What's best for street photography? A 21 or a 28mm?

I have two 21's: the TTArtisan, and the Voigtlander Color-Skopar. I brought the Color-Skopar with me and will give it another try on the streets of Saigon. PS. The TTArtisan is a good lens but rather big and hefty. Cheers, OtL
 
I was just getting my weekend gear sorted and I tried both the 35 and 21 on for a small change but immediately switched back to 28mm again although I may pack the 21mm
 
Between a 21 and a 28, probably the 28. I say that as a guy who has never really been very fond of the 28mm focal length.

Not really "street" but kinda/sorta streetish, in my previous incarnation as a news photographer, I used 180, 85, 35 and 24. I skipped the normal in those days. Later as a non-working photographer, my lenses have mostly hovered around the 50mm. While I have 20/21mm lenses and even a few 28mm lenses, I'm best served by a 50mm, a 35mm and a 24/25mm. It's a nice, tidy kit. Tossing in something between 60mm and 85mm gives a little more breathing room. I just ramble around taking pictures of general subjects wherever I happen to be.

Two final points--These days, I mostly use APS-C Fuji X-Pro cameras with Zeiss and Voigtlander lenses. You gotta work with close equivalents there. And I really, really love the look of the 20/21mm lens.

But, given the circumstances, I'd still pick the 28mm here.


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I’ve been using the Fuji 18-55 zoom for street lately and find that I use the 28 length a lot, although I would have thought that’s too wide for me. If I use a prime it’s the 23 (35) or 27 (40) that feels best. Go figure. I do like having the option to zoom when needed, and probably stay within the 28-50 range.
 
I’m close to Dogman in thinking. Not because of the iPhone, but I find 28 very comfortable. I remember the first shot I ever took with a 28, an Olympus lens on a newly serviced OM2n. It was scary, but the viewfinder showed me what I’d get, and I got just that. I didn’t dislike it. First and last shot with a 28.

Nearly 20 years later I bought the Leica 28 2.8 ASPH second hand in Australia. Postage from Perth was just as bad as from USA. I took to it immediately. Blame RFF, guys here extolling the virtues of the 50/28 combination for travel. These are the focal lengths I had for a trip to Nice ten years ago. It was perfect.

Then the little Summaron M 28 was released and I got that for a good price second hand never used. It’s very slow with maximum aperture 5.6, but street photographers used the original in the ‘50s and ‘60s with film and managed. That tiny lens is glued to my M9-P.

But before the 28s I had the Zeiss f4.5 ZM 21. I had it on my M5 for months. That lens is perfectly straight, admits a glorious light, and I learned to take shots where you couldn’t tell it was a 21. If you thought 21, I want to do it, I’d say go for it. Mine is on the Monochrom right now. A brilliant mating. Even in a crisis I had to stop the car for the midday light across the face of a beautiful building yesterday, the height and street access demanding nothing less than a 21. I haven’t yet downloaded the files.
 
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Maybe I'm outside the normal gamut of street photographers, but I like 50mm lenses and 75-80mm lenses for street photography. Outdoors I just find that my eye naturally focuses on details in people's faces that I just never capture with wide-angle lenses. Also, here in Oregon, faster lenses are handy in the gloom of cloudy days, and most of my wide-angle lenses are f2.8 or f3.5... too slow for gloom and rain, but fine for sunny days.

Scott
 
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