focal lengths for street photos?

back alley

back alley

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is there an ideal focal length for street shootng?
is there a lens too long for street shooting?

i have to admit to being a bit rigid in my own thinking about what lenses are 'best' for street and even more so in thinking that longer teles are a real no-no for street.
in fact, i think long lenses are 'cheating' when it come to street shooting…like the photgrapher lacks the courage to get close.

what do you think?
 
I tend to prefer street work with an intimate feel but a sense of space and depth. Longer lenses tend to isolate the subject too much. 28, 40, and 50 tend to work best on FF. On APS-C, 21 and 43 were my favorites.

G
 
12 mm
20104201 by mfogiel, on Flickr

15 mm
20141705 by mfogiel, on Flickr

21mm
20113113 by mfogiel, on Flickr

25mm
20133620 by mfogiel, on Flickr

28mm
20098127 by mfogiel, on Flickr

35mm
20090123 by mfogiel, on Flickr

50mm
2008100504 by mfogiel, on Flickr


60mm
20133408 by mfogiel, on Flickr

75mm
20128010 by mfogiel, on Flickr

80mm
201211029 by mfogiel, on Flickr

85mm
20125426 by mfogiel, on Flickr

90mm
20129803 by mfogiel, on Flickr

100mm
DONNA CON CANE by mfogiel, on Flickr

105mm
20129403 by mfogiel, on Flickr

135mm
SUNGLASSES by mfogiel, on Flickr


Just go out and shoot Joe...
 
Although I sometimes use wider lenses for specific purposes / subjects, I do a lot of my street shooting with longer lenses. This includes a 90mm on a Leica M and longer lenses - even out to 180mm - on my DSLR. I have no problem with this. I simply cannot understand why some people think its macho to shoot with a wide angle lens - which invariably involves shoving the damn thing in their face from a couple of feet away. Which means all the photos look much the same - a person who is looking shocked or pissed off or both. I understand that many do not feel this way but I do. That's me I guess.
 
Historically speaking, most street photos have been made with a focal length in the 28 to 50mm range. Because of the perspective these focal lengths bring to a photo, they are somewhat ingrained in our expectations of what a street photo should look. But there are many exceptions in the so-called photography canon, both wider and longer. Once again, there are no absolutes and there's no question about "cheating" if you use a focal length longer than the usual range. That said, people often use a long lens for the wrong reason (they are just apprehensive of getting close). You just have to see what suits a particular situation and, also, what serves your very own vision. Using a particular focal length, or, at least, a specific range, does have a stylistic impact in a body of work.

.
 
back alley said:
is there an ideal focal length for street shootng?
is there a lens too long for street shooting?

i have to admit to being a bit rigid in my own thinking about what lenses are 'best' for street and even more so in thinking that longer teles are a real no-no for street.
in fact, i think long lenses are 'cheating' when it come to street shooting…like the photgrapher lacks the courage to get close.

what do you think?
Click to expand...


Cheating..Courage? Really?

Hey, I can think of at least half a dozen times recently I wish I had a 200mm with me. I'm buying a 55-200 for my Fuji system just for this reason.
Just this past thursday night downtown before the Season opening game I could have caught some great scenes.
The longest I had was 55 on a crop body. The shots are there after cropping but not nearly the same.
Sometimes it's about getting there not being there with a longer FL .
All lenses are viable for most any genre of photography.
Yes... classic street is best experienced rather than simply observed and captured.
For that a lens of 28-50mm is probably the ideal.
When I only have one it's a 35/40/50mm (or equiv). Very comfortable with that although... sometimes I see things and wish for some more reach 🙂

Cheers!
 
For me it depends on where I'm photographing . When I'm in Japan I like a wider lens as things seem a bit compact to me ,so this allows me to photograph what I see at a comfortable distance .While in Hawaii I tend to be fine with a 50 as there is more space . People in Japan and US differ in regards to personal space they occupy . In the US a 50 mm gets you right up to that edge without intruding on peoples personal space and so they are less likely to become aware of you or be bothered ..... also the with a 50 the framing seems to be perfect for the distance I set up beforehand .... at least on the rangefinder , raise the camera to my eye and from the distance I'm shooting and it is all there in the frame ....... a 50 is very comfortable lens to use .In Japan I get can get much closer to people and tend to like the 21 - 35 For that reason .
Lately I have been using a 35 to photograph my 3 year old . It seems to allow me just enough space and speed to catch him doing his thing which is not easy ; )

Jay Maisel shoots with a longish lens while photographing the streets of New York .His photographs are great ,I like the way he isolates a scene on a busy street .... really depends on what you are trying to accomplish .

