[zswjy]

i always like take pics on street when i walk around city. i would like a lens with sharpness and quick focus. and i do not want the person i shoot will get notice, so the lens should work nice at long range.

any recommend lens for me?

[hcc]

The DA Ltd series lenses with their pancake design are ideal for street photography in my opinion. I used successfully the DA40mm xs for that purpose. Most zoom lenses are simply too big.

Food for thought...

[TomTextura]

I've used all of my primes (DA15, FA31, FA77) for shooting on the street. The FA31 has been the most versatile for me. The FA77 can give me some distance, which sounds sort of like what you are after, and makes for nice tight portraits if I am close but I tend to use it the least when doing street. The DA15 is great for architecture and wide scenes, and can be shot easily from the hip. The FA31 can also be shot from the hip but I need to be more careful when doing so and accept that I will throw out some shots due to chopped subjects. With the K-5, both the DA15 and FA31 resolve plenty well to enable pretty heavy cropping when desired. The AF speed of the 15 is the fastest, 31 is next, and 77 is last but still not slow. I would love to get the FA43 for street portraits and I've heard it's fast at AF.

If you are looking for more affordable options I would definitely consider the DA 35 (not the Limited macro) and the new DA 50. Either would be nice but I think that the ~35mm range is more useful for walk around and street photography as it's closer to the classic angle of view of a "normal" 50mm lens on a 135 format camera. I think that the DA40 Limited would also be worth considering, and you'd have the benefits of quick shift focusing, compact size, and excellent build quality.

The two zooms I have are a little on the large side and not exactly fast focusing so I don't use either of them as much when doing street shooting. The DA*16-50 I have though is extremely practical and a great walk around lens, especially if you don't want to be swapping lenses. I like to shoot wide a lot so really appreciate being able to zoom out to 16mm at any time. It's a great focal length range to have and the WR sealing means you don't have to worry about what the weather might end up being. I just tend to favor my prime kit over my zooms these days.

[calsan]

Telephoto lenses require that you point your camera directly at your subject. This isn't so 'unnoticeable'.
I've had a bit of success with wide angles and standing right next to my subject. If you keep them at the edge of the frame, they think you're shooting straight past them. Just my 2 cents.

[Sandy Hancock]

I reckon the DA21 with a K-01 is a fine candid walk-around kit. Compact, sharp, full time live view for hip shooting and wide enough to be pretty versatile.

[zswjy]

I've used all of my primes (DA15, FA31, FA77) for shooting on the street. The FA31 has been the most versatile for me. The FA77 can give me some distance, which sounds sort of like what you are after, and makes for nice tight portraits if I am close but I tend to use it the least when doing street. The DA15 is great for architecture and wide scenes, and can be shot easily from the hip. The FA31 can also be shot from the hip but I need to be more careful when doing so and accept that I will throw out some shots due to chopped subjects. With the K-5, both the DA15 and FA31 resolve plenty well to enable pretty heavy cropping when desired. The AF speed of the 15 is the fastest, 31 is next, and 77 is last but still not slow. I would love to get the FA43 for street portraits and I've heard it's fast at AF.

If you are looking for more affordable options I would definitely consider the DA 35 (not the Limited macro) and the new DA 50. Either would be nice but I think that the ~35mm range is more useful for walk around and street photography as it's closer to the classic angle of view of a "normal" 50mm lens on a 135 format camera. I think that the DA40 Limited would also be worth considering, and you'd have the benefits of quick shift focusing, compact size, and excellent build quality.

The two zooms I have are a little on the large side and not exactly fast focusing so I don't use either of them as much when doing street shooting. The DA*16-50 I have though is extremely practical and a great walk around lens, especially if you don't want to be swapping lenses. I like to shoot wide a lot so really appreciate being able to zoom out to 16mm at any time. It's a great focal length range to have and the WR sealing means you don't have to worry about what the weather might end up being. I just tend to favor my prime kit over my zooms these days.

i think the ideal lens should be a zoom lens, any recommend for zoom lens?

[timo]

i think the ideal lens should be a zoom lens, any recommend for zoom lens?

You may as well use the kit 18-55 if you're going for a zoom lens. A 'better quality' zoom is likely to be bigger and heavier, with a larger front element. Something like the Sigma 17-70, which is a good walkaround, scares the hell out of anyone you point it at directly. Discreet it isn't. My FA24-90 is less intimidating, but still much more noticeable than a DA21 prime or similar.

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Last edited by timo; 08-06-2012 at 08:40 AM.

[saff]

The DA Ltd series lenses with their pancake design are ideal for street photography in my opinion. I used successfully the DA40mm xs for that purpose. Most zoom lenses are simply too big.

Food for thought...

Would you recommend the lens hood for the 40mm, or is that just unnecessary added bulk?

[crewl1]

My most used lenses are a DA21 or FA35 for the distance I like to shoot street.
The DA40 is another very good option.
A hood is necessary here as the sunlight tends to bounce around and hit the lens at angles.
I shoot in TAV mode to keep a preferred aperture and speed for good DOF and avoid movement blur.
Personally I do not like the telephoto approach to street so that is why I use the shorter lenses.
Samples are in my flickr link below.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/citystreetshots/

[gtl]

FA31mm for me works well. AF is snappy. But I recently tried out a FA43mm and the compact size is really quite a revelation. AF is not as quick as the FA31mm but its adequate. I think having both in a street shooting kit would be cool...

[subidoc]

I was cheap. I used an A 28mm/2.8 and left it at hyperfocal.

[ducdao]

For me, on APS-C the focal length 28 - 35mm works best.

Most of the time I use the Limited DA35/2.8 when I need AF if not I go with the M35/2.

[Ahab]

The DA Ltd series lenses with their pancake design are ideal for street photography in my opinion. I used successfully the DA40mm xs for that purpose. Most zoom lenses are simply too big.

Food for thought...

I'm with you!

[JinDesu]

I would echo some of the previous users.

I walk around with a Sigma 50 and a DA 35 F2.4. I have realized that - for me - the best focal length for walking around is either the 31mm, 24mm, or 21mm. Cropping gives me the zoom I need, and I don't need to walk into the middle of a street to get a full body shot.

[DeadJohn]

i always like take pics on street when i walk around city. i would like a lens with sharpness and quick focus. and i do not want the person i shoot will get notice, so the lens should work nice at long range.

There are many schools of thought on street photography without being noticed by your subjects. You can either use moderate telephoto and keep your distance, or wide angle up close but don't point the camera directly in your subject's face. And then some people have success with styles that do get noticed by subjects.

I've personally never tried the telephoto option. I've tried the the FA43 and even though it's a small lens people do notice the camera being pointed in their direction. A Tamron 10-24 zoom, despite being a larger lens, allows me to shoot hyperfocal (no need to focus) with the camera held inconspicuously low. It's my best street lens but I do intend to buy the DA21 eventually.

What lenses do you already own? If you have the 18-55 kit lens experiment with the wide end. Try Av or TAv mode at f8, zoom to around 21mm, manually focus on something around 9 feet away, and then everything from 4.5 - infinity should be in focus. See Online Depth of Field Calculator for more info. Zoom out to 18mm and the focus is even more lenient than at 21mm. Similar things can be done in full M mode but I like the flexibility of letting the camera choose the proper exposure when I'm shooting from the hip. (apologies if that sounds condescending, I'm assuming you don't know what hyperfocal focusing is yet)