Street photography - Which lens ?

I intend to do more street photography I already have a 16-85 lens, do you think I may need a little more reach ?

I've read up a bit on Street Photography. 28-50mm seems to be the general consensus. It's the longest I use personally. To me, longer zooms sway from 'Street Photography' a bit.

Consider a 35mm 1.8G if you haven't already.

Contrary to what is mostly used, I use my 150-600mm when shooting.

I personally don't see many advantages in using short lengths. Besides maybe being able to use a slower shutter.

I think your 16-85 at the long end, on a DX body is longer than most street photogs shoot...

JH Foto said:

I intend to do more street photography I already have a 16-85 lens, do you think I may need a little more reach ?

Click to expand...

I would say a lot depends on how you intend to approach this particular style of shooting. I've experimented a bit with street shooting and found I prefer focal lengths in the wide-to-normal lengths. 24mm-50mm works well for me on a full-frame body, but that's because I like getting in the thick of what I'm shooting while maintaining some environmental context whenever possible. Typically speaking I found shooting wider, with a deeper DoF and a high shutter speed was the order of the day (ISO be damned!) typically speaking, but there are always exceptions. I also found I much preferred prime lenses over zooms because it's just one less thing to think about when something amazing is about to unfold in front of me.

I generally walk around with my 24-70 locked on my D750 - sometimes for fun I'll pop the 85 1.4 Rokinon on just for grins and to make people question if I know what I'm actually doing or not. There really isn't a "right" answer to this kind of question IMO because what matters is the end result for me...

If you are willing to focus with your feet, you can not go wrong with a nifty 50 or even the 60mm micro, which I prefer. That being said, many old time photo journalist swore by the 24-120 street sweeper of which the 16-85 is the dx equivilent

I use a min of 300mm. My reason is that I want to capture the person that doesn't know a camera is on them and not the person that comes out when they see a camera.

Maybe this thread http://nikonites.com/project-365-and-daily-photos/13054-street-photography.html#axzz2RuuLwsYS is going to help you

I personal like a short range lens cos I like to go into the scene

I just spent some time in the Boston area and had good luck with a D5500 and the 18-140 mm lens. The range allowed me do a lot of street photography, but the extra reach provided access to taller buildings, architectural touches, and remaining unobtrusive of the passing scene. I was encouraged by the results and will be sure to take the same lens along for future endeavors.