Comment by anta40
2 days ago
"Avoiding Distractions"
That's why I'm a big fan of medium tele (like 85mm or 105mm assuming 35mm format) for daily walk. Not for candid portrait, but tight framing without distractions.
Many many years ago, street photographers typically prefer wide angle lenses (which is still true these days). Saul Leiter broke the mold by embracing tele lens. Of course there are different feel. When standing really close with wide angle lens, your compositions felt immersive. But when tightly framed with (medium) tele, it felt... observant.
85mm is one of my favorite lengths for sure it just looks so good
Yep me too. I tend to "see" in that focal length, when 50mm is not tight enough.
But probably that's an old habit: a few years ago my 1st DSLR was an APSC, and naturally my 1st prime like everyone else was the cheap-but-good 50/1.8, which is more or less equivalent to 85mm in FF world.
The Canon 100mm Macro is my favorite walk around lens. I really enjoy the exercise of framing shots with the prime lens. I felt like for me having a medium zoom, 24-105mm like most beginning photographers, I'd become over reliant on changing the focal length without properly evaluating the perspective and framing of the shot.
When I did this shoot
https://www.behance.net/gallery/232094025/Dragon-Day-2025
I got frustrated with switching between a wide and relatively long lens and having to clean up dust spots afterwards that I got one of these
https://outdoorx4.com/stories/field-review-tamron-28-200-f2-...
which is great for just walking around and I use it for outdoor running events where I can get pretty close and the long end is long enough but the wide end is good useful for crowds
https://www.behance.net/gallery/232159469/Skunk-Cabbage-Run-...
Thing is I sent out my old α7ii body out to be repaired and got a monster backpack
https://mastodon.social/@UP8/114866454342061662
so now I go out with two bodies and even more lenses though I tend to have a cycle of having a heavier and heavier pack until I get an injury, lightening up, healing, and then getting a heavier packer again.
I definitely enjoy prime lenses too, I have more 50mm's that I can rationally explain, also the Sony 90mm macro lens which DxO says is the best lens Sony makes
https://dustinabbott.net/2020/09/sony-fe-90mm-f2-8-macro-g-o...
which is not just good for macro work but also portraits and just random stuff. There is definitely something fun to spending a lot of time with a prime lens and working your perception of space around it. Back when I had a Canon I had just a 20mm full frame lens fitted to an APS-C body.