Best Lens for Street on a 5D, zoom or prime ?

I have a 5D and a 24-70 2.8L set up. I am not too thrilled with the weight of that lens on the streets on New York city. I am wondering if its

just ME or the Lense. as I am told that lens is one of the best out there for the 5D. I want something ideal for street photography in an

urban area like NYC. I was thinking the 24 1.4L(and sell my 24-70) or mybe an even wider zoom. I like fast wide lenses. I dont know, I am

confused. I wish I could afford ALL the lenses. Have a look at my site and any feedback appreciated

I guess what I am trying to say is, if you had the 5D or other full frame camera, and only had one lens for the street, which

would it be?

For street photography, I would think something moderately wide - like the 35mm 1.4.

24 mm sounds about right but you shouldn't discard the 35 + 50 mm either

i HIGHLY recommend the 24-105 f4 IS

 

Thats a great all in one lens and has IS to boot.

Cant recommend that lens enough

Seems to me you don't like weight.

 

The Tamron 28 - 300mm VC will give you tremendous flexibility and is light with great quality.

 

There is nothing like an L lens. Canon makes a 28 - 300mm zoom but, you might as well hang a brick from your camera.

 

Your alternative is to leave the DSLR format and get a P & S.

My most-used lens on a 5D for street shooting is a 28/f1.8. Not too big or heavy.

I understand where you're coming from.

 

I was shooting with a friend Friday who had the same body and lens. Tried it out, but it was just way too heavy for me. I

guess that's going to keep me in crop-body cameras for awhile. My cam and equiv zoom was about 1/3 the weight and

maybe half the volume.

 

Not great for darkness, but great for one-handed SP.

Jon,

 

I looked at the street photos on your website and it seems that you shoot in the 35mm-50mm lens range quite a bit. I did not look

at the embedded data in the photos though:)

 

For small and light and fast nothing will beat the 35mm f2.0. It's a fine lens and is light enough to easily shoot without looking

through the viewfinder. And it's so small, it's easy to throw it in your pocket and pull out a 50mm 1.8 or 1.4.

 

I have the 24mm 2.8 also, but find it's just too wide for most "street style" photography, but heck, if you have an extra pocket you

can carry that too.

 

The good news is also that the 35mm 2.0 is only $240 and a 50mm 1.8 is only $90 (but it's not so well built). The Canon f1.4L

and f1.2L primes are kind of heavy and, to me, defeat the purpose of a light lens for walking around with. I also don't like the look

of f1.4 or f1.2 except for very special circumstances. f2.0 has quite shallow depth of focus as well, and for a lot less money and

weight.

35 f/2 or 28 f/2.8 are good and light. Something like the 28 f/1.8 or 50 f/1.4 are useable too, but start to get a little heavy.

You don't need a zoom on the street, and they're not worth the weight in my opinion.

I'm looking at using my D700 with 50mm f/1.8 on the street soon, which lens you use is personal preference I think. I've never see the point of zooms for this type of photography.

 

Out of interest, do you find you are more conspicuous with a camera this size rather than with a smaller one?

Canon EF 35mm f/2. Zooms are too big and conspicuous and get heavy after awhile. Never let your gear get in the way of your photography.

Jon:

 

I would do some more research on what you really need/want.

 

The EF24/1.4 is only about 4 oz lighter than the 24-105...and weight seems to be your main criterion.

 

Maybe you need a lighter body. The XSi/XTi body is about 12 oz lighter than the 5D.

 

Have a look at the Canon SLR Home Page. All the camera & lens specs are there:

 

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ProductCatIndexAct&fcategoryid=111

 

You could also look here for lens reviews and comparison shots:

 

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/

 

There is a "lens focal length" comparison tool here:

 

http://www.tamron.com/lenses/learning_center/tools/focal-length-comparison.php

 

If the neck strap is causing you grief, maybe you could try a hand-strap (could actually be better for street

than a neck strap because the camera is always "at hand"). I bought some of these (link below), use them on a

40D and an EOS 3 and think they are pretty darn good:

 

http://www.camdapter.com/

 

Cheers! Jay

Sorry Jon:

 

I don't know where I got 24-105 from (maybe I want one more than I thought). Of course the 24-70 is much heavier than the 24/1.4.

 

Cheers! Jay

this is the guy who I want to emulate on the street. I love his work and style:

 

I never really considered putting "non L Glass" on my 5D. Now thats something to think about. Of course the non L lenses

are so cheap I could buy 3 for the price of selling my 24-70L

I use a crop body on the street with a lightweight zoom or a 35mm 2.0 lens. Depending on how you see if I had a

full frame slr I would probably use the 35mm 2.0, 50mm 1.4 or the Tamron 28-75mm 2.8. Weight vs versatility.

Always a tradeoff. Good luck. XSi, 18-55mm IS lens. <center><img

src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/7670775-lg.jpg"></center>

I absolutely love my 24mm 1.4L. It is by far my favorite lens, but it is not that light, and, to be honest, I couldn't shoot a

decent street photo to save my life. I thought the "real" street photographers liked the 35 to 50mm lenses. The answer

is probably to rent a couple of lenses for a long weekend. The choice will probably be obvious to you after do that. Dan

My second favorite street shooter is a guy who uses primarily a zoom , a Nikon 17-55 and does marvelous work:

http://joesnyc.streetnine.com/

Tough to beat the 50 1.4 prime or Tamron 28-75 zoom for the price on a full frame body for street.

 

Nice site. :)

I dont know why I am so hung up on L glass.

"this is the guy who I want to emulate on the street. I love his work and style:

 

 

How would you like being shot that way?

His images are powerful. I would love to be immortalized in one of his books

I use a 24 f/1.4L all the time when I'm out w/ my 40D (which is a little bit longer than a 35 with the crop

factor). It's not that heavy, at least IMO, and it gets the photos I want. Approaching someone with a zoom is a

bit more difficult, but it's not impossible. Gilden's style isn't for everybody, but it does produce interesting,

albeit disarming results. I would also go with renting a few lenses to try them out and make a decision after

that. Shooting from the hip is really fun, and experimenting can make those long walks much more pleasant.

My take is that Gilden is using something very wide on that video. He is shooting very close to the "victims" and perspective doesn't seems too close. The Lens may be 24mm or even 21mm.

 

In my opinion camera and lens are there to allow you to materialize what you have in your brain. In the case of Gilden's video he shoots very close, but background is still blurred. He needs something portable, wide and with a fast aperture. That is what lets him to do what he wants to do. He choose a Leica for that, but he could have used a 450D with a 24f/2.8 is he'd thought it be fine for him.

 

With the 5D and the 24-70 f/2.8 you have a great platform to find out which focal lengths are more useful for you of the f/2.8 enough for you.

 

So, what do you want to do?