40mm STM wide enough for street photog. on FF?

I was looking with envy at the new Sigma and Canon 35mm f1.4 lenses and I though to myself that without the f1.4, when used in daylight, there's not much difference between 35 and 40mm. Of course it's not going to be as verstatile as my 15-85mm on crop but the 15-85 is rather heavy and big. The 40mm might just give a fullframe camera that much needed humble look. 28mm would be more of my taste but the 40 is sharper and 2x cheaper.

any though on the subject? For street photography that is.
cheers

Personally for me any lens can be for street photography, heck you can even put the 85L as a street photography lens. I have walked around with the 40mm and the 35mm and I do prefer the 35mm as far as street photography goes because of the shallow DoF you can get but you are right in broad daylight you gotta do something to not have so much light coming in. People are gonna say either 24II or 35mm but I think the pancake does just fine for FF, now on a crop sensor it could be ideal or not depending on your taste.

The 24 is very wide. It's cool for some shots but it's kinda restrective if you only have that. Like I said, my best would be a 28. Got a lot in the frame without being distored.

I use 85mm a lot especially by evening.

I feel that 40mm, only 170$, very small... would be like using my iphone camera but with a lot more resolution. it's tempting but maybe I should put the cash on some f1.8 love...

Point is, I got 50 and 85mm covered for when I'll get my 6D, but nothing wide. I will use the 15-85 on crop in the meantime.

Earwax69 wrote in post #15299548
The 24 is very wide. It's cool for some shots but it's kinda restrective if you only have that. Like I said, my best would be a 28. Got a lot in the frame without being distored.

I use 85mm a lot especially by evening.

I feel that 40mm, only 170$, very small... would be like using my iphone camera but with a lot more resolution. it's tempting but maybe I should put the cash on some f1.8 love...

Point is, I got 50 and 85mm covered for when I'll get my 6D, but nothing wide. I will use the 15-85 on crop in the meantime.

That's actually how I feel about the 40mm. It's a great lens, turns your DSLR to almost a point and shoot and very light on the go. I still opt for all my other lenses however, and my pancake likes to sit at home as a paperweight. I think a 28 would be wise, the only thing I dislike about the pancake is that it's f/2.8 but that can't be helped and for $150 ish it's hard to complain about what it is.

I'm looking at picts from the 35L on flickr... impressive. The Sigma should give the same feeling... I'll try to go shoot this week-end using only 22mm on my 15-85 see how I like it!

Not sure if theres a definitive rules on street photography. Some like tight shots and some wider.

As long as the 40mm suites your taste thats all that really matters. Its not like street photography reaps mega dollars this day and age. Its artistic expression holding a dslr instead of a point and shoot.

If I had to do street photography with some story content I'd go with a 35mm or even 24mm. Then I'd crop my image to get ideal composition. Too tight a shot with an 85mm or longer will work but I like to spread the "canvas" more and crop later.

f/1.4 is more beneficial when you want to capture images in low light obviously.

I'd say roll with whatever you have. Play with a zoom and fix the FL and figure out what fits your fancy.

My olympus OM-D with 14 f/2.5 (28mm equiv) is my stealth killer IQ toy camera that easily matches/suprasses a 5d classic IQ and all canon 1.6 crop camera's IQ.

street photography is all about personal enjoyment. Some of my non photog friends thinks street photography is an invasion of personal space and eery.

I think the 40mm "pancake" would be a neat, unobtrusive lens to use for street photography. It would especially be nice on a smaller camera.

I'd prefer something a bit faster than f2.8. But, oh well (In the past I used a 40/1.8 pancake lens in another system that was quite nice). I'm not so worried about low light, but like to have the potential to blur down backgrounds more with a larger aperture lens.

You also might want to look at the 28/1.8.... it's pretty compact for a full frame lens, too, though nowhere near as small as the 40mm.

There's the new EF 35/2 IS USM coming, too... but it's not going to be cheap. It will be about the price of the Sigma 35/1.4, and of course a lot cheaper than the Canon 35L. But it will be a lot smaller and lighter... plus it has both USM and IS. Sounds like a nice improvement over the current EF 35/2, but at over twice the price.

35 f2 IS will be the ultimate but that's a different story .

amfoto1 wrote in post #15299756
I think the 40mm "pancake" would be a neat, unobtrusive lens to use for street photography. It would especially be nice on a smaller camera.

I'd prefer something a bit faster than f2.8. But, oh well (In the past I used a 40/1.8 pancake lens in another system that was quite nice). I'm not so worried about low light, but like to have the potential to blur down backgrounds more with a larger aperture lens.

You also might want to look at the 28/1.8.... it's pretty compact for a full frame lens, too, though nowhere near as small as the 40mm.

There's the new EF 35/2 IS USM coming, too... but it's not going to be cheap. It will be about the price of the Sigma 35/1.4, and of course a lot cheaper than the Canon 35L. But it will be a lot smaller and lighter... plus it has both USM and IS. Sounds like a nice improvement over the current EF 35/2, but at over twice the price.

The only short f2 lens with 4-stop IS and I'll bet it'll be as sharp at f2 as the canon or the sigma. To me it would be well worth the price.

Pictures say more than words
A few weeks ago I spent a day in a old German town with my friends. We allowed ourselves one lens only. I chose the 40mm pancake on my 5D Mark III

If you want you can see the pictures here.
OK, I have no idea about your definition of "Street-Photografy" but maybe my examples can give you a feeling.


Hann.-Muenden

Greetings,
Gerd

I'd rather have faster shutter speed with fast glass instead of worrying about shakey hands from drinking cheap highly Caffeinated light roast coffee

This is of coarse depending on what time of the day you are shooting.

Personally I love my pancake for street photography. It is small, light, and I get some great pictures out of it. If I know I am going to be losing light or need to go a little bit wider I'll put the 28 on.

Yup pancake is great. Discreet, small, light, and takes very nice shots. You won't get the depth of field like the 35L but it is also like 10 times cheaper.

When I used a DSLR, the lighter and smaller the lens, the more comfortable I felt pointing a camera at a person. Purely psychological, but psychology matters! In fact, at the time, I always thought that one of the main lenses missing from Canon's fleet was a pancake, so enjoy its availability now.

As for focal length, 40mm is fine for shots that encompass both the subject and the actual street, as they say. Also, street photography by nature is not picky about sharpness, and frankly, any modern lens will do. Actually, many antique lenses will do, so don't fret over any perceived technical limitations.

AlanU wrote in post #15299980
I'd rather have faster shutter speed with fast glass instead of worrying about shakey hands from drinking cheap highly Caffeinated light roast coffee

This is of coarse depending on what time of the day you are shooting.

F2 is plenty fast when you can easily shoot at Iso 3200 and have four stops of IS. The lens also compact and most primes aren't even sharp until about F2. anything narrower really doesn't interest me in IQ or DOF. i briefly owned the Fuji x100 which was f2 and 35mm. At iOS 1600 and 3200 it did about everything I wanted in low light. Add four stops of IS and a FF sensor and I think that would be the perfect low light walk around ... For me anyway.