Street candid lens dilema

Farno

Farno

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Neil
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I love shooting street candid and used to go out with a 70-200 I now only ever take my 50ƒ1.4
I was talking with the better half a few weeks ago and she has given me the go ahead to buy a 85mm prime. I have sold this to her as it has around £100 of at the moment and would be great for street work where my confidence is a little low to get some shots.
However am I spending the money just because I can or will the extra length really help me with street work?
I plan to move on my current 50ƒ1.4 and get the 35ƒ2.0 as the 50mm is to close for the kids in the house.
So the question would the move be a good all round idea?
I would eventually have 35 and 85 primes to sit along side my 24-70 and 70-200.
The 24-70 is way to conspicuous for my liking when out in either Newcastle or Sunderland.
 
Anything between 24-50mm is good for street work, personally I never use a lens above 50mm for street as it's too tight to give context. However I do like the 85 for portraits. I don't think you need to spend any extra money to get 'better' street shots, just get comfortable with one focal length for street.
 
85mm seems rather long for street stuff, but so does 70-200 and even 50 so I guess it's a personal preference thing.
 
If you are shooting a DX camera then even a 50mm is going to be a bit on the "long" side for street work as it will act like a 75mm lens.

The most popular primes for street on FX cameras are 28/35/50 so the nearest equivalents for a DX camera would be 18/24/35.

I started doing street with a 50 then got a 35 and 28 as I got bored with the 50, but only use the 28 now having sold the other 2 lenses.
 
haha, depends... the extreme street photography lot seem to pride themselves on how wide a lens they use, almost use it as a hierarchy. IMO it just defines how much of a dick you're happy to be to the general public....
 
At some point street photography edges into surveillence (or certainly something that's not street photography) when you increase the focal length of the lens and the distance you put between yourself and the subject, I'm not sure what focal length marks the cross-over.. but 35mm would be street, and 200mm would be surveillence. It might sound like a moot point, but someone like Philip-Lorca diCorcia using a long lens for "Heads" is to me shootiing candid street portraits, but isn't shooting street photography as he removes the context of the street by distancing himself from the subject.

If you're uncomfortable getting close.. you could try a smaller and less obtrusive camera, rather than a long lens and putting distance between you and the subject. I quite like Kirk Tuck's approach to Approval. Tacit Approval. Implied Approval and "Street Photography.".
 
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