The Best Focal Length For Street Photography Is?

What is the best focal length? 28mm-35mm-50mm-wider or longer?

A leading question for some is undoubtedly meant to be the title of this article, but what is the correct answer? That answer is simple, yet complicated by the effort required to achieve simplicity. The (simple)correct answer is the one you have with you. You have mastered it or are on the way to mastering it. This focal length matches the vision in the heart.

Heart, this is how the simple answer becomes more complicated. Seeing in a focal length, or rather, innately understanding how a focal length will translate your vision, is an incredible achievement. Doing so with a 35mm lens lets you see the world with 35mm eyes and happily work away within this extraordinary focal length. It is perfect, but is the best? No, it is not.

35mm focal length is not the best for street photography!

If I have this lens on my camera and have mastered or am working towards mastery, how can it not be the best lens, as stated in the paragraphs above? Mastering that focal length now serves as a tool beholden to your heart. That word, again, heart, is the word that complicates the simplicity of just heading to that favourite spot to shoot until the heart’s content. A content heart feels good. Too much of a good thing can be dangerous for creativity. What do you do now?

Master another focal length.

Start the process over again, buy a new focal length and get to work. It won’t feel right; in fact, it will feel wrong. This is because the comparison is incorrect, not your feelings. Comparing the ease with which you can capture the world at 35mm to a new focal length will make acquiring it impossible. The simplest yet most complicated way forward is not to compare; instead, choose to experience.

Choosing a brutal experience will unfold a new path for your heart to see the world in a second focal length. It will be a struggle. It is more problematic than the previous focal length. The heart wants what the heart wants, and in most cases, that is simplicity. After all, there is a great 35mm shot right in front of you. Tuck the new lens in the bag and shoot what's easy. A great shot is great, even if it came easy. It didn’t come easy, though. The initial experience of mastering a new focal length did come with ups and downs. If it didn’t, did you master it?

Trust yourself; trust this process.

Take the time to fail. Like an angler releases a fish back into the stream, let go of your newfound vision to acquire a second one. When frustration peaks, spend the day out with your trusted 35mm lens, capture something brilliant and feel great again. Now, look at your new capture and consider what the new focal length would change. Use the fresh memory of the scene to consider how you would approach the same subject matter. Do this exercise repeatedly to help your heart along in its journey to see in a new way. Each time you do it, there is a new great photo and a new great experience with your old gear—a win-win situation for your heart.

How often must I do this to find the best focal length for street photography?

That depends. Many photographers are happy with and create their peak within the confines of a single focal length. They may have mastered others, but their heart wants the world to be in 28-35-50mm—all great choices. What is right for you? What is right for me?

What is right for you is to follow your heart and learn as many focal lengths as it takes to feel it. What’s right for me has been to adapt to my environment. Canada is big, it’s wide, and the cities are full of empty spaces. Without realizing it, I began to master the 50mm focal length. In those moments, decades ago, it was the best focal length for street photography. It’s all I knew. It was imperfect, but my heart learned to love it and began to see in 50mm.

Soon after I mastered the 5omm lens, I could purchase a new lens, 28mm. I started the process all over again. It was terrible; I shot through roll after roll of film with little to nothing to show. My early thoughts were to trade it for something else, maybe 85mm or a fisheye. I didn’t give up, pushing through to the occasional good shot; not great, but one that fits the frame. Soon, that became a regular occurrence, and it was my expectation. I continued this process through the most common focal lengths for street photography.

So, what is my best focal length(s) for street Photography?

I shoot with a Leica Q2 monochrom with a 28mm Summilux. My colour work is on a Nikon Z9, and I regularly shoot with 28, 35, 50, and 135mm lenses. My rule of thumb is simple: I will shoot with a specific focal length today because I have something in mind to capture. I walk around all day with that lens on the camera and work it down to the gears. As a backup, I bring the opposite focal length, letting me switch things up when the vibe is not working.

If money were no object, I would add an 85mm to my colour setup and move to a Leica M11 monochrom with 28, 50, and 90mm lenses. Though, I would likely try out some of the other focal lengths.

The best focal length for street photography is the one on your camera. It is the one you currently master and will aim to master. It is the lens your heart sees through. Give your heart a choice and choose to see in as many different focal lengths as you need. Those, rather than that, will be the best focal lengths for street photography.