50mm focal length for street?

ic-racer

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I'm not a big fan of the angle of view of a 50mm lens on 35mm format. However, in most of the systems I have, the 50mm lens is the sharpest and fastest. So, if I need a fast lens or the best resolution, I'll use the 50mm.
 

lensworker

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I find that with a 50mm, I have to back up - and then people wander into the space between me and my subject like a herd of lobotomized house cats.

With my 28mm, I can get close to my intended subject(s) without leaving room for stragglers to wander into my frame.

Sometimes a 50mm does work well as a short telephoto lens for street work, though.
 

alexfoto

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-I use normal lens 90%, short telephoto for the 8% and maybe 2% wide no more than 35mm in my 35mm camera and equivalent in medium format of my pictures, i like abstract approach because this put the spectator to use their fantasy, imagine the rest of the scene, i don't like the ''obvious'' approach (..put all) of wide angle, this is good for commercial work but i think no good for art.
-This passion with wide angle (..put all)start from the professional, commercial, photographer, (like national geographic) shotting travel photography and of course that is good for that type of photography because they wand to show ''all'', but i think this is no art because art need to put the spectator to think, the art no need to be ''obvious''..
 

alexfoto

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I'm sorry not to mentioned but that is my approach, i don't mean photographing with wide angle is wrong, only its not good to have all the same thinking, its good to have our personality.
 

corposant

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I like to carry my 50mm (in 35mm terms) when I am on the street, but generally speaking 28mm is my favorite focal length for street shooting. 50mm can give you a great perspective on a particular subject, but isn't wide enough to give you any context (unless you are shooting from afar).
 
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The 50 is attractive because of its postcard rendition, and also because of the comfortable distance from the subject, but even if we can get many great images, a few are just unobtainable because of its narrow angle of view. However, from 28 to 50 they all can be well used.
 
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