Zone Focusing


Some more Fall pictures. These were taken near Dufief Pond, and at Morris Park near Rockville. A couple are from Turkey Run State Park off of the GW Expressway. This year, Fall was pretty spectacular, even if it seemed to come a little late. We had a generally warmer than usual Fall this year, and the rains came just as the leaf color was reaching it’s peak, so I probably did not get the very best pictures, especially since I was only able to get out during the weekends.

Nature waits for no man… and so it is with Fall colors. I wish I could take a week off during the peak Fall days, but that usually impossible because it’s the busiest time of the year at work. Most offices are winding down projects and programs in preparation from the Holidays, and being able to get outside and spend some time communing with Nature is a welcome respite.

These pictures were taken on short hikes with my daughter Sunny – she loves being out in the woods. I was using my black Olympus Trip 35. I don’t get that one out much, since I am afraid that I will scratch the black finish. The Olympus Trip 35 never ceases to amaze me – the simplicity of the camera belies the extremely sharp lens with its beautiful color rendition and forgiving zone focus system. You can hardly ever go wrong with this little camera.

Compare these with the pictures of Dufief Pond taken with my OM-2n and Tokina RMC 70-210 f/3.5


Olympus Trip 35 – Dufief Pond
Olympus Trip 35 – Dufief Pond
Olympus Trip 35 – Dufief Pond
Olympus Trip 35 – Dufief Pond
Olympus Trip 35 – Dufief Pond
Olympus Trip 35 – Turkey Run
Olympus Trip 35 – Morris Park
Olympus Trip 35 – Morris Park
Olympus Trip 35 – Turkey Run
Olympus Trip 35 – Turkey Run

Olympus Trip 35 – Dufief Pond
Olympus Trip 35 – Morris Park Woods
Olympus Trip 35 – Turkey Run
Olympus Trip 35 – Turkey Run
Olympus Trip 35 – Turkey Run
Olympus Trip 35 – Turkey Run
Olympus Trip 35 – Morris Park
Olympus Trip 35
Olympus Trip 35 – Berries, Westminster

Photographed with an Olympus Trip 35, Fuji Super 200 film. Zone Focus at 6ft, 10 ft and Infinity settings.


text and images © 2007 ajoy muralidhar. all names, websites, brands and technical data referenced are the copyright or trademark of their respective owners.
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A couple of weeks ago, Jayaram and I took off intending to explore the white trail at Sugarloaf mountain. The white trail is one of several hiking trails, and its about 3 miles around the middle of the mountain, and takes one around the eastern slope where you can see some of the largest Tulip trees and oaks, and also some of the areas that have been hit with Gypsy moth induced oak decline. This has been a persistent problem in Eastern forests, and I sincerely hope researchers come up with a viable solution to stop further losses.

Anyway, we picked a nice afternoon for the hike, when the temperature was in the mid-fifties, and hardly any wind. Perfect weather. The trail at the upper levels still had lots of snow and ice, and there was plenty of slush and wet mud to navigate in some places. The trail is poorly marked in some spots, and we had to guess at a couple of places, but we eventually made it all round in about 2 hours. I’d rate this as a moderate trail, and a walking stick is a great help in some places, although it would be easier in summer.

I was traveling light, so I had just carried the Ricoh 500G rangefinder. Here are some of the pictures. I don’t trust the meter on the Ricoh, so I used the Sunny f16 rule on all the shots.


White Trail #1
White Trail #2 – Jayaram
White Trail #3 – AJ
White Trail #4

White Trail #5
White Trail #6
White Trail #7 – Oak Decline
White Trail #8
White Trail #9
White Trail #10 – Strong Offices
White Trail #11 – Duckpond
White Trail #12- Duckpond
White Trail #13 – Autostitched

Photographed with a Ricoh 500G rangefinder (40mm f/2.8, 1/250 second at f/11) on Fujicolor Super HQ 200 ASA.


More from the White Trail – these pictures were taken on another hike at Sugarloaf mountain that Sunayana and I had taken a couple of weeks earlier. This time the camera was an Olympus Trip 35. It was late in the afternoon, and the sun was low, which accounts for the yellowish light.