As far as a telephoto lens being a no-no for street , I don't think so .... but for doing "beach" most defiantly a no-no as far as I'm concerned .... ; )

anyway thats how I see it .....

Aloha
 
Is the context of the shot coming from the width or depth?



I find long lenses more difficult for street work; I transition easily to street portraits if I'm working with a long lens. Its particularly true for me as half the year I'm shooting ~F4 or so simply to get enough light and shutter speed.

Spending more time with Saul Leiters work may help me a bit. His vision made me rethink how I was shooting when I first went through some of his photos. I should do that again soon.
 
85 to 105 are not what i meant by long lenses…street with a 200 or longer is more what i was thinking.
not looking for a fight here either…it just seems less authentic to me when a long lens has been used…not that a good image cannot be made with a long lens.
 
I tend to be comfortable shooting street photos from 24-50mm (24 is the widest I own). Mostly I prefer the XA (35mm), Rollei 35 S (40mm) and Vitomatic/Nikon SLR/5D (all with 50mm lenses). I've occasionally used up to 105mm but that's rare.
 
back alley said:
agreed…and i'm not trying to impose any rules on anyone…just looking to see how alone i might be with this thinking.
Click to expand...

Sometimes we need rules for ourselves. I have certain placebos or mantras, rules of one form or another, that keep my feet on the ground. But that doesn't mean that my rule for me doing my work has to be your rule for you doing your work.

Of course, if you are doing my work then you need to follow my rules. I'll warn you, though, the pay is nonexistent and I'm a pretty crappy boss.

A series using a 200mm on an APS-C camera, so that's a 300mm equiv. You'll hate it, and it certainly isn't street photography with such a long lens, yes? - http://dandaniel.zenfolio.com/p116825950/h5d56235#h5d56235
 
Dan Daniel said:
Sometimes we need rules for ourselves. I have certain placebos or mantras, rules of one form or another, that keep my feet on the ground. But that doesn't mean that my rule for me doing my work has to be your rule for you doing your work.

Of course, if you are doing my work then you need to follow my rules. I'll warn you, though, the pay is nonexistent and I'm a pretty crappy boss.

A series using a 200mm on an APS-C camera, so that's a 300mm equiv. You'll hate it, and it certainly isn't street photography with such a long lens, yes? - http://dandaniel.zenfolio.com/p116825950/h5d56235#h5d56235
Click to expand...

exactly…rules for myself...
 
This is why I'm thinking of trying street photography with a auto exposure Chinon Memotron and a 35-135 zoom ! I don't have to worry about exposure and I have 99% of the focal lengths I'd ever use on the camera.
 
Adding on to my prior post...

I've been out shooting with the M9 and a Color-Skopar 28mm lens the past week. A handy, nice feeling package.

A couple of folks on another forum recommended trying the lens code for the Leica Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 ASPH ... that's the magic trick, it corrects most of the Color-Skopar 28's tendency to color shift and vignette on the M9 sensor. And the lens profile for the same lens in Lightroom does a good number too on rectilinear correction.

I haven't been out to do street work with it yet, but I know it will work well. But ... there's always a 'but' ... what I find is that the 35 and 50mm lenses are more comfortable to use on the M9 unless I fit an accessory optical finder. I simply can't seen the frame lines or edges of the finder accurately enough with anything wider than 35mm with this body to frame accurately, it's always a guess. This is because of my glasses ... they push my eye too far back for the M9 finder and 28mm lenses. The accessory optical finder slows me down on street work unless I'm working zone focus and large depth of field with aperture priority AE.

So on the M9, I like 35 or 50 for street work most of the time. I can see the framelines, I can focus and check exposure easily. It just works better. With the A7 or E-M1 viewfinders give a great deal more versatility to my lens likes...

So what I'm saying is that the specific camera and how you can work with it play their part in what focal lengths work well too.

Just get out and shoot. See what works for you, and how to manage it. I don't think I'd choose a 200+ mm equivalent FoV for street work very often but that doesn't mean it can't work.

G
 
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