street photography

[gokenin]

My question do you use autofocus or manual? I always feel strange using a manual lens when I shoot on the street. Wonders if the autofocus speed will make the shots faster and sneekier

[BBear]

Great question!

I just asked the same thing (actually very similar) in the Photo Section.

And now that you mentioned, I think this could be also a reason why I am "street shy", having mostly manual lenses and needing more time for the shots.

[BBear]

how do I vote? I dont shoot random people that much, partially because I feel weird doint it and my MF lenses take some time too...

[Nesster]

I do both - mf hyperfocal is the traditional way, and sometimes focusing in a crowd is simply easier with mf. But af has its advantages as you mention

[hwblanks]

One advantage of MF lenses, besides being cheaper than AF lenses--they don't make any noise to speak of when you focus them. If you can become proficient at manually focusing quickly, I'm sure it would be an advantage for street photography.

Heather

[cygnet]

I've got new DA lenses, but for street I still use a wide lens (DA21) and pre-focus manually to about 12 feet out, and then use a remote cable for the shutter, so I'm not even looking through the finder when I shoot. That's the old way of doing it, but it still works great for street. Just focus with the distance chart on the lens.

[devs66]

I use AF with the DA18-55 II for hips shots on the street, very fast focus and I find the range about right in a crowd. If the light is good I try to keep it at f8, single focus, and set the ISO between 100 and 400 (depends on light).

So far I have had a lot of good luck with this set up, running at f8 gives a little forgiveness on the focus.

DEVS

[Wombat]

These days I think we have more leeway to take our time with street shots. With so many tourists and regular citizens snapping away with their p&s cameras and mobile phones I find people rarely take much notice anymore if I point a camera vaguely in their direction. And if you get someone who objects it's easy enough with a digital camera to let them see the shot being deleted while you offer an apology. On one occasion I actually made a friend by offering to email him a copy of the shot. So, if you like to shoot with mf, I believe you won't be disadvantaged.

[PDL]

The big caveat for me is that while I use autofocus - I have de-coupled AF from the shutter button - so once the focus is set on a subject at a given distance, every time I hit the shutter button the camera takes an image. The camera is focused on what I want - not on what it thinks the subject is.

Look Ma no hunting. Be bold - take control.

The Elitist - formerly known as PDL

[little laker]

In rarely do street photography, however when I do I use both manual and auto.
Unless I'm on a crowded street my choice lens is my Sigma 135 - 400.
They never hear the focus motors from across the street

[Zewrak]

S-M-C Takumar 20/4.5, Super Takumar 55/1.8, Super Takumar 135/4 is my street set. All manual in other words.

[DJey]

both.. rush then AF but if the subject is still, somehow MF is better.. has the feel

[rparmar]

Originally Posted by cygnet

I've got new DA lenses, but for street I still use a wide lens (DA21) and pre-focus manually to about 12 feet out, and then use a remote cable for the shutter, so I'm not even looking through the finder when I shoot. That's the old way of doing it, but it still works great for street. Just focus with the distance chart on the lens.

Yep, that's the way to do it. Unfortunately 21mm is not wide enough for me, so I'm looking forward to the DA15 Limited to make this sort of shoot a reality. Cropped in a little it will be more like a film 28mm.

[ftpaddict]

Both, since I have both AF and MF glass.

[séamuis]

typically my MX and smc-M 35mm 2.8 set to hyperfocus. not much of a need to worry about anything after that except getting some interesting shots. so to summarize I use Manual.