Street photography is a great genre within the fascinating realm of imagery. After all, there is so much to see on the street that you can photograph almost anything. But which lens do you actually use best here? In this article you will find an answer to the question “which lens for street photography?” You can also read here what my favorite street photography lens is.
This article is part of the file “What lens do I need?” Click here for information on different types of lenses.
To begin, I’ll get right to the point: there is no optimal lens for capturing street life. It just depends on what you want. Do you want a lot of surroundings in the picture or not? Do you prefer to focus on individuals? Want to create an expansive or busy feeling in your images? The choice of your lens helps determine your results.
First, a little word in advance. Everything I share below is based on working with a fullframe camera. These are cameras that are within the rather professional range and have a full sensor of 35 mm. Do you have a crop or APS-C sensor, then your sensor is smaller and the operation of the lens picks up differently. Users of Canon with crop sensor have a crop factor of 1.6. To reduce the effective focal length know, multiply the number in number of millimeters of your lens by 1.6. What is 80 mm on a fullframe is then 128 mm on an APS-C sensor. Nikon in turn has a crop factor of 1.5. So if you are not working fullframe, don’t forget to do your calculation.
Zoom or prime lens for street photography?
This is a question many people ask themselves before embarking on street photography. With a zoom lens you can zoom and a prime lens is a fixed lens. With a prime lens, you yourself as the photographer are actually the zoom. The advantage of a prime lens is the low f-number. The lower the number, the more light your lens can capture. The disadvantage with zoom lenses can be that they start with a slightly higher f-number. Or, if these start with a low number, they may become less bright when zoomed in.
Because of the brightness, I usually use a prime lens as a photographer in street photography. I then have to be a zoom myself by moving forward or backward, but it does boost my creativity. I am actually very limited then and have to make do with the things present. This can then produce surprising images. Furthermore, a prime lens like this is much smaller than a zoom lens, so people don’t immediately think I’m a photojournalist for the press. Also, this comes across as less threatening.
Below I discuss the various options for travel photography. Know in advance that no single lens is ideal, it just depends on what you want and what your personal preference is.
28 mm lens for depth in street photography
If you want to emphasize the vastness of streets, then this lens is your partner in crime. This is a true wide angle that allows you to capture a lot in your image. With this, you can show a lot of street life.
The disadvantage of this is that sometimes you have to get very close to photograph your decisive moment or moment décisif . One possible solution is to consider a 35 mm prime lens, this is a light wide angle with a narrower field of view that carries less environment into the picture.
50 mm lens for street photography
When practicing street photography, your eyes are actually your most important element of all. They scour the streets for interesting scenes, shapes and color combinations. Nothing can sometimes be more convenient than putting a lens on your body that photographs exactly what you see. In fact, the 50 mm lens is largely equivalent to human vision. What you see is what you get, your camera and lens have now become simply an extension of your own eyes!
These lenses are also often only a few inches thick, so you don’t really stand out as a photographer on the street. Indeed, in recent years people seem to have become more sensitive to the presence of cameras outside. This lens is my personal favorite, not only because of the field of view, but also because of the fact that I am not immediately noticed as a professional photographer on the streets of Brussels!
Curious about my street photos taken with a 50 mm lens? Look here for my digital street photography exhibition.
80 mm or 85 mm for busy street photography
Do you like to emphasize how busy life is in a big city? Then consider an 80 or 85 mm lens. We are dealing here with a telephoto lens: what is far away comes closer. In this process, a form of perspective distortion occurs that makes the streets appear much narrower and the buildings much more imposing. Do you enjoy photographing people and are afraid to get close? Then this lens also offers a solution.
One drawback to this lens is that it is quite bulky. You quickly stand out on the street with such a lens. Some people can handle that well, others not always. Because you may be mistaken for a journalist. Especially in neighborhoods that have been in the news negatively, not everyone likes to see such imposing lenses on the streets.
Zoom lens for street photography
Do you prefer flexibility or want to achieve different effects? Then you might consider a zoom lens, because while changing lenses you can miss beautiful street scenes. Also, a zoom lens allows you to carry less with you.
Zoom lenses come in all shapes and sizes. For example, I have a zoom lens from 28 to 135 mm and one from 75 to 300 mm. For street photography, I usually don’t use these because I simply find them too big. But if there are beautiful reflections in rain puddles, then a zoom lens can come in handy because then you don’t have to lie on the ground with your camera!
Conclusion
I summarize the above for you again below:
- There is no ideal street photography lens, it’s all about what you want and what you feel comfortable with.
- Do you opt for a zoom lens? You’re going to be able to do all kinds of things with it, but you stand out tremendously.
- Are you going for a bright prime lens? With 28 mm you emphasize the feeling of vastness on the street, with 50 mm you have a what you see is what you get experience, and with 80 mm or more you can create a printed atmosphere in a big city.
- Tip for the photographer who wants to be inconspicuous: take a prime lens of say 50 mm, people are not going to think you are a professional. You are more likely to be mistaken for a lost tourist! And that can make for some really fun conversations!
Curious about other lenses? Click here for the ideal lens for portrait photography. Or look here for the best lens for travel photography.