What camera should I get? : Street photography

walking downtown

old man in leather crossing the road

So in my last blog i covered basic things to consider when choosing your first camera, but today i want to narrow it down a little and get into a specific genre called street photography.

In street photography you want consider going lightweight with your equiptment. Generally a street photographer will condense it down to one camera and one or two lenses.  A lightweight tripod, and some extra batteries and memory cards.

When it comes to lenses you have two choices primes or zooms. With primes you generally get an overall sharper image and larger apertures at less of a cost. The downside is you will have to do what is referred to as zoom with your feet. That is you will have to physically get closer to your subject as these lenses have no zoom.  Many street photographers use this to challenge themselves in learning the fundamentals of photography. As well as hone their skills and their eyes.

Wide angle lenses are great for tight spots. When you can’t get enough room between you and your subjects. These are also great for getting as much of the environment in one shot. Wide angle lenses can range anywhere from 12mm to 24mm.

Mid range lenses are i bit in the middle, and can range from 24mm-70mm . Non more popular than the 50mm or its street name the nifty fifty. in fact most street photographers will start with a nifty fifty. they are compact, and fairly inexpensive. you can find a 50mm 1.8 for most cameras for under 200 US dollars.

Telephoto lenses range from 70mm and up. They are great for portraitures and getting tighter images when you may be unable to close enough to your subject. Again in most cases you will only want one or two lenses, and if is in your budget you may consider a zoom

Zoom lenses allow you get a vairiety camera lengths without having to carry so many lenses. and you will find many beginner cameras will come with one zoom lens often referred to as the kits lens. Now there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the kit lens it purpose is to help you get started after all. The downside to zooms in particular kit lenses is, you will not get those large apertures like a f1.8 or even larger. In fact most kit lenses are what is referred to as variable aperture lenses, that is to say the minimum aperture will vary depending on how far you zoom in. For example if you take an old 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 lens. What these numbers are saying is at 18mm the widest aperture i can make is f3.5 but as you zoom in to 55mm that widest aperture will get smaller and smaller till it reaches f5.6 at 55mm. And now you will have to make up for that loss of light by either sacrificing more grain in your shot with high iso or unwanted motion blur with slower shutter speeds. Zoom lenses that don’t have the variable aperture but are genernally more costly, worth it! but costly!

For camera specs in street photography again you are looking for something relatively light weight. you can go crop or full frame. with crop sensors the iso can look a little too grainy for most peoples taste on anything higher than 3200. where in a full frame camera you can likely go to 6400 iso before it begins to get a little too grainy. that said that in newer tech the gap between what is to grainy has already begun close.

For mega pixels, the real question is do you plan on printing? If all you plan to do is post it online then the higher megapixel is just an unneeded cost. And there are pro level cameras of yesteryear that had 4 megapixels that printed beautiful large scale images. The megapixel is today is kinda like the bits of the console wars of the 90s. everyone will make you feel like you need them.

You want a camera that feels great in the hands, and that you can navigate easily. What do i mean by that? Im referring to the user interface. You do not want to spend all day busy checking your camera settings or trying to get to a specific setting in your camera. You want to be shooting, eventually your goal should be to navigate through your camera with just your fingers and without your eyes. One thing i loved about switching from crop sensor to full frame was dual knob control. On the crop sensor i had one knob to control everything, Having a dedicated knob for my iso, my shutter, and my aperture was a game changer for me. The less your focus on looking at your camera settings the more you can focus on composition and subject.

TRIPODS

You will want something lightweight. If you need more weight during the shot get a tripod with a hook on the bottom of the center column and hang your camera bag on it to help stabilize the shot.  For tripod heads while there are many a ball head is one of the most versatile.

FILTERS

depending on the look your going for you have some choices to make with filters. ND or neutral density filters act like sunglasses for your lens. CPL filters can cut through reflections in glass and water and add blue in the skylines. Softening filters can addd a bit of a dreamy quality to your images. There are others but these are the most common used by street photographers now a days.

Lastly you will need a decent camera bag to carry all this in. Remember you want to think portable, lightweight, and reliable you will likely be walking a lot so carrying lots of heavy or cumbersome equipment will only hurt you.

WHAT’S IN MY BAG

Here’s what I usually have ready to go for Street photography.

(shown above) I typically take my Nikon Z 6II without the battery grip; I either take a 28mm F2.8SE or the Sigma 35mm F1.4 if I plan on shooting in low light; a Minolta 50mm F2 MD. This is adapted and full Manual, no auto focus; an 85mm F1.8S; a Benro Tortoise tripod with the hook in the bottom of the center column to hang more weight if needed; extra batteries; memory cards (not shown); and a single sling Black Rapid camera strap. This all fits neatly in my Mosiso camera bag. (shown below). Optionally I may take some softening filters or CPL filters. Now if I were starting today, I would start with the camera, the 50mm lens, an extra battery, memory card and a tripod.

Now aside from the extra weight; The main reason I do not take so much of my extra lenses or accessories like my battery grip, is because having a big professional camera can garner some unwanted attention. Where a small light setup can help you look like the tourist that no one minds. Which means less stopping to explain yourself, and more shooting. In short, less is more.