Discreet street photography with RF?

[TPPhotog]

so, let me get this straight...when i shoot on the street with one of my rangefinders, I DON'T BECOME INVISIBLE?

joe

You don't but your shadow and reflection does 😉

 

[back alley]

i have to rethink this whole street shooting thing now...😉

 

[RML]

for street photography, try a digital point and shoot. Its a lot of fun and you can get a way with a lot. its important to get a digital thats simple to use and that you are comfortable with. Its blastphemy around here but there, I said it.

I hate to say it but you're right!
All them tourists with them nifty little digicams with foldout screens and what have you. They never seem to get hassled by anyone. Just keep the damn thing at arms length, aim in any direction you want and shoot! Makes me wonder why I still feel "shy"....

 

[Allen Gilman]

Should I wear sunglasses too? 😉

 

[back alley]

might as well wear a hawaiian shirt too!

 

[Doug]

might as well wear a hawaiian shirt too!

I often do, this time of year. Then I look like a tourist and a tourist is expected to have a camera... protective coloration!

 

[richard_l]

for street photography, try a digital point and shoot. Its a lot of fun and you can get a way with a lot. its important to get a digital thats simple to use and that you are comfortable with. Its blastphemy around here but there, I said it.

That makes a lot of sense.

 

[Jacob]

Once on a summer trip to Paris, while having my Nikon S2 around my neck, I took a lot of photos with my little Ricoh GR1 which i hauled up from a pocket. It seemed like most people didn´t consider me taking real pictures, since the camera was hanging idle in the straps. Old cameras also seem to tell that You're not a photographer, nor a tourist, but a semilunatic retrogearist out to test some old machine for fun. I sometimes practice to point the camera in several directions before and after taking the picture, if I don't want to "disturb" the subject. But I prefer to look people in the eyes, smile, raise the camera and take the picture, smile and say thankyou ...and get I smile back from the pretty girl, invite her for a coffe at the café at corner, wipe cappuccino froth from her nose tip...

Re. tip on street cameras, even better than the GR1 is the little Minolta AF-C, one of the first miniature AF cameras. It has a great 35/2.8 lens and no motor nor flash, so it is really quiet and fast. Like a Lomo with Summicron. Just slid down the front panel and You're ready to shoot.

 

[Shadesofgrey]

Yep they looked like bits of drainpipe with a mirror at 45degs to a huge hole mmmm I wonder why they never caught on for anything 😀 😀

Drain pipe! Harsh words Tony...I've got one of those...somewhere. 😛 Yep, bought it back when filters and anything that fitted infront of the lens was deemed a MUST 🙄 I mean. You were not considered a photographer unless you had some gizmo hanging off the front glass degrading the image 🙁 Oh how we spend to learn. 😀 Must be woth something by now? Anyone got a grass skirt they want to swap for a real piece of camo 😀 😀 😀

 

[jrong]

for street photography, try a digital point and shoot. Its a lot of fun and you can get a way with a lot. its important to get a digital thats simple to use and that you are comfortable with. Its blastphemy around here but there, I said it.

Hmm, I don't think I'd go that far. 😛 😉

I tend to pre-focus my shots. My problem is that I always have to peek through the viewfinder before shooting, I can't just "shoot from the hip" and hope, I guess it's a bit of an obsessive trait. 🙂 I imagine I'd get a lot of duds that way, mostly with tilted horizons and such. I think that I might get less hassle with a rangefinder, if only because so many people on the street don't think it is a "real" camera like an SLR, and therefore, I can't be a "real" photographer... maybe just a snapshooting tourist!

Jin

 

[Pherdinand]

If the camera is big enuff, you do become invisible (from the front at least).

 

[taffer]

Pherdi, LOL

Remember you can also become invisible from the top, by just using one of those dark clothes 😀

 

[TPPhotog]

Drain pipe! Harsh words Tony...I've got one of those...somewhere. 😛 Yep, bought it back when filters and anything that fitted infront of the lens was deemed a MUST 🙄 I mean. You were not considered a photographer unless you had some gizmo hanging off the front glass degrading the image 🙁 Oh how we spend to learn. 😀 Must be woth something by now? Anyone got a grass skirt they want to swap for a real piece of camo 😀 😀 😀

Brian I sometimes see them (the drain pipes 😉 ) in the "make us an offer & get it off our hands bins" over here, but no-one ever seems to want them LOL Yep I went though the must have every filter, like the starburst and multiple images but for some reason I never seemed to get around to using them. They sure make the camera bag nice and heavy though, so I felt the part 😀 How about a camo-grass skirt? ... Must be a GAS attack ROFLOL

 

[RML]

I imagine I'd get a lot of duds that way, mostly with tilted horizons and such. I think that I might get less hassle with a rangefinder, if only because so many people on the street don't think it is a "real" camera like an SLR, and therefore, I can't be a "real" photographer... maybe just a snapshooting tourist!

