What is the Best Camera for Street Photography?
I was asked many times what is the best camera to make street photography and my answer has always been that there is no real answer to this question. Because the choice of a camera is something extremely personal and because practically you can do street photography with virtually any camera.
But…yes, there is a but. Motivated by the fact that in this article I want to reveal to those who read my idea about it and has to do with street photography and how it can be done consistently.
It doesn't have to do with megapixels or all the marketing gimmicks. And I am talking about real street photography and not that crap that is proposed in many videos on youtube where we see photograph using telephoto lenses or photos of people passing by without much sense: this is because many people doesn’t have a clue what Street Photography really is!
So, what is the best camera for Street Photography? Let’s start from a mantra: Less is more! And with this I mean that camera menus shouldn't be overly complicated. This is a lesson that Leica teaches in their cameras. To the end of the game and especially when it comes to Street Photography taking pictures hasn't changed since 100 years ago: it is always a matter of combinations for the correct exposure.
The best camera for Street Photography must count with dials that allow you immediate control of the camera. And then come my ideas that are not gospel, but some experience after all these years I assume I have gained: Street Photography made with a certain consistence and to obtain exactly what you want means to work manual. I mean: FULL MANUAL. Yes, manual exposure and manual focusing. This means you have to learn how to zone focusing. This article is not a guide to zone focusing so here I just say that basically is pre-focusing your lens to a certain distance (there are several ways to achieve it with a digital camera) and you can find a lot of guides on the web. I found particularly interesting and curated these articles:
I conclude this article with my general recipe when I am on the streets. Consider that my digital cameras are Fujifilm X series cameras:
Shutter speed: 1/250 or 1/500, I can go down to 1/125 in particular conditions.
Aperture: Usually I keep it between f8 and f11, sometimes I can choose f16. In indoor situations, for example the metro in Mexico I can go down until f2.8 with my 18mm f2, but you need to consider there are very dark spots in the subway.
ISO: For ISO I go AUTO. For generic situations my choice is between 200 and 3200, with the minimal shutter velocity set to 1/125. At night, in the dark nights in Mexico City streets I have two other ISO programs reaching 6400 and minimal shutter speed velocity 1/60.
White Balance: Also this I keep it AUTO. After several experiments I have seen how is better to keep it AUTO. Indeed if I have to enter in some place like a supermarket I don’t need to remind to change this parameter.
Focal Length: in order to get an effective zone focusing I recommend to use 28mm and as a max. 35mm. Currently I am working with an equivalent 37.5mm that should be more complicated and yet I achieve to work fine with that lens.
To conclude: any camera virtually can fit your work, but I recommend a camera allowing you to work in full manual. Only in that way you can really obtain images that satisfy you. Aperture priority that is used by many street photographers is nothing more than a compromise that affects the rendering of the photos. If you don’t agree, I would like to tell you to check for example the sky in the photos as is read by the semi-automatic mode. I said when I started this post: this is dedicated to those interested to make street photography with consistence and if you want to take your photography to the next level.