White Trail – Olympus Trip 35
White Trail – Olympus Trip 35
White Trail – Olympus Trip 35
White Trail – Olympus Trip 35
White Trail – Olympus Trip 35
White Trail – Olympus Trip 35

Photographed with an Olympus Trip 35 (40mm f/2.8, Zone focusing) Fujicolor Super HQ 200 ASA. Zone setting 3 meters and at landscape.


text and images © 2007 ajoy muralidhar. all names, websites, brands and technical data referenced are the copyright or trademark of their respective owners.
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The original Olympus Trip 35 was one of the most popular cameras ever made, and it is a beautiful piece of engineering. It is a fixed focus automatic camera that permits the use of film of only up to 400 ASA, and has a maximum shutter speed of 1/500 second. Manual aperture settings are possible, but only when using a Flash.

As one gets more familiar with the Olympus Trip, the few limitations it has seem trivial. In fact, it seems to possess all the qualities that make for an ideal street camera, especially since it was designed as a ‘visual notebook’ that could be carried anywhere, it is particularly suited for street photography.

Against the few limitations, consider these great features:

# It has a superb, professional quality Zuiko 40mm f/2.8 lens.
# It’s a moderate wide angle – so it can focus close, and has a great depth of field. The 40mm is a good compromise between 35mm and 50mm, and has no distortion.
# It is Automatic in function for daylight photography
# It does not need batteries, so no need to worry about the camera dying in the middle of the action
# It has a rugged all metal body, and can withstand rough use, like being tossed in a backpack
# It has a thumbwheel instead of the traditional cocking lever – its easy to operate with one hand, since the thumb can cock the shutter after every shot, even when carrying something in the other hand.
# thumb wheel allows the Shutter to be re-cocked without moving the camera from the eye. This allows the photographer to focus on the action instead on the mechanics of the camera film transport mechanism.
# It’s size and weight make it easy to hold, and it feels solid and steady.
# It is nearly silent, except for a soft click when the shutter is released, and a soft whirring when the thumbwheel is operated while cocking the shutter for the next shot.
# The camera back is cut away at the bottom so that the film cassette can be just dropped in instead of having to angle it in. This makes for quick and unobtrusive loading.
# It has a threaded lens ring, so it can take a screw on 43.5mm filter, since the CdS cells are located around the lens, any filter is compensated for. (I like using a yellow filter – ideal for Black & White photography)
# It can be mounted on a tripod, but a lightweight monopod is even better – its small, so the monopod is easy to hold, and it does not take up additional space. The monopod also makes a fine walking stick.
# Best of all, it is unobtrusive – no big glass lenses to stick into peoples faces. The camera can be easily concealed until needed against the body or in a jacket pocket.

And that’s not all — there is one other aspect of the Olympus Trip 35 that convinced me that it was DESIGNED for street photography.

I am referring to the Trip’s focusing mechanism. The Olympus Trip 35 belongs to the class of cameras that used a paradigm called Zone Focusing (or “guess focusing”) as their primary focus setting mechanism. The Trip 35 is automatic, so the shutter speed is set by the camera depending on the light conditions sensed by the bubble glass light meter surrounding the lens and the film speed. If the light is insufficient, a red flag will show up in the viewfinder, and the shutter button will not fire. (see photo below)

Zone focusing is a pretty simple concept – for daylight photography, the photographer sets the camera shutter ring to A (auto), and rotate the zone focusing ring to the desired distance setting. The Trip 35 has 4 zones – these are identified by little icons that represent subject distances. The icons are a head & shoulders, person and child, group, and mountains, which indicate 1m, 1.5m, 3m and ∞. The numeric equivalents for the icons are etched on the opposite side of the zone focusing ring.

Zone Focusing – Note the red icon (3m)
Distance scale (opposite side of focus ring)

The photographer simply guesses the approximate distance of the subject using the representative icons, and sets the particular zone icon desired. The Zone system is pretty forgiving, and it doesn’t matter if the guess isn’t very accurate. If a Flash unit is used, the Zones are set as usual, but the Aperture ring is moved off of A to the desired aperture setting depending on the Flash Unit used and the Subject distance.