Ah, yes. Lots of duds and lots of tilted horizons. The duds are just too bad. The tilted horizons can be corrected (if you want to correct them anyway) be cropping and rotating the shot.

I have to admit that I, too, at first felt a real urge to lift the camera to my eye. It had to fight myself to keep my arms down and just take the damn shot. Not easy but once you've done it for a while it gets easier. You might have to re-learn it again if you forsake the hipshots for a while....

 

[Shadesofgrey]

"Get it off our hands bin" Funny you should say that Tony; I found mine while wandering around Gesssss-oops in a ‘Clearance’ bin back in……well, can’t remember the year now but Dreadlock Holiday was in the charts at the time 😎 Anyway: I found the answer to all this being INCONSPICUOUS stuff 😉 Wear one of those high vis yellow vests with the word COUNCIL on the back. I mean; whoever takes any notice of a council worker…..well, guess someone with a slow motion camera might 😀

 

[peter_n]

for street photography, try a digital point and shoot. Its a lot of fun and you can get a way with a lot. its important to get a digital thats simple to use and that you are comfortable with. Its blastphemy around here but there, I said it.

That makes a lot of sense.

Yes it does make a lot of sense. I just got a new P&S digicam a couple of weeks ago, it sounds like a potential street shooter - its red! 😀 It also has a Zeiss lens (undoubtedly not made by CZ but maybe QA'd by CZ) which is very sharp indeed. All I need now is a Hawaiian shirt... 🙂

 

[formal]

Until recently I have been using DSLRs with big lens and I got very little reaction from people in Dublin. Occasionally they would ask which paper I worked for, but I looked as if I belonged and they didn't seem to object.

I started using a Leica a few months ago and I have been getting more reactions. On one occasion I was told to "Stick my f****** camera up my f****** a***".

With the Leica I'm getting closer and I suspect people cannot figure out why I'm taking pictures with such a small camera.

David

 

[Shadesofgrey]

Brian I sometimes see them (the drain pipes 😉 ) in the "make us an offer & get it off our hands bins" over here, but no-one ever seems to want them LOL Yep I went though the must have every filter, like the starburst and multiple images but for some reason I never seemed to get around to using them. They sure make the camera bag nice and heavy though, so I felt the part 😀 How about a camo-grass skirt? ... Must be a GAS attack ROFLOL

"Get it off our hands bin" Funny you should say that Tony; I found mine while wandering around Gesssss-oops in a ‘Clearance’ bin back in……well, can’t remember the year now but Dreadlock Holiday was in the charts at the time Anyway: I found the answer to all this being INCONSPICUOUS stuff Wear one of those high vis yellow vests with the word COUNCIL on the back. I mean; whoever takes any notice of a council worker…..well, guess someone with a slow motion camera might

PS...posted this in the wrong place at first :bang: Sorry, newboy on site 🙄

 

[vladhed]

I find "Discreet" and "Street Photography" to be mutually exclusive. I find the results more interesting if you try to engage (even just eye contact and a smile) your subjects. I've had people tell me not to take their picture and I've just said "no problem!" and quickly dropped my camera. I've had a lot of people ask me why I was taking their photo and I initially say "I won't if you don't want it" to which the reaction is usually "no no! I just want to know why!" and then I'll saying something charming like "because the scene looks better with you in it".

I've never had anyone get confrontational - but it could be because I'm only attacted to people who seem to be happy to be out in public....

 

[Doug]

I like your approach, vladhed! Rather similar to mine. 🙂 I do have people ask me why I'm want to take pics, or, pretty much the same question in the form of "who ARE you??" Like I might be a National Geographic staff photog on neighborhood safari or something. Or maybe I work for the newspaper...

I usually say that this is just for fun, no commercial element, I'm taking snaps of people doing their jobs, or people doing interesting things, or just recording the neighborhood or whatever. I like your compliment, but I'd have be be careful that it doesn't sound phony.

I too like the interaction, and also look at it as a way to fight my own shyness over disturbing others. (Which I think is related to self-assurance) But a friendly word and a smile does wonders, and I'm finding it easier. I need to work more quickly, no fiddling with the gear...