Street cleaner
Pick the lens that works best for your type of street photography
Traditionally, a 35mm manualfocus prime has been the go-to type of lens for street photography, at least when using a full-frame camera. It gives a wide viewing angle and a natural perspective, while avoiding the risk of missing the definitive moment due to fussing around.
The idea is that you set the focus distance in advance, so you can shoot without any delays. So-called ‘zone focusing’ enables you to render the required zone of a scene sharply. It’s easiest to apply when using a traditional manual-focus lens that typically has a long rotational travel in its focus ring, along with a focus distance scale and multiple depth of field markers for different apertures. This enables you to turn the focus ring until the short and long focus distances governing the preferred zone fall between the relevant depth of field markers. However, time moves on and it’s hard to stick with tradition when the majority of modern optics are AF lenses that make zone focusing difficult. There’s often less rotational travel in the focus ring, with a tightly packed focus distance scale and rudimentary depth of field markers. On the plus side, Nikon’s mirrorless (and some DSLR) cameras offer a ‘focus peaking’ option that makes manual focusing easy.
In general, faster lenses with wider aperture ratings are preferred, as they enable a tighter depth of field when required, as well as faster shutter speeds under dull lighting. With street photography, however, you’re likely to need narrower apertures, so that the depth of field is larger and focusing isn’t so critical. An advantage of lenses with a more modest aperture rating is that they tend to be physically smaller, lighter and more stealthy, so you’re less likely to draw attention to yourself.
While manual focusing is a tried-andtrusted method, there’s a lot to be said for switching to AF, especially when using Nikon’s latest mirrorless cameras. The phase-detection AF systems built into the image sensor enable fast autofocusing anywhere in the frame, when composing shots on the rear screen. You can therefore shoot from the hip, so to speak, and be even more inconspicuous by not raising the camera to your eye.