Lens help

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Dan_Nicol

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Daniel Nicol
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So im trying to start using film i have an Olympus OM-1 and the light meter isn't working (or im not doing it correctly)
So im trying to learn zone focusing, I've read articles and watched youtube videos,

Can someone explain why my lens doesn't have 8 on either lens on the distance scale?

all the things i watch use 8 as an example and i don't have 8

Thanks
 

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infinity?
 
You don't say which lenses these are, but I'm guessing lens 2 is a 50/1.8 and lens 1 is a wider f/2.8. Wider lenses have greater depth of field, which could mean that the relevant marks are scrunched up too close to get them all in. There does appear to be a dot between 5.6 and 11 and I'd guess that's where the 8 would be?

EDIT AFAICS lens 2 does have the 8. I can see 4, 8 and 16 either side of the red dot. Lens (1) has 5.6, 11 and 22, with the dots in between. If you put infinity against your chosen aperture on the left side, the right side tells you the closest distance still in reasonable focus.
 
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It's on it's side above the f22 mark (oo) as it should be, and means infinity as Barney said. Or if you mean f8 there just isn't enough room to print it on the aperture/depth of field range.
 
ChrisR said:
You don't say which lenses these are, but I'm guessing lens 2 is a 50/1.8 and lens 1 is a wider f/2.8. Wider lenses have greater depth of field, which could mean that the relevant marks are scrunched up too close to get them all in. There does appear to be a dot between 5.6 and 11 and I'd guess that's where the 8 would be?

EDIT AFAICS lens 2 does have the 8. I can see 4, 8 and 16 either side of the red dot. Lens (1) has 5.6, 11 and 22, with the dots in between. If you put infinity against your chosen aperture on the left side, the right side tells you the closest distance still in reasonable focus.
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sorry yes zuiko 28mm f2.8 and Zuiko 50mm F1.8
 
ChrisR said:
You don't say which lenses these are, but I'm guessing lens 2 is a 50/1.8 and lens 1 is a wider f/2.8. Wider lenses have greater depth of field, which could mean that the relevant marks are scrunched up too close to get them all in. There does appear to be a dot between 5.6 and 11 and I'd guess that's where the 8 would be?

EDIT AFAICS lens 2 does have the 8. I can see 4, 8 and 16 either side of the red dot. Lens (1) has 5.6, 11 and 22, with the dots in between. If you put infinity against your chosen aperture on the left side, the right side tells you the closest distance still in reasonable focus.
Click to expand...
thats great thank you for explaining and sorry for the stupid msg im registered bling hahaha so not easy thank you
 
I think there may be some cross purposes going on here. I believe the OP is referring to an f8 marking on the DoF scale rather than 2 infinity markings. I think @Dan_Nicol it's because the throw of the lens barrel between the shortest distance and infinity is very short therefore the manufacturer had to save space on the DoF markings and used every other f-stop starting with f2.8 next would be f4 but is missing then f5.6 which is shown then f8 which is missing then f11 which is shown then f16 which is missing then f22 which is shown.

To be clear f8 is an aperture that the lens can be set to whereas the infinity mark (8 on its side) is a distance so there can only be one mark at the long end.
 
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I'm missing the connection as to why a non functioning light meter requires learning zone focusing.
 
Yes I think I got the wrong end of the stick, too. I think I can understand how sight problems could cause you to be interested in depth of field, as it means you don't have to focus so precisely. However, if the light meter isn't working and you don't have a hand held, the guide you should be looking for is Sunny 16, which helps to estimate the exposure just by looking at the light.
 
Different maximum apertures so an f/2.8 will probably be marked in 2 stop steps (some may be marked in 1 stop steps but those numbers are in a smaller font!)- 5.6, 11, 22 and the f/2 as 4, 8, 16, 32 (possibly)
 
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