Ricoh Snap Focus: Not just for Street.

Like Oliver said, snap focus means that the camera is set at a predefined distance. Since the GRD is a small sensor, the depth of field is great so everything is in focus
 
You don't need a Ricoh to do it, I've been playing with a similar feature on the LX5 (after seeing this thread : https://www.photographerslounge.org/f58/extremely-cool-hyperfocal-setup-lx5-revelation-me-589/) and I'm having great fun. Having set the zoom to 35mm and an aperture of f3.2, I can get sharp focus from 2 metres to infinity using the on-screen manual focussing guide. It's marvellous for street-shooting and even action/sports if you can get close enough. It's 1 m to infinity at 24mm.

No focus lag and some very discrete street shots from waist level. It's one of the great hidden features of these small sensor cameras. For those who haven't tried it, have a go!

I'll admit it's not the most technically accomplished of my shots but I got it while running along shouting encouragement to my daughter who had just passed the finishing line.......
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(p.s. As I mentioned elsewhere, I also have a Ricoh GR1s though I never used the Snap focus settings.)
 
You don't need a Ricoh to do it, I've been playing with a similar feature on the LX5 (after seeing this thread : https://www.photographerslounge.org/f58/extremely-cool-hyperfocal-setup-lx5-revelation-me-589/) and I'm having great fun. Having set the zoom to 35mm and an aperture of f3.2, I can get sharp focus from 2 metres to infinity using the on-screen manual focussing guide. It's marvellous for street-shooting and even action/sports if you can get close enough. It's 1 m to infinity at 24mm.

No focus lag and some very discrete street shots from waist level. It's one of the great hidden features of these small sensor cameras. For those who haven't tried it, have a go!
Having been the one who started that thread waaaaaay back when, I need to add a grain of salt with which it should be taken. The DOF scale on the LX-5, like the DOF scales on most cameras, is very very conservative, at least relative to the default DOF scale that DOF Master and other basic calculators use. Which all has to do with the circle of confusion and the anticipated display size/resolution etc, etc, etc. But for my purposes, they're almost all very very conservative. Which means they're not really good tools for setting up hyperfocal distance shooting unless you're feeling as conservative as they are. They're still really good aids for zone focussing because the main thing you need to know for that is the focus DISTANCE and those tend to be very accurate in my experience. And if you spend a little time getting to know your camera you'll know some good combinations of focus distances and apertures to use together for zone focus in different light conditions and different types of shooting.

So, for sure, use the electronic scales, but make sure to check their assumptions against your own and use them accordingly...

-Ray
 
Trust me when I tell you nothing comes close to the GRDs, and its not brand fanaticism

You know, I hear this a lot, and I consider myself a pretty strong proponent of Richoh's way of doing things, but I really get off the bus with statements like this. I have a GRD3 and I've had a GXR-28 and I like Ricoh's snap focus setup, particularly for the ability to assign one of the fn buttons to toggle between snap and auto focus. Its a pretty cool setup and is as good as anything I've used for street shooting. But not necessarily BETTER, and certainly not more than SLIGHTLY better than a number of other cameras. My favorite is probably any m43 camera with the Olympus 12mm lens, which has a manual focus ring on it with focus distance markings to make it VERY easy and quick to set and reset to your heart's content. And you just snap the focus ring between the fore and aft position to switch between auto and zone focus. I like that better than having to hit a couple of buttons at once to change the snap focus distance and I like THAT approach just fine. Similarly the Fuji X series and Panasonic LX cameras all have an electronic focus bar with various distance markings and a DOF bar. You turn the lens ring or whatever control knob controls focus and line up focus to the correct distance. Works a treat. These cameras take a few seconds to switch back and forth between auto and zone focus, so are at a slight disadvantage, but its not a huge handicap - its pretty quick.

So, I like Ricoh just fine - i think they've worked out a really good and effective interface for this type of focussing, but I don't necessarily think its better than other designs and I DEFINITELY don't find it head and shoulders above other approaches. To state that "nothing comes close to the GRD's" I just honestly don't get. And I think I've used nearly everything out there. The GRDs are among my favorites, but only by a little...

-Ray
 
Woot. Hit somobody's buttons! The toic was snap focus, you said you tried it on another, that's when I said that nothing comes close, nothing comes close to that particular way of getting the shot (preset distance, small sensor great dof) because only the GRD was designed with that in mind. If you prefer zone focusing, etc thats another issue.
 
Woot. Hit somobody's buttons! The toic was snap focus, you said you tried it on another, that's when I said that nothing comes close, nothing comes close to that particular way of getting the shot (preset distance, small sensor great dof). If you prefer zone focusing, etc thats another issue.

ANOTHER issue? Snap focus is a shortcut to zone focus - that's EXACTLY what it is. My point is that it's a fine shortcut to zone focus, but far from the only really good one. The LX5 has exactly the same DOF as the GRD when it's set to 28mm, more when you zoom out to 24mm. The X10 has almost as much. And m43 has plenty in any sort of decent light. Snap focus IS zone focus and it's a great way to go about it, but it's not the only great way to go about it. I think that's on point, whether you agree or disagree with my conclusion.

-Ray
 
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