Street photography equipment (including the best street camera)

“Which camera should I buy?”

They ask me a lot.

I am a street photographer. I would like to share with you some of the key technical factors of street photography equipment.

What is the best street camera?

There’s been some cool stuff lately four-thirds micro cameras making rounds.

Four-thirds micro cameras are mirrorless cameras with interchangeable lenses. The compact design and lightweight construction make them ideal travel companions. He the best online photo agencies accepts photos taken with four-thirds micro cameras. So this is a great advantage for those of you who have these ambitions.

Aiming and shooting cameras simply do not meet the requirements.

They’re not designed or built for professional photographers, are they? The most significant drawbacks are the focus areas instead of focus points (which makes it impossible to focus on small sections of the frame, such as just one person’s eyes or a drop of water on a petal). There is only so much light that a small lens can take to make low light photography almost useless.

Well, DSLR cameras rule!

So which DSLR camera should you buy? Well, you have to find out for yourself! But let me suggest a little exercise that will help the decision-making process.

Make a list of the things you want to photograph for the next two years. For example, butterflies, the Eiffel Tower, breakfast, sparrows, Amsterdam canals, your friend’s baby, portraits of your friends, aerial views of your hometown, and so on.

Now let’s look at this list.

You need a wide-angle lens (16mm / 28mm / 35mm) to take the best travel photos of the Eiffel Tower, Amsterdam canals and aerial views of your hometown, a macro lens for photographing butterflies (macro of 180 mm) and breakfast (50 mm macro), a normal lens (50 mm) to take photos of your friend’s baby and portraits of your friends in general and a telephoto lens (over 300 mm) to photograph sparrows.

In my humble opinion, the most important piece of street photography equipment is not the camera but the lens!

I insist that fast lenses have apertures of at least f / 2.8. I also insist that lenses with a focal length of 300 mm or more should be thin lenses. And these lenses are not cheap!

So I recommend that you review your list. Think about the things you will be photographing for the next two years; take your time.

When it comes to travel / street photography, I would imagine that a fixed wide angle lens (first) says 35mm f / 1.4 or a 16mm-35mm f / 2.8 zoom lens would suffice.

A decade ago, I would use a telephoto lens (90mm-300mm f / 3.5-5.6) almost exclusively. He was obsessed with making well-framed portraits. Since 2008, I have not used a lens with a focal length greater than 50 mm.

I’ve come to believe that taking pictures on the street or outdoors with a telephoto lens (especially anything beyond 50mm) is disrespectful to people being photographed. When you take street photography portraits, you really want to use the right lens.

Now, let’s talk about street cameras.

I would buy one mid-range DSLR camera ia strong lenses lousy lenses mounted on a high-end DSLR.

In addition, serious professionals / amateurs have no right to complain about bulky / heavy cameras and lenses. Remember to look for quality.

Mid-range DSLR cameras have a magnification factor of about 1.5x, so a 50mm lens mounted on one of them won’t be the best choice for photographing Amsterdam canals, but it will help you make some fantastic portraits of your friends. This is where something like a 16mm-35mm f / 2.8 helps.

I’m a big fan of medium format photography. I can’t afford medium format digital cameras. But over and over again, I play with my Yashica Mat 6 × 6 and Fuji GS645S Professional film cameras.

The size of a 35mm camera frame (not slow, but camera) is 1 inch x 1.5 inch (the most common SLR / point and shoot cameras that take rolls of film and DSLR cameras come in this category). Medium format films have one side set to 6 cm and the other may vary (e.g. 4.6 cm, 6 cm, 17 cm, etc.) depending on the size of the camera body.

I think the 6 × 6 format makes the best portraits.

Servo AI or “continuous focus”

Look for AI servo or “continuous focus” settings on your camera; different manufacturers have named it differently. The role of the AI ​​server or “continuous focus” is Continuously refocus the subject while the shutter button is pressed halfway.

This setting can make a difference when it comes to taking pictures where the main subject is in constant motion, such as your dog running towards you / a moving car / bicycle, and so on. But this can drain your battery. So be sure to return to “One Shot” when you’re done shooting moving subjects.

Tripod or non-tripod. That is the question.

Need to include a tripod in your street photography equipment list?

Let’s be honest, it is it is not always possible to mount a tripod on the street; especially crowded streets. Plus, you’ll be missing out on some great street photography moments while trying to put the tripod in its place. But as much as possible, use a tripod for photographs / architectural landscapes where the timing / role of people is not very important.

Buy a lightweight, weather-resistant professional carrying bag. Again, it’s not expensive, but think of it as a one-size-fits-all investment. We love Nomatic camera bags – they’re waterproof, they can fit on a laptop, and they have customizable tabs. They also sell great accessories for camera bags, such as battery cases, memory card cases, straps, and technology organizers.

See our Guide to Creating and Editing Travel Videos.

Lost your chance to take a great photo?

No matter how many photos you take on a trip, there is always this a shot you missed. For bloggers, there’s nothing worse than sitting down to post a post about a recent trip and realizing you’re forgetting to take a specific photo of a place you’re recommending. Fortunately, when this happens, there are some great stock photography websites where you can get just about any photo you are looking for!

We also love using stock photography websites to inspire us with possible photographs in certain destinations. Here are some inspirations for capturing the streets of Shanghai: