Quick point I forgot to mention. All focal lengths in this video are in full frame terms. That way you can work out for yourself depending on your system.

As you have said on more than one occasion, "not everyone is comfortable with up close and personal lenses", but the 23mm f2 Fuji was my first and only current prime. I love it and on the street xt3 with 23mm and very minimal kit gives the impression of a tourist and people pay very minimal attention to what I'm doing. It does really help subconsciously to bolster my confidence. Great video again Roman, keeping it real, thanks mate.

This is the best description I've seen about the look and feel of the photos you end up making with a given prime lens, rather than any technical aspect. I found it really helpful.

I’ve seen more than one of these “which primes should you choose” videos. This one is easily the best. Paired with your excellent images, it was a joy to watch.

Moving from the kit zoom lens that came with my X-T3 into prime lenses was a significant turning point in my appreciation of photography. Initially started with a 35mm, but ultimately fell in love with a 50mm that I use for street photography. Thanks Roman for helping guide me towards this setup.

I have watched many videos on this topic and this has be the most clear, to the point, and well explained of them all.

Just started street photography and really appreciate your expertise including the comments listed below. So grateful👍

Thank you Roman for this clear and useful video. I shoot street and have all the focal lengths you mentions and some more... Personally I especially love the dynamic feel of the 28mm that makes the spectator feel inside the scene. But I also adore Alex Webb with his 35mm and Bresson with his 50mm. There's room for all.

Great video! Well organized, well presented, lots of information and examples. You gave very human aspects to a very technical topic, both from the photographer’s and viewer’s perspectives. Your photos were really good and I could clearly see your talking points illustrated in them.

A lot of your photos in this video are absolutely amazing!

Good discussion. I like the 35 + 85 couple. The 35 has always been my favorite.

Really enjoy and appreciate your reviews. Answers all my questions thoroughly and your photography is incredible - very inspiring.

Great video. My thoughts are almost exactly inline with yours. I’ve been shooting street since around 2014 and have tried all four primes that you mentioned at one time or another. My go to is a 23/24 on crop sensor and 35 on full frame. I feel this gives me the look and feel that I set out to achieve. Although not ideal, most people have a kit lens. I usually suggest that they go out and shoot with it for a couple weeks to a month. Review your photos and see what photo lengths you tend to migrate to naturally. Then get a prime close to what you shoot the most.

Im definitely a 85mm guy! Here in athens the streets have way to much "noise" and the 85mm helps me to compose only what is necessary. And i love to pair that prime with a 17-50 lens. Loved the video

Well I used 35 , 50 , 85 , and more but recently I bought a 25 mm 7Artisans for my Fuji and I am using it so much it’s very nice and good to use on the Streets It’s very important for any Street Photographer to use multiple prime lenses because each one will improve his skills specially when it comes to find a good composition Thank You for the video man keep shooting and keep sharing It’s always good checking out your videos Thank You again …

Great video! These are the 4 lenses I have owned and used for years. Don‘t need more. Stay well!

Thanks for this review. It's a constant battle over which lenses to pack with you and which to leave behind. I've found that you simply have to be prepared to miss a few shots, no matter what when you are shooting primes. Instead, focus on the pics you can get with the kit you have with you. On the other hand, that's why zooms were invented.

Thanks for the video. Over the decades, I have used the following focal length prime lenses as my one-lens solution on full-frame cameras for shooting street, photojournalism, vacation, and travel: 21mm 24mm 28mm 35mm 40mm 45mm 50mm 55mm For my subject matter and my shooting style, the 35mm is my personal favorite. For a three-lens combo, I usually flank my 35mm with a 24mm or a 21mm on the wide side and an 85mm or 90mm on the telephoto side.

Roman asking the RIGHT questions 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Thanks for this video. My Kit-lens makes now so much more sense and your explanation makes it so mich easier to choose now the right focal length.

