Thoughts on Digital SLR for street shooting

[alt4852]

personally, i don't care for shooters using an 80-200 zoom, mostly at 200 and calling it street shooting. it seems cowardly or sneaky or something unwholesome to me. but that is me.
joe

this makes no sense whatsoever to me. granted i only use 24, 34, and 50mm lenses for street work, i think labelling telephoto use for street work as cowardly or sneaky defeats the point of street photography. the genre in itself is all about catching people in their element and unaware/unguarded. it's about people in motion, who aren't posing for a photograph. cowardly? i've seen great work done with a 135mm for street scenes as it gives enough distance for people in the scene to be unaffected by the photographer. 200mm isn't much farther. your comment about being sneaky also sounds funny as most people credit it's small size and discreetness of a rangefinder as one of it's strongest merits. street work is all about not being noticed.

i don't shoot with anything longer than 50mm because i like to give more context in the street work that i do. i like to include a lot of environment in my photos. this however, doesn't mean a 135 or 200mm is any less of a street focal length than my 35 or 50mm.

Look just do a comparison: Take DSLR out say on the streets of Manhattan and shoot away. You will have slap of the mirror for every shot, a dim VF and something that is pretty heavy to lug around. Then take say a Leica IIIa with a little 50mm/f2 or a 21/4. No one notices you; you are quiet. I don't know maybe I have drank the Kool aid too much, but street shooting with a Dslr is like running through a canal with battleship. My two cents.

you have kool-aid running through your veins. 😉

i primarily use my canon new f-1 with a 50mm f/1.2 for street work.. and occasionally my 5d with 35mm f/1.4. nobody in dc or baltimore ever turns their head at the alleged deafening slap of the mirror when i make photos. additionally, my f-1's viewfinder is much brighter than my canonet's and the leica's have used in the past weren't much better.

the only advantage that i see with rangefinders for street work is the lack of viewfinder blackout, and the ability to see your subjects walk into your frame instead of waiting for them to walk into your field of view. otherwise, i think most of the problems with using a SLR for street work that you've stated are all in your head. i think you should try working with different platforms before settling on preconceived notions.

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

One of the major advantages of street shooting with a rangefinder or compact (digital or film ) was brought home to me again today!. For my day around the city of York, I decided to exercise one of my beloved Nikkormat FT2's, so into a small Billingham 'Hadley' went a Nikko body, 50mm f2, 105mm f2.5 and 24mm f2.5 (Tamron) along with a Polaris spot meter, as the Nikkormat's meter like me, is tiring with age!. Well, the Nikkormat got some admiring glances and remarks from some of the many tourists around the Minster and ancient streets, and performed flawlessly - as it has for over thirty years!, but perhaps it was the warm day, and my age!....but by the time I was home, that small outfit in a bag was heavy! - and getting to be a PITA!
Dave.

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

One of the major advantages of street shooting with a rangefinder or compact (digital or film ) was brought home to me again today!. For my day around the city of York, I decided to exercise one of my beloved Nikkormat FT2's, so into a small Billingham 'Hadley' went a Nikko body, 50mm f2, 105mm f2.5 and 24mm f2.5 (Tamron) along with a Polaris spot meter, as the Nikkormat's meter like me, is tiring with age!. Well, the Nikkormat got some admiring glances and remarks from some of the many tourists around the Minster and ancient streets, and performed flawlessly - as it has for over thirty years!, but perhaps it was the warm day, and my age!....but by the time I was home, that small outfit in a bag was heavy! - and getting to be a PITA!
Dave.

 

[yanidel]

this makes no sense whatsoever to me. granted i only use 24, 34, and 50mm lenses for street work, i think labelling telephoto use for street work as cowardly or sneaky defeats the point of street photography. the genre in itself is all about catching people in their element and unaware/unguarded. it's about people in motion, who aren't posing for a photograph. cowardly? i've seen great work done with a 135mm for street scenes as it gives enough distance for people in the scene to be unaffected by the photographer. 200mm isn't much farther.

I understand what you mean but you will admit that great 135mm street work is rare. To me, I would rather call it "portrait photography, that happens to be in the street". It is very difficult to include a subject with a meaningful context with lenses of 135mm or above. I can't remember any of the famous street photographers making extensive use of teles in their works.
While coward and sneaky are probably not the best terms and should not be generalized to all people shooting with long focals, I do feel that many of these long lenses photogs use them more because of fear of interaction than because they like the perspective it gives or the candids justification. It is easy to get close candids with a 35mm lens if you are fast. Of course, 75% of times you will get spotted just after the click and many times you will therefore have to interact with your subject (smile, comment, anger, ... reactions are many). A big part of street photography is about how you interact with people more than a choice of camera. The more you are open to this interaction, the best shots you will get IMO.

 

[TKH]

My favourite for street is the DA35 (~53mm) on the Pentax:

 

[shadowfox]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sakuralove/

DSLR user.

 

[Bike Tourist]

I have vascillated between digital SLRs and film RFs for many a year, gained lots of experience with them all and managed to depleat my meger retirement resources in the bargain. I now have just one camera and three lenses.

The camera is a Nikon D700. It is, to my way of thinking, the best camera I have ever owned. It works for professional use. It works for street shooting. For the latter, who wouldn't want autofocus, instant reaction to changing lighting and a result (using simple jpeg by the way) that can be fine-tuned to produce a defined result?

I served my time in the film trenches with Leicas and Hasselblads and 4 x 5s. All fine cameras. But, all I want to do these days is produce my images with as little fuss and bother as possible and get excellent results.

 

[ninesixtwo]

Nikon D700

I want that camera! Night shooting on the street with clean ISO 6400...

 

[rbsinto]

Up to about two years ago when I got my first rangefinder, I only shot street with my manual focus film SLRs. Today I go back and forth between my two kits, essentially depending on my mood.
For me, the size and noise argument against using SLRs for street photography has always been an irrelevant one, but perhaps based on nothing more than experience (31 years with SLRs versus two years with rangefinders) I feel I get better photos with the SLRs than the rangefinders.