Today, we're going to learn about practical applications of other, less common lenses for street photography such as portrait lenses, ultra wide-angle landscape lenses, and special effect glass like mirror lenses and beyond. These are by no means the only unconventional lenses out there, but these should get your gears turning and inspire you to start experimenting.
Portrait Lenses
Portrait lenses are known for their unparalleled sharpness and eye-catching, subject isolating qualities. This is thanks to their simple design, top-of-the-line glass, and fast apertures. The portrait focal length range typically falls between 35mm and 135mm. While any focal length in the range can be used, 85mm is a great starting point and where we'd suggest you begin experimenting.
35mm, 40mm, 50mm and anything close to that range are all accredited street photography lenses. If Leica puts it on a Q, it's likely a killer street focal length. Looking at you Leica Q3 and Q3 43. Even Fujifilm's claim to fame, the X100 series comes equipped with a 35mm equivalent lens, but we're not here to dwell on standard street photography focal lengths.
We're here to talk about longer portrait primes, like the classic 85mm f/1.8. Nearly every brand offers this lens or a similar equivalent, and they're not terribly large. Nikons NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S is a featherweight when compared to older 85mm prime lenses, and it does so while delivering the exceptional sharpness photographers want from a prime.
For even greater isolation of the subject, a smaller apertured version can be even more advantageous. Canon's mirrorless line offers a set of VCM (Voice Coil Motor) lenses including the RF 85mm f/1.4 L VCM. You heard that right, this is an L lens through and through, offering the stellar image and build quality Canon users have come to expect.
The Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GM II is 20% lighter than its predecessor, and a bit smaller too. It may not be as sleek as its Canon counterpart, but it packs quite the punch when it comes to background rendering and faster focusing, both traits that street photographers will find essential in a lens of this caliber. When paired with an accurate AF tracking system like that found in any current full-frame A7, A9, or A1 camera, this lens will have no issue quickly grabbing the face or eye of any subject, no matter how fast the moment flies by.
These longer portrait lenses can be quite bulky when compared to a pancake 26mm lens, but they offer something that these tiny lenses can't. That would be a narrow depth of field. Sure, an 85mm lens isn't wide enough to capture the environment around the subject, but that's not the goal. We want some decent separation between your subject and the background to focus your audience's attention and isolate the subject in an otherwise busy environment.
Ultra Wide-Angle Lenses
Ultra wide-angle lenses are the go-to choice for landscape shooters. Wide angle refers to any lens wider than 35mm. In this situation, we're going to focus on 10mm-24mm, as these focal lengths give us that extra vast field of view we want without getting into "fisheye" territory.
One of the most exciting lenses in this category has got to be the Venus Optics Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF Autofocus lens. At 10mm, it's among the widest of the full-frame autofocus lenses that are available. It also maintains the compact size (sort of) many street photographers seek when selecting glass for an outing.
The goal here is to capture a city scene or landscape image that includes a focal point or human subject. The person in the frame may not take up much of the image, but it should be a point of interest. You may not be able to predict these moments, but you can be in the right place and be prepared.
If you're confident and comfortable enough to ask someone if you may photograph them, this becomes much easier. In this situation, we can make our subject more prominent in the frame without the unease of winging it.
Telephoto Lenses
Probably one of the least conventional lenses we can use in the streets is a telephoto lens. These magnify distant subjects and make them appear larger in the frame, while creating greater separation between them and the background. For this reason, these lenses are ideal for portraits, and wildlife imagery. They're not often thought of as a street or even an even lens outside of, say, a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens.
We're not suggesting that you lug a super-telephoto prime into time square. That would be problematic. What we do suggest, is a smaller prime or zoom like a 70-300 or even a small 400mm zoom like the Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD or the Canon RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS STM. It'll be much harder to remain inconspicuous using this type of lens, but that just means you need to be more alert and pick your shots more carefully.
The beauty of a zoom is the ability to zoom out to wide end. Additionally, you can capture environmental portraits just as you would with an 85mm prime, although the subject-isolating qualities (or "bokeh") won't be as nice and smooth. That is, unless we choose something like a 70-200mm f/2.8 or the Sony FE 50-150mm f/2 GM lens. Sony isn't the first to put prime level maximum apertures in a zoom, but they certainly do it well.
Special Effect Lenses
After the advent of the Lens baby, many new and creative special effect lenses have hit the market with the sole purpose of being unconventional. From TTArtisans 75mm f/1.5 Swirly Bokeh Lens to optics designed to imitate the look of a class film light leak, there seems to be an option for any effect the heart may desire.
Many effects can be achieved using filters, but where's the fun in that. This isn't a filter article; it's an unconventional lens article. The Lensbaby Velvet 85mm f/1.8 lens may have been built with portraits in mind, but that hasn't stopped us yet. The same soft, glowing effect that makes shooting this lens at wide apertures so fun can be harnessed in the field for unique looks at otherwise standard situation.
Film has largely returned to the forefront of street photography, though the process of shooting, developing, and waiting is not for everyone. For those who enjoy the look but don't have the time, Holga has made a fun, affordable tool to get the effect in your photos. The Holga lens takes the centerpiece of their 120N camera and adapts it to Canon or Nikon DSLR mounts, resulting in Holga-esque images on a digital format.
Now, we understand that this option is rather limited in its compatibility, but fear not. We have adapters! Of course, you could use this lens on any Nikon camera using the FTZ II Mount Adapter, but also by using third-party adapters on mirrorless options, so long as they're compatible with manual lenses like the Holga lens.
Trying New Things
Just because a lens is the best for a certain use case, doesn't mean it's the be-all and end-all. Lenses are tools in a photographer's kit like paint brushes are for a painter. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, but a creative mind will look beyond the standard and experiment with new tricks and techniques.
As artists, we're always learning. Never discount the benefits of a new tool in your arsenal and always be open to new ways of doing things. Whether that means trying an unconventional tool or practicing with what we've got. To learn more about street photography, or to flex your creative muscles check out our other guides on the B&H Explora page.
