- Use 50 mm focal length
- Get closer to subjects as much as possible
- Aim good framing and minimal cropping
On the upside the carnival atmosphere in the city relaxed everyone. Women, with dazzling outfits, wanted to be seen. Weather gods were in favour too, with an overcast but a bright day. These conditions helped me to achieve my goals. 17 photographs turned out to be OK with minimal cropping and touch ups out of 141 shots over 4 hours, 11,000 paces.
I used my Leica CL crop sensor camera camera with Summicron-M 35mm f/2 ASPH lens mounted on it yielding 53mm effective focal length. I used zone focusing with aperture set to 7.1 and the focus zone set between 2 and 7.5 meters. I set minimum shutter speed to 1/250s.
There were some setbacks however:
😱 Leica CL does not have IBIS, therefore camera shake is an issue in low speeds. It turned out however even 1/250s shutter speed wasn't enough to compensate for hand and foot gestures turning up blurred. Going forward next time I'll use 1/500s.
😱 Some of the images gave me more blurred outcome on the mid-back side of the focal zone. I can't figure out why. Potential reasons are given in the Appendix.
Appendix
I set the aperture to f/7.1 (mid point between f/5/6 and 8.0.) I set the zone focus between 2-7 meters. My minimum shutter speed is set to 1/250s. Despite that my subjects between 3-7 meters aren't sharp enough, why?
Chat GPT answer:
Your setup seems solid for zone focusing, but a few factors could be affecting sharpness at that distance:
1. Depth of Field (DOF) Limitations: At f/7.1, even with zone focusing, the depth of field might not be as wide as expected, especially with an APS-C sensor. On a full-frame 35mm lens, f/7.1 offers decent DOF, but with the crop factor, you may lose some perceived sharpness. A smaller aperture like f/8 or f/11 could help.
2. Focus Calibration: Zone focusing relies on accurate distance markings, but if there's a slight miscalibration in your lens or sensor alignment, even slight deviations can make a difference in sharpness for subjects at 3-7 meters. Test the lens focus with manual adjustment to see if it consistently matches your zone marks.
3. Subject Movement: Although 1/250s is generally fine for most stationary subjects, any slight subject movement within your zone focus range could lead to soft images. For moving subjects, you might want a faster shutter speed, like 1/500s.
4. Sensor and Lens Resolution Limit: The Leica CL’s APS-C sensor and the 35mm Summicron lens might be reaching their resolution limits when combined, especially at f/7.1. Testing at f/5.6 and ensuring proper focusing alignment might help optimize sharpness.
If none of these tweaks yield improvement, adjusting focus slightly or revisiting hyperfocal settings could help achieve the desired clarity.