Flash Aperture settings on Trip 35
Red Flag (insufficient light alert)

Here’s the kicker. The 3 meter icon (Group) is actually marked in RED. I did not understand why for a long time, but one day it hit me. For the 40mm Zuiko lens, 3 meters represents the distance at which a group of people can be photographed full-length, with their surroundings – as in street photography!

I’ve been asking around, and apparently other Zone Focusing cameras had the same type of marking. It seems apparent to me now that for street photography, all one needs to do is load up with some 200 or 400 ASA film. rotate the Zone focus ring to the Red icon, and shoot. The depth of field afforded by the wide angle lens will ensure that everything from 3 meters (approx 10 feet) to infinity will be in focus… so it’s “set and shoot”. Literally.

Note: I am suggesting faster film speed since this will prevent the insufficient light flag from preventing a shot in shadowed areas..

Check out another 40mm f/2.8 camera with similar features, but full Manual capability – the Ricoh 500G Rangefinder
Here’s more information on the Olympus Trip 35


text and images © 2007 ajoy muralidhar. all names, websites, brands and technical data referenced are the copyright or trademark of their respective owners.
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We drove to Chicago from Bloomington a couple of days after Christmas. There were some matters to attend to at the Indian Consulate which is located in the NBC tower complex, and I was handing out outside with Sunayana waiting for Rama to come out. I’d tried going in, but it was crowded as usual, and Sunny was a little fussy. Anyway, I ended up walking up and down the plaza with her, keeping her entertained.

We were traveling light, so I only had the black Olympus Trip 35 with me in the minivan. The shadows were already growing long, even though it was only 2 pm in the afternoon. I took the opportunity to take a few shots of the buildings surrounding the NBC plaza, since I wouldn’t have time for anything else before the sun went down. I was surprised that the 40mm lens on the Trip 35 managed to capture almost the whole tower from just across the street.

Chicago #1
Chicago #2
Chicago #3
Chicago #4
Chicago #5
Chicago #6

Photographed with an Olympus Trip 35 (fixed 40mm f/2.8 lens) and Fuji Xtra 200 film.


text and images © 2007 ajoy muralidhar. all names, websites, brands and technical data referenced are the copyright or trademark of their respective owners.
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I had dropped off my car for servicing at Merchants Auto in Westminster, and was told that it would take 1/2 hour or so, and I could wait if I wanted. They are located in Westminster mall, so I thought I would just talk a walk around the shops. I did not want to leave my Trip 35 in the car, so I slipped it into my jacket pocket. As I crossed the street, my eye was drawn to this hedge with its blazing orange-red berries, so I dodged a couple of cars to take these. I set the Zone Focus on the Olympus Trip 35 to 1.5m and clicked, hoping for the best. Here are the results.

Berries 1
Berries #2

Photographed with an Olympus Trip 35 (40mm f/2.8) and Fuji 200 film.


text and images © 2007 ajoy muralidhar. all names, websites, brands and technical data referenced are the copyright or trademark of their respective owners.
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This old farm is right next to Rte 27, but it’s very difficult to pull over and photograph because the road runs downhill and curves right at that point, and it would be downright dangerous. Besides, the aspect it presents from the road doesn’t allow for good composition since there is nothing to frame the farm buildings. I turned at Shorty Hills drive instead, it’s a very narrow steep drive that leads up to a small residential community (ABAR homes). I asked a gentleman I met there if it would be okay for me to park for a few minutes and take a couple of pictures of the farm, and with his permission, I was able to walk up closer to take this shot. From where I was standing, the barn appears to be in a hollow. Its impossible to tell that a very busy State Highway runs just a few feet from the right side of the barn. The camera was an Olympus Trip 35 with Fuji 200 film.

Shorty Hills Farm

Photographed with an Olympus Trip 35 (40mm f/2.8) and Fuji 200 film


text and images © 2007 ajoy muralidhar. all names, websites, brands and technical data referenced are the copyright or trademark of their respective owners.

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