Can you use a SLR for street photography?

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MarkoKovacevic

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I think you can. Sure, people may notice you, but sometimes that adds to the photo. What's your opinion?

Also, just bought the 50mm f1.8 AF-D Nikkor lens. The element is recessed in the lens. Why couldn't they just made the element not recessed and make the overall length of the lens shorter?
 
i use my dslr on the street and no one seems to notice me.
lots of people with big cameras on the streets these days.
 
how bout a little confidence. If you act intimidated, then the subject might become concerned. Couple days ago I was out testing my Nikon F6 pointing everywhere -- interestingly not a single person gave me a second thought.
 
Of course. I've done it for years with my meterless F2s and now with my OM-1n and OM-2n.
 
Not sure why anyone would notice me more when I was using an OM-2 than if I was shooting with a rangefinder like a Yashica electro, or a babe magnet like the Super Ikonta.
 
Try walking the streets of L.A. with a Mamiya 645 and a Yashica Mat 124...My street 35mm SLR is a Nikon F2a with the MD-2...not too stealthy...
No one's really cmplained, quite a few ask about the gear...some know, most don't...kinda neat when they look through a TLR for the first time...
 
gear doesn't really matter IMHO... i think people who think that they're "stealthy" because they have this or that camera is just fooling themselves. sneaky, maybe... but ninja? no.
 
Yes.. Graeme Mitchell and flat five (dpreview) do.

Yes.. Graeme Mitchell and flat five (dpreview) do.

Graeme Mitchell uses a Nikon F3HP and Canon AE-1. Scroll up on the two links and check out his work.

And from back in the day when I used to read DPReview, "flat five" kills it with a D2x in both color and black and white.
 
If anyone really thinks that people don't notice a Leica/Rangefinder when it is pointed at them they are crazy. Any modest sized SLR and compact prime lens will attract no more attention than a full sized rangefinder camera... period. If you prefer the rangefinder experience for street photography I can completely understand, but there is no reason to make excuses.
 
If WeeGee could practice street and crime photography with a 4x5 Speed Graphic and a flash gun, a 35mm SLR is certainly well able to do it too.
 
I think most of Weegee's subjects were dead weren't they? Might make all the difference...

As soon as you raise a camera to your eye its possible to get noticed regardless what kind of camera it is. Cameras a camera. But I think an SLR does shout - "Your PICTURES being taken..."

I tell you what though, people notice old classic cameras more becasue of all the shiny chrome - its just not common anymore.

I reckon a quiet camera does make a difference though. Little near silent Minolta Himatic E doesnt upset the wildlife, but everyone knows when an SLR goes CLACK - CLACK.
My old Contax isnt particularly quiet though to be honest.

Basically it all comes down to how you are acting, your body language. If you act like your wary and uncertain, like your doing something you shouldnt - then people will notice you and say, why is that guy acting like hes doing something he shouldn't with a camera...and why is he staring at me...

I used to have a black Nikon F and did quite well on the street anyway....

Yep. That Nikon F I had. I tell you something, it had cloth shutter on it. Apparently only the first hundred of them made had a cloth shutter. AND it was honest to god factory black - owned all its life by a hospital that I bought it off - no records at all of a first production cloth shuttered BLACK Nikon F.....
 
Any camera can be used for street photography by the right person using the right techinque, But small unobtrusive quiet cameras definitely have an advantange over bigger cameras when it comes to getting candid shots. you may get one candid shot off with a slr /motordrive, but often that will be it, as your subject will noitice you soon after the first shot. With small rangefinders like my Zorki 4 or Contax 2a, I have often gotten 2 or 3 shots before my subject noticed me - Michael
 
SLRs for the street? Sure! In fact I'm not sure it makes much difference except that with direct-view cameras you can usually see around the framelines and can pick up the framing faster. This below early-evening outdoor market shot in Hilo was done with a Pentax dSLR and 2.0/24mm (~"37mm"), quickly but not so quick I wasn't spotted! :)

But I've not felt particularly constrained on the street when using a P645 or P67 either! Though in honesty putting a big zoom with petal hood on either of these rigs seems more intrusive to use... And somehow I doubt Weegee was inconspicuous in action either, well, maybe in the dark before the big flash lit up the world!
 

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Few weeks ago when I was shooting on the street's of Dubrovnik with Pentax k100d one old woman came to me and hit the camera with something shouting "no pictures, no pictures" despite the thing that I didn't even shoot at that time. :D

There is the first time for everything. :)
 
I used a Minolta X-300 on a busy street today. In a weird way, it stops me from shooting from the hip, since the mirror-clap is so loud--it forces me to announce to the whole world. Quite a few people looked over when my camera goes: "CLANG". Still, I went on shooting because I'm shameless. I think someone wrote that you have to be confident--or at least act confident. No one moved to confront me when I looked like I knew what I was doing. Even though I feel a little uncomfortable with the sound of a mirror-clap. I'm sure it will wear off after a while.
 
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