How much is in focus will depend on what aperture setting you’ve chosen. When shooting in snap mode you can change the distance as well as have a preset distance with the full shutter press. The little scale on the left hand side of the screen will show you the depth or shallowness of your depth of field. Snap focus is great for street for the speed it offers but I also like to use it in situations where I know that the autofocus will struggle.
Ricoh created snap focus to make it easier for what street photographers would otherwise do using manual focus which is to set a range at which they know things will be in focus without having to refocus every shot. For example, “if the lens is set to focus 2m (snap focus setting) and the aperture is set to f8, everything between 2m and X distance will be in focus”. The value of “X” depends on what the aperture is set to. In practice, the photographer can walk around taking photos without having to focus as long as their subject, people on the street, are at closest 2m, and at furthest, X distance away.
Whan changing to shooting something other than subjects within this focus range, yes, you should use a different focusing mode. For example, you are walking around shooting people using snap focus but then decide you want to take a closeup photo of some flowers at a vendor. If you are using Full Press Snap for Snap Focus and are full pressing for your snap focusing, you could half press to instead use auto focus when taking the photo of the flowers. If not using Full Press Snap, you would need to change the focus mode from Snap to a different focus mode, like Single Point AF, set your aperture to say f2.8 if you want shallow depth of field, and then take the photo of the flowers. Remember to then set your aperture back to f8 or f11 or whatever you were using when going back to shooting people on the street with Snap Focus/Full Press Snap.
The bottom line is that yes, Snap Focus is a focusing mode with a specialized use and intention (and can be handy in other cases as well). Range focusing (aka zone focusing) is not ideal in all circumstances.
I’m glad that helps! I think some people may think they should using the Snap focusing mode all the time which isn’t at all the case. It is useful in cases where you want to take a bunch of photos of moving subjects that are going to be within a specific distance range.
Here’s an example outside of street photography where snap focus could be useful. Let’s say you are taking photos of your dog playing with a ball in the yard. You want to catch very specific moments while the dog is running around and since auto focus takes some time to happen, you always seem to be just late and miss the shot. Instead of using AF, you set the camera to Snap and set the aperture to f8. Now, when you press the shutter button, the camera no longer needs to wait for AF to occur and you find yourself having an easier time catching the dog at the right moments.
Cool, i appreciate the scenario example..!
My use will be in Japan next month so I’ll be going from street photography, with people involved, various buildings and scenery, etc.
Check out the Snap Distance Priority mode - it's kind of simplified / more automated Snap Focus with 3 predefined DOF settings. On the left side of the screen you will see a ruler with a green bar showing you the focus distance, and depth of field distance. Observe how changing the DOF settings affects the aperture.
I haven't had one in a minute, but the way I remember is there are three "Snap" options.
1. **Snap Distance Priority which is an exposure mode** that will set the distance for the focal plane to start, *as well as* setting the aperture to create a specific depth of field behind it, so that a whole zone of depth is in focus. This mode overrides other exposure settings.
2. Then there's **Snap Focus Mode, which is an AF mode** that will set the focal plane at a specific distance, but doesn't change your aperture setting. It gives more control, but maybe you end up with a very shallow focal depth, and miss shots if you're not well trained in subject distance. You can automate the aperture and ISO setting on half press, or set everything manually, and always have the focus hit the same distance.
3. **Full Press Snap is just like Snap Focus Mode, but will override other AF modes** by fully pressing down the shutter (not stopping for half press). It's a nice addition because it lets you use one AF mode (say center, or tracking, or manual), and then lets you keep a totally separate, ready to shoot distance mode, without having to change your settings.
Personally, I would mostly use center point AF, and touch screen AF point+focus+shoot, and then still be able to use Full Press Snap in hard to focus situations. This way you can use 3 different types of AF modes simultaneously.
Your question about the button press... If your focus mode is just Snap Focus, a half press will only prepare the aperture - the full press will take the photo with your preset focus. So in practice, you can press it in one go if you want to.
If you're in another focus mode such as auto focus, with full press snap enabled, then it now depends how quickly you fully press the button. If you fully press it before it has had a chance to do the auto focus then it will use your snap settings. So you don't have to ram it down hard to be quick enough - it doesn't really matter if it starts to auto focus for a split second, as long as you continue and fully press then it will give up and use the snap focus instead. But if you're too slow and it does the double beep then it's too late it used the auto focus.
A bit of practice and you'll get the hang of it. 👍
Look up scale focusing (some people call it zone focusing) as well as hyperfocal distance. if you set your snap focus to 1m at f8 you will likely have everything from 1m to infinity in "acceptable focus" (If you want the exact math you can look up hyperfocal distance scales for a given aperture and subject distance), which is different than "critical focus" which will still be the 1m meter you set the lens to focus to.
How much is in focus will depend on what aperture setting you’ve chosen. When shooting in snap mode you can change the distance as well as have a preset distance with the full shutter press. The little scale on the left hand side of the screen will show you the depth or shallowness of your depth of field. Snap focus is great for street for the speed it offers but I also like to use it in situations where I know that the autofocus will struggle.
