Candid street lens recommendations

Farno

Farno

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Neil
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I currently shoot with a Nikon crop body and a 50mm ƒ1.4
I love the combination but I seldom get out and sometime my nerves get the better of me. I soon settle but I feel I've missed a few keepers.
My wife has agreed to get me an 85mm prime but will it help me or not?
In the long term i was going to get a 35mm ƒ2.0 for the kids round the house so i may end up with 35, 50 and 85mm primes. Possible drop the 50mm and using the 85mm for the kids outside when their running around.

To add a little more I have found myself looking at a Nikon F4s Body. Im confused. Can you tell.

SO the question (I think is) get the 85mm as it may/will help with my love for street candid and the kids in the outside word.

Get the F4s as film is just better in every way!

Other?
 
Get a Fuji x10 awesome street camera with good range and aperture ;) don't personally think the 85mm is a good idea although a lovely lens not ideal for street shots. The combo you have should be good, you just need to get out there!
 
I used to own nikon gear, but found i had the same problem of not wanting to lug it around. Plus people can feel quite intimidated when they see you in the street with such a huge camera.
I think the X10 is a good recomendation or i have the X100 if you need the low light sensor and viewfinder.
I thought i would miss the changable lenses but if anything it has encouraged me to think outside the box.
Iv started to enjoy my photography much more and now take photos ever week if not every day.
 
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Thank, I'll look into the suggestions.
 
I have always been told for shooting street is to get closer. At first it is hard, I am not the most confident person in the world, but once you start seeing the results you get from getting closer you will start to get a lot more confident :)

I currently use a 50mm lens as well on my 550D, but I am looking into either getting a 35mm lens or a 28mm lens.

I would say that the 35mm would be better for street photography and personally think the 85mm will be good for taking pictures of your so as not to disturb them when playing etc.

Hope this helps :)
 
the 85mm f1.4 offering by sigma is an excellent piece of lens for street photography but if you prefer to shoot the subject at a further distance, something along the lines of 135mm will serve you better. not to mention the bokeh of a longer lens will be more impressive
 
Well I had a weeks holiday so decided to head to Newcastle with my 50mm
I went with the intention of asking people if I could just take their photo, the resin I gave, 'It is a personal challenge'

Only two people said no!
My wife has ordered an 85mm for my Birthday tomorrow, i can get shots of the kids playing. The eldest, 5 years, just pulls faces when he see the camera now, don't blame him TBH

Thanks for the advice.
I looked at the Fuji X100 WOW great camera and I love the rangefinder style. I'd love one of those and the noise control looks amazing. shame its so expensive, but you get what you pay for. I was put off by the reviews of slow AF and almost useless AF in dark conditions, but this seems to be addressed in a firmware update?
Thanks again for the replies.
Neil
 
If you're considering dabbling in film an Olympus Trip 35 is a cheap option and IMO perfectly suited to street photography. Zone focus, unobtrusive, auto exposure, nice focal length (plus the lens is amazing).

A Nikon F4 is far too bulky and intimidating for subtle street use (their smaller SLRs, eg FE, would be a much better choice).
 
kelvinkuokm said:
the 85mm f1.4 offering by sigma is an excellent piece of lens for street photography but if you prefer to shoot the subject at a further distance, something along the lines of 135mm will serve you better. not to mention the bokeh of a longer lens will be more impressive
Click to expand...

Not true. The fastest 135mm lens you can get in Canikon is Canon's 135 f/2L which has a 67.5mm max aperture, the 85 1.4 has a 68mm aperture. Sure the difference in maximum real aperture sizes is tiny, but because the 85 has a wider field of view, you get closer for similar framing, meaning less depth of field. 85 lenses have the most impressively shallow depth of field on full frame of any lenses as a sort of sweet spot. Just flick through the most interesting images on the various lenses' flickr pages and you'll see what I mean.

85/135 lengths particularly on a crop would make me feel particularly stalkerish for street photography. The most impressive stuff I find tends to be between 35mm and 50mm from the work I've seen, so either use something like a 17-50 f/2.8, or Nikon's fantastic 35 f/1.8
 
I recently started carrying an Olympus pen as I felt a bit obvious wandering about with my K-x. Just bought the 45mm f1.8 for trying out street shooting, it's a tiny combination that I'm much happier pointing at strangers - and no-one batted an eyelid at me while playing about with it this weekend!
Didn't shoot anything worth posting as it was my first try at street, but the lens is *lovely*
 
Anything between 28mm-50mm on full frame works well for street. Go wider and it gets harder to control distortion, go longer and you're often way too close to get any context in. My favourite at the is 35mm, it feels just right whenever I compose a shot.
 
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I use a Lumix GF2 with the 14mm pancake (which gives an equivalent focal length of 28mm) and either a film rangefinder with 45mm lens or the trusty Olympus trip with its 40mm. You need to get close - anything where you can stand more than 2 - 3 metres away isn't really entering into what is going on,
 
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