Choose camera that inspires you
Camera is a unique item. It is unlike laptop or smartphone (which is specification take the position as the biggest point to consider), camera is way more subjective. We need to find camera that work well with our shooting style. Therefore, we need to find camera that able to help us feel more inspirative everyday. Some points that important to choose camera:
Design
Get a camera that we visually like it. We like the design and looks of it. The more we admire the design, the bigger chance our camera will inspires us to keep shooting everyday. Good camera design (suit our taste) also able to boost up more of our confidence when we shoot on street.
Ergonomic
Feel the ergonomics of camera in our hand. The button/dial places, viewfinder position (and size), screen position, handgrip size, and most important part is how big camera size itself. The worst thing to happen is if we choose the most advance and expensive camera in the market, yet we feel too lazy to take photograph with it because the size is too enormous or weight is too heavy. If we can not feel comfortable with the way we hold it in our hand, then we can start to feel lazy to shoot with it (then will just leave it at home).
In street photography, get a camera that make you feel easy to carry everyday and light enough to use wrist/neck wrap for few hours straight. As bonus, the smaller size of our camera, the less people will pay serious attention to it, means the bigger chance we can use it to snap artistic moments.
Functions
Some cameras have their function that become their main “selling point”. Get the one that suits our shooting style, for example like in Fujifilm case: Fujifilm X-T2 with flip screen vs Fujifilm X-Pro2 with optical viewfinder. They have their own advantage one to each other, but I found that I rarely using optical viewfinder due the responsiveness of Fuji’s electronic viewfinder, and I need flip screen because I like to shoot at unusual angle (extremely low or high).
User experience is more important than technology
Personally speaking, there is a reason why camera like Leica MP, Fujifilm X100F, or Ricoh GRII even though have higher price tag compare their competitor, also considered as less features and less “technology”, but many street photographer who appreciate art simply love them. It is because the real experience when using these cameras is amazing, it feels like they “force” my mind to be more creative and boost inspiration to create more stories every time I use it. The button/dial places, the ergonomic, the compactness, and of course the artistic result when it comes to image production are things that make them a great choice to capture street moment. Street Photography is about drawing with light in human’s daily life. It is about art. Therefore “feel” is more important than “technical”.
Prime lens over zoom lens
Less is more. Prime lens (lens that can not zoom) will force us ( in good way) to get more creative shoot. We have less option, we can just focus to shoot and make composition rather than confuse to choose which focal length is perfect to capture interesting scene around us. It is true zoom is more versatile, however zoom can not teach us to use a lens as “the extension of our eyes”. When we stick with one focal length for an amount of time (a couple of months for me), we will understand the angle of view of that lens, therefore we will able to visualize a scene even before it happen or before we raise camera to our eye. It is such a much faster way to guessing if a artistic moment is about to happen around us. After all, street photography are about to know where to stand and when to click the camera shutter.
Additional advantage, generally most of prime lenses have smaller size, sharper image quality (because less parts inside lens), bigger aperture (to shoot at low light condition), and cheaper price as well. It is just a win-win solution.
Side note: This is view from my personal side, I know some great street photographers out there that use zoom lens as their main lens to work with. Though I’m sure that they already understand deeply the angle of view to each of focal lengths in their zoom range.
Prime lens focal length
My favourite focal lengths are 35mm (read here), 50mm (read here) and 85mm (read here). My current most favourite is 50mm, but I like to use 85mm when I want to create something more creative (or if I need reach). 35mm is simply the most versatile angle of view that I can carry it on the street and also works really well for travel photography too. Be experiment with focal length, find the one that suits your shooting style. The one that “copy” how you see this world through your eyes.
DO NOT:
- DO NOT buy camera because of the brand. They all good, but not all them will match with our shooting style.
- DO NOT buy camera just because most of your friends use it. Camera is a personal thing.
- DO NOT buy camera that make you worry too much to bring it outside (i.e: feel too expensive)
- DO NOT buy camera because the specification only. Instead, buy camera that make you feel want to keep shooting everyday, that gives you joy every time you hold it in your hand
That is all how I choose camera for my street photography work. Personally I use Fujifilm X-T2 and X100F because I found these two cameras are joy to look, hold, use, produce images character that I love, and most importantly: Keep inspiring me to shoot more and more everyday!
Keep shooting and stay inspired,
Nico Harold