Lens for the street

[dxphoto]

I have a G1 so I don;t have a zoom lens. I use 45mm most of the time

on the street but sometimes I found my subjust is just too small in

the pic. If I get closer to them,, it would be too obvious and some

some of them can get annoyed. I have a 90mm too, but it's a little

bit pain to switch them on the street.

 

Thoughts?

[over exposure]

get the wonderful Biogon28 and get into the scene..there have been a lot of discussion here about approaching people in this kind of shooting..ok, It's a pain having to buy another lens, but it can really add something in your street shots.

 

friendly,

[Spearhead]

<I> If I get closer to them,, it would be too obvious and some some of them can get annoyed</i><p>

 

You have to learn not be too obvious. And you have to accept that some people will get annoyed and live with the consequences. It's like photographing glaciers - to get the best photos, you have to realize you might slide down the hill.

[mdanger]

I like to shoot wide on the street. Of course, I have also been chased out of bars, had my camera taken away from me and damaged, hands grab my lens, rude gestures (okay by me), and yelled at a lot. But boy, have I had fun and met great people. It's a trade-off for your art. Mary Danger

[mark liddell]

I take two cameras when I go street shooting, my canon QL17 GIII and nikon FM with 105mm lens. I keep the one I'm not using in a small backpack and change between them when I move to a different place where the other would be more appropriate. Yes, it is a bit of a pain, but I don't switch on a shot to shot basis so it's ok.

 

I feel (like you) there are some situations and places where you really can't get close enough to people with a shorter lens. Recently I was shooting the city traders after work outside a bar in London on a Friday, There is no way I could have got close enough to shoot with my QL17, it would have caused a big reaction and ruined what was going on, so I used my nikon with 105mm. In London people don't care if you have a camera, there are so many tourists! But they will if you start shooting pics 6ft away from them in an uncrowded pedestrian precinct.

 

I don't like to interfere and just capture moments around me. Others shoot differently, this method works for me.

[edmo]

That 45 is nice...

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[edmo]

So is the 21....

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<center><img src="http://www.altphotos.com/images/altphotos/48e6cd5a5-83b4-4cc4-8738-4fe59fab3a0a.jpg"></center>

[spanky]

I carry three lenses: 65mm, 110mm and 180mm for 6X7 size. I use the 110 mostly as it's the faster of the three and the smallest. I also happen to like its perspective best. I usually used a 50mm when I used 35mm film for street. My 65mm surprisingly enough is my first choice for cramped quarters like the subway. It gets enough in the frame but because it's not too wide it does not distort peoples features as bad as one might think. My 180mm recently got some good use at a carnival where I was able to stand on the sidewalk and fill the horizontal frame with the rides and game booths that were about 15-20 feet away.

[varjag]

45mm should be just fine. Learn to get closer to people.

[thomas_sullivan]

it's a repeat of what has been said and implied above, but, you have to get closer. I usually shoot with the focus preset at 7 feet with a 35mm lens on a 35mm film cam. Even with an 85mm or 100mm, I'm not much further away....dont know the exact distance...usually too busy trying to get the shot to notice the distance readout.

 

as far as being obvious, you'de be surprised, if you actually tried it, as to how many people, even at 7 feet, dont even notice what you're doing. Too busy with themselves.

[stig sandoe1]

I see these discussions about lenses for street pretty often. I think I've found that the answer boils down to two alternatives:

 

A) It doesn't matter, you can do with any lens. Even if HCB used just 35mm and his 50mm on his Leica, you don't have to be HCB and quite simply you can never be HCB, be yourself.

 

B) It doesn't matter, the thing about street is that it is 90% psychological, and yes you need the extra 10% eventually, but you must tackle the psychological aspect first. "Get closer" is a good mantra but it takes time to build up enough confidence, so maybe start with longer lenses and gradually move closer.

 

Use a lens you're comfortable with, but try other lenses for different purposes as well (dslr users should multiply crop-factor first):

 

- A 35mm is maybe nice for big street scenes and I see the (useless) PN guide to street is all about being wide and going for shots with lots of clutter and randomness with narrow apertures. Some like that, you might. If you can use wideangle and wide-open aperture that might be kindof cool though. Examples anyone?

 

- A 45/50mm gives you more what the eyes see and you can get closer to people without distorting facial features too much. This is the classic look, but sometimes it is nice to vary.

 

- An 85mm allows you room for people's more private space, and photos look as if you're closer and best of all: you can also isolate things more. Also useful for street portraits which is not to be forgotten.

 

- 135mm is a good portrait lens and it works that way for street as well, you can get those real-life portraits of people, including candid ones. And for many street photog, street is about people so even if you're not close, you can get a close look at emotions.

 

- >135mm Maybe ok when building self-confidence, but maybe better for birds? ;) But seriously, I plan to use a 160mm (100mm*1.6) wide open one day to really isolate people from busy surroundings.

 

Another interesting discussion is also what aperture to shoot at for street. What do you people use? "f/8 and being there" or something else?

 

--Stig

[bruno]

6 feet? Does somebody really say that I have to shoot at a distance of 6ft from people? Why that far?

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I go almost always with a 28mm. The 50mm is in the small bag, but I use it rarely although I can switch it in a couple of seconds...

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In this picture I was quite far, since I wanted to have the three subjects together. The lens is the 28.

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<center><img src="http://www.photo.net/general-comments/attachment/2587490/DSCN1964.JPG">

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while the end result of the operation is here below:<p>

<center><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/3338587-lg.jpg"></center><p>

By the way: under my armpit there's the small bag I use for a Nikon with two primes (already mentioned 28 and 50). On my back there's another bag I bought for a 6x6 TLR. I've started using it not more than 2 months ago... I'm learning that with a TLR you can get extremely close to people, without that they even realize that you're taking a picture: probably because I'm looking in the ground glass, and they don't realize that I'm taking a picture, rather that I'm playing with the camera's settings... downturn is that TLR operations are a little bit slower.

[spanky]

What f-stop? It depends on the film speed. Lately I've been shooting Efke 50 and 25 so my lenses are around f5.6. Another reason I like my 110mm lens best is as I mentioned above, it's my fastest at f2.8. Sometimes though I find my subject isn't quite in my depth of field at f2.8 so it comes out fuzzy. I like to keep the lens at f8 or f16 but this is not always possible.