Is a Ultra-Wide Suitable for travel & Street Shooting ?

[Bob Michaels]

I will be going to Kathmandu for a short business trip this week and I can't decide if I should bring my Voigtlander 15mm/f4.5 ?

I just received it last week and I have shot 2 test rolls, <snip>

Please suggest or advice me as this is my first serious wide angle lens ever.

My belief is that lens selection is a very personal choice. What works for someone else has no bearing on what works for you. Some love the 15mm but it has been the only focal length I once owned but no longer do. Personally I travel on 2 week photo shoots with just a 28mm and a 35mm lens. But that is just what works for me, others do best with a much different selection. I am convinced that what works for you at home will work traveling, regardless of where you go. Your style does not change.

I would suggest leaving the 15mm at home based on your comment that this is your "first serious wide angle lens ever" and you have shot two rolls with it. Play around with it in familiar territory. Later take it on a trip if you find it works for you.

 

[sper]

Hell yes! Ultra wides are great for street photography if you can make sure the focal length doesn't take over the picture.

Shoot from the hip, and wait for moments to unfold. I do almost all my street photography with 28mm and 21mm lenses (CV 28 2.0 & CV 21mm 4.0).

 

[Arjay]

I love my 15/4.5. If you're using it for street shooting, I think most of need to break habits, meaning you need to get closer to your subjects than you normally would. Apart from the photographic and aesthetic part of this, there's the aspect of getting use to approaching people more intimately than comes naturally for some of us.

+1 , and don't forget to use a spirit level so you can avoid perspective distortions like the image in your opening post is showing. However, the lens does take some practice in framing so you can avoid the typical 'superwide' look with strange perspectives and egg-shaped heads.

I have the CV 15mm too, and I use it together with an electronic spirit level (Seculine Action Level) that features LED readout at the unit's back side, near the VF eyepiece.

The lens can be used for highly dramatic street shots in very tight quarters such as in a bazar. But beware - you'll have to get very close (a lot closer than you might be used to) to get good pictures. Taking such shots is much more a psychological / social than a photographic challenge.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

Guys,

greetings from Kathmandu...too bad this is a working trip. So I would hardly have time out by myself, the good news is that I will be coming here again in the not too distant future.

Okay, gear-wise. I settled on The XPAN and the 28mm XA4.

I decided to leave the 15mm until I practice a few more rolls. I chose the XPan because it is wide and my pictures so far is almost decent. I chose the 28mm XA4 as the backup lens.

In practice, I just finished half a roll on the XA4 on the narrow street road to the hotel, the street scene is incredible. Let's hope the motion of the bus doesn't cause problem for this P&S camera.

cheers and thanks for all your inputs, especially on the spirit level.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

now i regret ..... the days are short and by 5.30pm, the EV drops down to 3-4...and don't have a fast lens (the xpan starts at f4 while the XA4 has narrow apertures for DOF) ....shucks... i should have brought my 35SP or the Canon 1.4f LTM....

 

[robklurfield]

stay warm. looking forward to seeing some photos when you return.