what is the desired focal length for street photography
Jul 6, 2021 08:09:37 #
Jul 6, 2021 08:14:18 #
Longshadow wrote:
Try a couple of different focal lengths.
Everyone is different in what they like to shoot.
What matters is you liking what you get.
Find out what you like to shoot.
..., 28, 35, 50, 75, ...
Or, you can just pick a photographer you like and copy them.
Everyone is different in what they like to shoot.
What matters is you liking what you get.
Find out what you like to shoot.
..., 28, 35, 50, 75, ...
Or, you can just pick a photographer you like and copy them.
You took the words right out of my mouth.... It all boils down to what YOU are interested in IMHO. Take for example an historic cobblestone street on a somewhat rainy day; one person might be interested in the overall scene capturing everything while another might like to accentuate the wet texture of the cobblestones close up. Take your cheap and light 12-100 F 1.0 and you will be just fine.
Jul 6, 2021 08:31:05 #
kymarto wrote:
My favorite is a 200mm f2.0 on FF
OP is using a crop sensor camera so this with a FF camera is irrelevant.
Jul 6, 2021 09:20:08 #
Jul 6, 2021 09:22:47 #
Jul 6, 2021 10:23:03 #
Jul 6, 2021 14:04:33 #
Jul 6, 2021 14:04:52 #
classic320 wrote:
In film days I used a 35mm f/1.8 with some success. Hard to argue with Cartier Bresson's use of a 50. I would also use a 45mm on a 6cm camera (no one expects a "belly" camera)! Now I use a 12-50 f/2.8 "kit" lens on a crop sensor. The keys to success are, I think, speed and misdirection, as Billnikon (above) suggests. Use of a point'n'shoot might be effective as well as it de-escallates attention and perceived threat from a professional type camera.
M4/3 is very streetable and the DoF in the 12 to 20mm range is insane. Avoid the “pro look” models, switch off the AF and shutter, and gawdsakes don’t dress like Crocodile Dundee.
No one really takes this dinky red micro camera seriously yet it’s as fully capable a camera as any. Red can be stealthier than black. You can paint any camera red, but you can’t shrink it to this size:
.
Jul 6, 2021 14:05:39 #
Imagemine wrote:
mine is a 23mm lens on a crop sensor camera . so what is the desired focal length for most people doing street
A very famous street photographer named Jay Maisel used to go out on the streets of NYC with a Nikkor 18-200 f/3.5-5.6 ED VR mounted to his full frame camera. Great results from a relatively inexpensive lens, and I'm not even a Nikon owner, but this lens gave him the range to capture most anything he saw on the streets. Emulating Maisel, I have gone out with a Canon 6D and a Tamron 28-300mm and found that, while the lens isn't the sharpest lens I own, it may be the most versatile and allowed me to get shots I wouldn't have gotten with other lenses. Plus, it was all I had to carry, with an extra battery, memory card and lens cloth in my pocket. Traveling light was a pleasure.
Jul 6, 2021 14:10:45 #
josquin1
Loc: Massachusetts
I have found that I just keep my 24-105mm lens on my camera as it gives many options.
Jul 6, 2021 14:26:32 #
I have been happy with "street shots" taken on my PEN-F with the 9mm body cap lens, 14mm 2.5, 20mm 1.8 and 40-150 zoom. When I want to feel like a "serious street photographer" I bring out my Canonet or 7S II loaded with HP5 plus. Both of those lenses are a fast 40mm.
Jul 6, 2021 14:52:16 #
billnikon wrote:
When I shot for UPI (United Press International) d... (show quote)
Obviously there's a lot of different approaches to street. I suggest for your first trip out, as noted, a wide angle focused at Hyper Focal distance will take focusing and zooming completely out of the equation. Your 23 (on crop) should be just fine. At f11 for example, focused to 8 feet, you are good from 4 feet to infinity. Assuming people are subjects at least part of the time, you can shoot really quickly. While this is valuable to avoid losing shots, there's another consideration. Some people are quite sensitive about being captured in images. The less time you spend pointing the lens at them the better. The wide angle also allows you to act like you are shooting something other than your intended subject; fix later with cropping. Do your best not to look like a pro. Dressing like a goofy tourist is good; "I heart Portland!" My D7200 body has two card slots. I keep an empty card in slot 2. It's never happened to me but if someone goes postal and demands your card, the empty (and cheap) one is surrendered.
Jul 6, 2021 14:54:15 #
Obviously, different strokes for different folks! There is no "right" answer!
Jul 6, 2021 15:13:29 #
cambriaman wrote:
Obviously, different strokes for different folks! There is no "right" answer!
Bingo!
Jul 6, 2021 15:17:14 #
Miamark
Loc: Florida
classic320 wrote:
In film days I used a 35mm f/1.8 with some success. Hard to argue with Cartier Bresson's use of a 50. I would also use a 45mm on a 6cm camera (no one expects a "belly" camera)! Now I use a 12-50 f/2.8 "kit" lens on a crop sensor. The keys to success are, I think, speed and misdirection, as Billnikon (above) suggests. Use of a point'n'shoot might be effective as well as it de-escallates attention and perceived threat from a professional type camera.
I have always taken a lot of street photographs. In the film days, I shot with a Leica M-6 and a 35 mm Summicron. I also used a 35-70 mm f2.8 Nikon on a film body. On a modern APS-C camera, I use a 23mm f2 Fuji or sometimes a 27 mm Fuji. On my D750, I use my old 35-70 mm f2.8 Nikon. Sometimes I use my 80-200 f2.8 but my lens of choice generally is a 35mm lens. There is no right answer. If you are comfortable getting close to your subjects, then the 35mm is perfect as you will not get much, if any, distortion and you can connect with the scene.
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