What lens is good for candid shots?

[ryan_y]

<p>I currently have a Makro Planar 120mm lens on my Hasselblad 503cw. I love that lens for doing portraits but when I want to catch candid shots, I notice it's not as far as I want to be. I was looking at the 250mm lens and was wondering. What's the distance it gives me between me and the subject if I wanted to capture about a head-shoulder candid shot? Does this make sense? If this does make sense, what distance can I get from longer lenses with the same end result (head to shoulder shot)? Thanks everyone!</p>

[Ed_Ingold]

<p>It depends on what you mean by "candid." Generally for unposed shots, like at a wedding or on the street, you want to go wider. Furthermore, the longer the lens, the higher the shutter speed necessary to keep camera shake to an acceptable level. I would suggest a 60/3.4 or an 80/2.8.</p>

<p>If the 120 Makro is not long enough for your stated purpose, you might look at a 150/4. It's smaller, lighter and less imposing, and focuses close enough for an head and shoulders shot at about 6'. I've never been happy with a 250 mm hand held. You need 1/500 to get anything acceptably sharp, which is hard with an f/5.6 lens.</p>

[ryan_y]

<p>Thank you Edward:</p>

<p>So I should be fine where I'm at. Good thing I didn't buy the 250mm right away, otherwise I might have needed to buy a tripod also. I guess I'll just keep practicing with my 120mm. Thanks for the response.</p>

[Ed_Ingold]

<p>What? You have no tripod. You will never know how sharp a medium format image can be unless you use a tripod, lock the mirror up and use a long cable release.</p>

[Robin Smith]

<blockquote>

<p>You have no tripod</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Tripods and "candids" don't really go together...</p>

[ondebanks]

<blockquote>

<p>I was looking at the 250mm lens and was wondering. What's the distance it gives me between me and the subject if I wanted to capture about a head-shoulder candid shot? Does this make sense? If this does make sense, what distance can I get from longer lenses with the same end result (head to shoulder shot)?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>It does make sense. For telephoto lenses (say, your 120mm lens and up), it's a fairly accurate approximation that doubling or trebling the focal length results in doubling or trebling the distance that you stand back from the subject in order to achieve the same framing.</p>

<p>So if you get the head to shoulder shot you want from a distance of 10 feet with the 120mm lens, you'll get it from a distance about ~ 20 feet with the 250mm lens and ~ 30 feet with the 350mm lens. (I'm just guesstimating 10 feet as the starting point here).</p>