Zone focusing (ZF) is a great way to pre-set your camera’s focus and aperture, then use that setting for multiple shots. Street shooters love it. And it’s also great for sports, pets, jumpy kids, parties, or any subjects in motion.

Zone focusing works best with lenses 35mm or shorter due to their greater depth of field. It is also good for still subjects which have depth, such as landscapes.

Note: This article refers to the lens’s actual focal length, regardless of the sensor format.

Wider Lenses Are Best for Zone Focusing

Although I rarely prefer the “look” of images shot with lenses wider than 35mm, I find it helpful to shoot with wider lenses and crop in edit if necessary. The wider the lens, the greater the depth of field. Wide lenses also capture images that might be missed in difficult situations like street photography or fast-moving pets and kids. If I shoot with 21mm, then crop to a 35mm field of view, my pixel width is reduced to 74% which is quite acceptable. My camera shoots 9,500 pixels wide and the websites that I shoot for only need 1,500 pixels of width.

Manual Lenses Are Easiest to Use for Zone Focusing

Manual lenses still have distance scales, which have disappeared from today’s autofocus lenses.

Pre-setting Manual Lenses for Zone Focus

Simply focus on something about one-third of the distance from the nearest to the farthest distance in your desired zone. I do this with my lens temporarily wide open then stop down to my shooting aperture.

Note: That one-third of the distance is an old approximation, but the best point actually varies with conditions. However, one-third is close enough.

For example, at a kid’s birthday party you might want a zone from 3 feet to 12 feet for a 35mm lens at f/16. A third of the way from near to far is 6 feet. So you would focus at that distance.

Pre-setting Autofocus Lenses for Zone Focus

Set your camera to manual focus and do the above. My Sony mirrorless camera remembers the setting when turned off and back on, provided that I do not rotate the focus ring. But if I accidentally rotate the focus ring, I must repeat the setting.

Distance Scale and Hyperfocal Distance

Regarding the distance scales on manual lenses and the hyperfocal distance:

The hyperfocal distance is the best compromise focus between near and infinity. It is recommended for scenes with depth, or as a zone setting. Everything from half the hyperfocal distance to infinity is supposed to be reasonably sharp.