazed by how often the camera gets it right even shooting from the hip. I often shoot at f2 or 2.8 using this technique and also have the auto iso set to a minimum of 1/500th sec. The thing is that it is so quick and easy to change shutter speeds and move to manual  zone focussing if you want. With my M I used to use  a very similar technique to yours but on the Q I tend to rely on the fantastic AF system. Also for shooting from the hip you should try out the app with touch screen focussing. All in all the Q is a truly revolutionary camera

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I am certainly no expert at street shooting but I find that with the wide FL, it can be a bit intimidating to get close enough to people to hold the camera to the eye for focussing (even if the person is only 1/4 or 1/4 of the whole frame). I have tried using face detection, shooting from the hip close up in situations where the subject is distracted (a car boot sale where they are interacting with others for example). This worked well (even at F1.7) but the camera obviously wouldn't always focus on the person I wanted (when there were several to choose from). Recently I tried the same technique at a market where there was less going on and just the market trader around - I wasn't comfortable with being too close and did the same thing from a slightly greater distance and the face detection didn't work (it defaults to multizone). 

 

I think it would be great to know about the techniques that some of the street shooting experts like Viramati use to get such good results (edit - I typed this before seeing Viramati's response!).

Edited by cliffp
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I set up for Multi Point AF but keep one spot metering as I quite like some of the contrasts I get in varying light. It can be a bit hit and miss but that's the name of the game anyway.

 

I haven't tried face detection yet but may do soon although that seems to me to be taking the whole 'auto' thing a tad too far  :blink:

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Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

I have a preset set for street with AF set to continuous and face recognition (multi point when it doesn't detect a face) and have been somewhat amazed by how often the camera gets it right even shooting from the hip. I often shoot at f2 or 2.8 using this technique and also have the auto iso set to a minimum of 1/500th sec. The thing is that it is so quick and easy to change shutter speeds and move to manual  zone focussing if you want. With my M I used to use  a very similar technique to yours but on the Q I tend to rely on the fantastic AF system. Also for shooting from the hip you should try out the app with touch screen focussing. All in all the Q is a truly revolutionary camera

 

So its possible to save presets in camera???

Ive also read that you can hang the camera around your neck and while connected to your iPhone you can move around looking at you phone screen and when you see what you want you can take a picture by taping the phone........is that correct??

I looked at you website...nice website, do you have any Leica Q pictures posted anywhere??

Thanks in advance

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So its possible to save presets in camera???

Ive also read that you can hang the camera around your neck and while connected to your iPhone you can move around looking at you phone screen and when you see what you want you can take a picture by taping the phone........is that correct??

I looked at you website...nice website, do you have any Leica Q pictures posted anywhere??

Thanks in advance

 

Hi Neil, just posted shots taken with the camera around my neck and via the app. It's an excellent system.

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Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

Hi Neil, just posted shots taken with the camera around my neck and via the app. It's an excellent system.

 

The ones at the car boot sale...........fantastic

Do you just tap the iPhone screen say on the pretty girls face and then shoot, or is it not possible to change the focus point via the phone???

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(...)

Do you just tap the iPhone (...) or is it not possible to change the focus point via the phone???

you can focus on the point you tap on the phone's image, you also can change the focus mode setting from the phone if it is not set to touch mode initially.

Remember the wifi link will only download jpegs to your phone, not the 40-Mb DNG files. Also, if you maintain wifi on the phone, it may reduce battery life (I didn't try this kind of scenario).

OTOH, you can walk anywhere without losing the wifi link, as the Q can deploy its own wifi network (in addition to joining other's)

Edited by Herve5
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So its possible to save presets in camera???

 

 

Yes.  There are 4 presets that can be saved.   I use one, for example, for "stupid mode".  I use it and set both the Aperture and Shutter speed to auto before handing the camera to someone else to take a snapshot.

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When I was using a M for street photography many moons ago I used to set it to F8 and set the distance to 10ft all the way to infinity and shoot away..............yes I missed a few but I also nailed a few.   

 

Add user error to the likely culprits for your focus issues.   :o

 

Jeff

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So its possible to save presets in camera???

Ive also read that you can hang the camera around your neck and while connected to your iPhone you can move around looking at you phone screen and when you see what you want you can take a picture by taping the phone........is that correct??

I looked at you website...nice website, do you have any Leica Q pictures posted anywhere??

Thanks in advance

 

 You will find most of my street work on my Street flickr feed andmost of the recent shots are with the Q

Here is one taken using my described method a couple of days ago

24889640671_748c6a9b5e_b.jpg

 

Untitled conversation by Viramati, on Flickr

 

And this one was take using the iPhone app to touchscreen focus

21511214562_fb2400f8e6_b.jpg

 

Hands by Viramati, on Flickr

Edited by viramati
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Neil,

 

I set speed at 1/250 or 1/125 sec, preselect the f-stop and use auto ISO. Touchscreen AF works very well. The trick with the smartphone should be working also very well and I will try it out myself next time.

 

I am waiting with you for your new Q and for your first shots to share.

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In a way, I still prefer the M9 with a 28 to the the Q, because I don't completely trust the autofocus,  even though it is very fast.  It's probably easier to zone focus at f8,  which is what I normally do.  I have noticed that one is much more conspicuous making a vertical shot -- that raised elbow is a giveaway.  I also don't care for the EVF that much,  even though, again, it's a good one.  The linked images were all with the 28 on the M9. 

http://www.viewsofontario.ca/home.html

Edited by Geoffrey James
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In a way, I still prefer the M9 with a 28 to the the Q, because I don't completely trust the autofocus,  even though it is very fast.  It's probably easier to zone focus at f8,  which is what I normally do.  I have noticed that one is much more conspicuous making a vertical shot -- that raised elbow is a giveaway.  I also don't care for the EVF that much,  even though, again, it's a good one.  The linked images were all with the 28 on the M9. 

http://www.viewsofontario.ca/home.html

 

For years I used the M9 and then the M240 with the 28 cron asph but they both went when I bought the Q and I have moved into the  Sony A7 series. What I like about the Q and it's AF is that I can even shoot wide open at 1.7 and be almost certain of getting an in focus shot and a level of subject separation that you just don't at f8

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Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS

In a way, I still prefer the M9 with a 28 to the the Q, because I don't completely trust the autofocus,  even though it is very fast.  It's probably easier to zone focus at f8,  which is what I normally do.  I have noticed that one is much more conspicuous making a vertical shot -- that raised elbow is a giveaway.  I also don't care for the EVF that much,  even though, again, it's a good one.  The linked images were all with the 28 on the M9. 

http://www.viewsofontario.ca/home.html

 

You can zone focus on the Q as well and looking at the colours of the Q I prefer them to the examples you showed..............Still got some nice pictures though

Edited by Neil D
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I am fascinated about taking pix with I phone as a remote. I can't figure out how to do this. Is there a tutorial or a place to sek guidance on this I have the Q and an iPhone 5s

Thanks

Ted

 

 

Theres a free App specifically for the Q in the Apple App Store. Download that and you're good to go  :)

Edited by MickyW
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