Deciding on a street photog lense(considering 40mm 2.8)

I currently own two lenses , canon 50mm 1.4 and sigma 18-35 1.8.
They cover what my kit lense did (18-55) but i am no longer afraid of the dark.
Love them both, each serve their purpose when attmempting portraits or at family gatherings.

How ever when i go out to shoot , its mainly for street photography and while the 50mm gives great pictures its too "tight" a shot.. like i'm not getting enough of what i want with out having to step back. But i like how it feels with the camera , like i could hold the camera in my hand for ever , or have it hanging around my neck and barely know its there.

The sigma's 18-35 is where i seem to like it more. Forces me to to get up a little closer , usually about 10ft of the action, i get more in there even if i'm close but not lose the feel of being up in the action. im almost alway at 35mm or close to. Problem is, its a heavy lense. Worn around my neck i can really feel it ,,its weight swaying it left and right with each step . I prefer just holding the camera in my hand , but it wears on my hand and wrist. If it wasnt for its weight it would stay on my camera 99% of the time i was out doing street photography. i actually find myself switching just too give myself a break when out for extended periods of time ,, and as nicer weather is approaching i think that those long sessions will only be increassing.

After seeing a few reviews on the quality of pics of the 40mm 2.8 and considering the price , i'm thinking this might be a good option , not as long as the 50mm ,, close to the 35 which i'm almost always at on the sigma,,,light, even lighter than the 50mm (50mm=10.20 oz vs 40mm=4,6oz) ... A 2.8 is fine as 9 out of 10 times i'm not using(or not intentionally) the 1.8 or 1.4 of the lenses i have.

Given all of the above , any reason anyone think this wouldnt be a good choice? or have a better option?

is the canon 35mm f2 a better option even at 3 times the price of the 40mm?(understandably its a f2 vs f2.8, but again i think for my porpuse f2.8 is fine)

i want something that will work on FF cam as i eventually will go in that direction.

40mm isn't that much wider on crop than the 50mm. Definitely not ideal for streets.

35 2 again isn't great either.

Consider 24 2.8 IS.

Personally I've totally dumped the DSLR and use my Ricoh GR as a street dedicated camera.

What exactly is a 'photog lense'?

if you can afford the 35f2 IS i think that may be a good option for you...personally i'd rather have the old 35f2 compared to the 40mm...

but i'd also rather have a faster than f2.8 prime...if f2.8 works for you 9/10 it's probably a different story

I think the 40mm f2.8 might be still a little too long for most street photography purposes...

If you're on a crop, i'd say a 24mm f2.8 would be best...

but...if you're set on the 40mm f2.8...for the price, it's a damn good lens! ::shameless plug:: check out my review of it here, includes alot of sample pictures to show color reproduction and sharpness!

I love my 35 IS on full frame. I think your 18-35 covers this range nicely, though, on APSC.

The 18-35 f1.8 is perfect for that, so id say, go liftin' in the gym

Heya,

It comes down to what you want and prefer.

I happen to think that street photography is all about context. And context generally requires a wide angle of view to gather everything into context. So I tend to favor ultrawide for street. Some favor telephoto, and just sit far away and snap away of the things going on from a discreet distance. So you kind of have to figure out what exactly you are into and what you want to do and how you are walking around with it. As you said the 18-35 is a huge heavy lens, hard to roll around with it like that perhaps.

I would go with the 35 F2 IS over the 40 F2.8 if you can afford the difference. I find 35mm on a crop sensor to be the "sweet" spot for "what your eye sees" normally. That helps making composition fast and simple when shooting. The F2 is great. It's sharp wide open. And the 4 stop IS is phenomenal. This lens fears not the night skies.

If you want to go wider, look to the 20mm and 24mm range of primes perhaps. Sigma has a nice 20mm F1.8 prime. Canon has a nice 20mm F2.8 prime. Otherwise, 24mm is a good spot too for you and Canon makes a nice 24mm F2.8 prime. Alternatively, you can look to the Sigma 30mm F1.4 prime.

Very best,

Would you consider manual focus lenses? If so, this would open up a number of options.

If you still have your 18-55, why not shoot with it for awhile and get a feel for which focal length(s) in that range suit you best; or even keep it at, let's say 28mm, and shhot with it.

davidfarina wrote in post #16757580
The 18-35 f1.8 is perfect for that, so id say, go liftin' in the gym

Hard to argue with this. Planet Fitness for $10 per month is way cheaper and smarter than dumping money on another close-range lens wih inferior IQ to that optically nice 18-35 Sigma.

mickeyb105 wrote in post #16758235
Hard to argue with this. Planet Fitness for $10 per month is way cheaper and smarter than dumping money on another close-range lens wih inferior IQ to that optically nice 18-35 Sigma.

It really is perfect..range and quality..it would be a funny answer when asked why I decided to start working out

rantercsr wrote in post #16758273
It really is perfect..range and quality..it would be a funny answer when asked why I decided to start working out

Seriously. Im going to gym since one year now and i can tell, my 50L with the 6D feels much more confortable now carrying allday long for street photography.

Can't imagine using my GF's 100D with the pancake its so light and i really am concerned about dropping it because i feel no grip haha

And another good reason is, when done right of course, it is healthy and it makes you look great

runninmann wrote in post #16758197
If you still have your 18-55, why not shoot with it for awhile and get a feel for which focal length(s) in that range suit you best; or even keep it at, let's say 28mm, and shhot with it.

I was considering doing this before buying The 40mm.. spend a couple of hours at 40mm and see if I find myself wanting to go wider

How about the 10-20 canon lens or the sigma one