Shooting Street with a 50mm and a RF

[Burlap Jacket]

So, I enjoy shooting street with my M6. I think I've been most successful with wider focal lengths like the 28 and 35 as I am able to scale focus them and use them like point and shoots (ie no further focusing required, just frame and fire). But I really like the 50mm fov. However because of the shallower dof it's harder to scale focus, so I'm forced to actually focus the rf on my subject. The downside of that is that it's a slower process and I often miss my intended shot.

So, what are your techniques for streetshooting with the 50mm? Do you use fast film, stop down to f11 or f16 and then scale focus? Do you manually focus the rf to hit your target?

HCB obviously had a little success shooting street with the 50 🙂

 

[spysmart]

Does "f/8 and be there" cover it ?

 

[boy_lah]

I'm new to M myself and really enjoy shooting street. But in London, where things are tight, i prefer 35 or even 28. In big spaces eg. US etc, a 50 seem to work better.

For my style, i shoot mainly max aperture ie. f1.4-f2 and often asa100 coz i like the fine grain. But I'm moving to asa400 to get extra light with small increase in grain.

As for focusing...i've been shown hyperfocal method but doesn't work for me. I prefer to 'prefocus' to approx distance, lift to eye and do final tweaks. Esp if i'm shooting ~f2 in the dark. On sunny days, i do sometimes use, f8 set around 3m and go from there.

Anyways, have a look at my flickr stream...i'll be happy to share with a fellow photog.

 

[Burlap Jacket]

Does "f/8 and be there" cover it ?

As in pre focusing at a desired distance and setting the aperture to f8? But then you are limited to a specific (somewhat tight) depth of field. Focused at 7 feet that gives you about 3 feet dof. IMHO street should allow you to react quickly at whatever the presented scene is. If you limit yourself to that specific dof then you may miss the action.

 

[spysmart]

Was it HCB who described pre-focusing by feel - knowing the position of the focus tab on his lens ?

 

[boy_lah]

Not taken by a M but i am working on being to shoot these kind of shots again

 

[spysmart]

The middle one is classic

( dare I suggest a square crop )