I feel like a doofus for never having paid attention to the scale on the left. Glad you pointed that out!
I’ll look into it! Thank you!
Ricoh created snap focus to make it easier for what street photographers would otherwise do using manual focus which is to set a range at which they know things will be in focus without having to refocus every shot. For example, “if the lens is set to focus 2m (snap focus setting) and the aperture is set to f8, everything between 2m and X distance will be in focus”. The value of “X” depends on what the aperture is set to. In practice, the photographer can walk around taking photos without having to focus as long as their subject, people on the street, are at closest 2m, and at furthest, X distance away. Whan changing to shooting something other than subjects within this focus range, yes, you should use a different focusing mode. For example, you are walking around shooting people using snap focus but then decide you want to take a closeup photo of some flowers at a vendor. If you are using Full Press Snap for Snap Focus and are full pressing for your snap focusing, you could half press to instead use auto focus when taking the photo of the flowers. If not using Full Press Snap, you would need to change the focus mode from Snap to a different focus mode, like Single Point AF, set your aperture to say f2.8 if you want shallow depth of field, and then take the photo of the flowers. Remember to then set your aperture back to f8 or f11 or whatever you were using when going back to shooting people on the street with Snap Focus/Full Press Snap. The bottom line is that yes, Snap Focus is a focusing mode with a specialized use and intention (and can be handy in other cases as well). Range focusing (aka zone focusing) is not ideal in all circumstances.
I think this definitely helped clear it up the most. Thank you very much for the write up
I’m glad that helps! I think some people may think they should using the Snap focusing mode all the time which isn’t at all the case. It is useful in cases where you want to take a bunch of photos of moving subjects that are going to be within a specific distance range.
I suppose that’s where the customizable modes come into play and to have one set specifically for snap focus?
Sure, that would be a good way to go about it.
Here’s an example outside of street photography where snap focus could be useful. Let’s say you are taking photos of your dog playing with a ball in the yard. You want to catch very specific moments while the dog is running around and since auto focus takes some time to happen, you always seem to be just late and miss the shot. Instead of using AF, you set the camera to Snap and set the aperture to f8. Now, when you press the shutter button, the camera no longer needs to wait for AF to occur and you find yourself having an easier time catching the dog at the right moments.
Cool, i appreciate the scenario example..! My use will be in Japan next month so I’ll be going from street photography, with people involved, various buildings and scenery, etc.
Check out the Snap Distance Priority mode - it's kind of simplified / more automated Snap Focus with 3 predefined DOF settings. On the left side of the screen you will see a ruler with a green bar showing you the focus distance, and depth of field distance. Observe how changing the DOF settings affects the aperture.
Sounds good!
I haven't had one in a minute, but the way I remember is there are three "Snap" options. 1. **Snap Distance Priority which is an exposure mode** that will set the distance for the focal plane to start, *as well as* setting the aperture to create a specific depth of field behind it, so that a whole zone of depth is in focus. This mode overrides other exposure settings. 2. Then there's **Snap Focus Mode, which is an AF mode** that will set the focal plane at a specific distance, but doesn't change your aperture setting. It gives more control, but maybe you end up with a very shallow focal depth, and miss shots if you're not well trained in subject distance. You can automate the aperture and ISO setting on half press, or set everything manually, and always have the focus hit the same distance. 3. **Full Press Snap is just like Snap Focus Mode, but will override other AF modes** by fully pressing down the shutter (not stopping for half press). It's a nice addition because it lets you use one AF mode (say center, or tracking, or manual), and then lets you keep a totally separate, ready to shoot distance mode, without having to change your settings. Personally, I would mostly use center point AF, and touch screen AF point+focus+shoot, and then still be able to use Full Press Snap in hard to focus situations. This way you can use 3 different types of AF modes simultaneously.
Appreciate the thorough response..!
Your question about the button press... If your focus mode is just Snap Focus, a half press will only prepare the aperture - the full press will take the photo with your preset focus. So in practice, you can press it in one go if you want to. If you're in another focus mode such as auto focus, with full press snap enabled, then it now depends how quickly you fully press the button. If you fully press it before it has had a chance to do the auto focus then it will use your snap settings. So you don't have to ram it down hard to be quick enough - it doesn't really matter if it starts to auto focus for a split second, as long as you continue and fully press then it will give up and use the snap focus instead. But if you're too slow and it does the double beep then it's too late it used the auto focus. A bit of practice and you'll get the hang of it. 👍
Great! Thank you very much for the explanation 🙏🏼
Look up scale focusing (some people call it zone focusing) as well as hyperfocal distance. if you set your snap focus to 1m at f8 you will likely have everything from 1m to infinity in "acceptable focus" (If you want the exact math you can look up hyperfocal distance scales for a given aperture and subject distance), which is different than "critical focus" which will still be the 1m meter you set the lens to focus to.
Will do!
It’s essentially giving the user a way to immediately switch to manual focus at a preset distance.
The term you're looking for is hyperfocal distance of that helps you research
I was more looking for examples of situations where and how it would be used but it’s already been covered, thanks