I really love the 28-35 range and appreciate the 50mil. When I bought my xpro3 I bought the 23 to have that 35mm eq that I like. I also bought a Mitakon 35mm to have a 50mm eq. But lately, thanks to you and Eren and after hesitating for more than a year I acquired the xt4 and I really, really been enjoying having the 35mm eq and the 75mm eq by adapting my Pentax 50mm 1.7. It's really fun to have 2 cameras with the almost extreme opposite focal lengths. The 75 eq is pushing me to see, or rather pay more attention to things I would usually ignore with a 28-35 eq because of the "maah, too far, can't reach" effect. That let me think of the "perfect trio", Fuji x100v, xpro3 with a 75mm eq and xt4 with a stabilized 16-50 for video. I have to go, I need to write a letter to Santa Claus.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and comments Roman.... Although I am only a hobbyist I have the 35 & 50mm & yes they are great to use.. I also have & use a 12-24mm Tokina lens which can be useful in tight areas such as narrow lanes... recently I was shooting graffiti in a very narrow lane & the 12-24mm was perfect.... cheers from Australia 😀

As always very interesting and useful!

Thanks for this detailed insight into the different types of prime lenses. I have been looking at the 35mm and your video has just confirmed it. Cheers.

I have been using a Nikon D7200 for landscape for a few years now (and love it!), and picked up an XT3 two years ago as a lockdown treat (thanks season ticket refund!), purely to use for street (I’m adamant it won’t replace my D7200!). To help restrict me with it I decided only to use primes with it. First lens I went for was the 23mm (APS-C obvs), which I really liked but found sometimes I wanted something a little narrower. So I added a 35mm to my kit and well, I’ve not looked back. I absolutely love it and found it perfect for detail shots and for a bit of context (as you say, needing to step back a bit at times). Lately I’ve been mulling the longer 50mm, but for now I’m finding the 23mm and 35mm absolutely perfect for my needs.

Lots of good info. Very much appreciated!

Really good video. Very good commentary on the perspectives of the various focal lengths. I totally agree with your assessment of the 35mm. It is all I use at the moment. I can usually get everything I want quite easily.

Great overview with reasons why these lenses should be considered for one's kit.

Be the only time I want to see someone's holiday snaps. 👌 . Lovely shots.

I have a Sigma 28-70mm 2.8. Its a fantastic range lens and takes crisp shots, but My Sigma 85mm 1.4 just came today, so excited to use it this weekend.

Great to meet you today, Roman. Really nice to chat and it’s ironic that this video covered much of what we spoke about. Hope I didn’t stop you getting any shots today lol. Really enjoyed seeing how you and Mark work, especially with different styles. All the best. Tony

Really great perspective on different focal lengths. I really enjoyed this video.

I’ve been using the 85mm and 50mm range for about 2 years now. Just recently have I started to use the 35mm range and it’s quite a pleasing perspective in my opinion

Excellent video thx 🙏😎 as beginner great to hear how photographers actually use/think about each focal length

Thanks. I’m relatively new to photography but have always been the one to find beauty when walking around town and/ or hiking through nature. I’ve decided to treat myself to the X-T5 and can firmly say that you’ve helped me dial in a decision on my first primes. I’m going with the 23 and 35 mm f2 lenses (35/ 50 equiv). I was torn between the 16-55 zoom and getting a few primes, but I really like the idea of having a smaller form factor because I travel so much. I also like the WR that the F2 lens provides and don’t feel like I’d get much use out of the extra stop of the f1.4 lenses.

Thanks Roman; helps me a lot. Nice videos.

Great analysis - thanks for your excellent video.

That's a good point of having a 35mm lens in your bag. That makes my decision of going for x100v much more easier ☺️☺️. Great video 👍

Excellent video, I have recently got my first prime lens, NIKKOR 35mm 1.8G, love it to bits, totally agree with you reasoning. Keep going my friend, love your work..

I had to sell my Fuji kit and only keep a Ricoh GR3. I wasn’t a fan of 28mm because I’m sort of introverted and feel quite intimidated by walking close to people. But after shooting exclusively with this focal length for about half a year I became a fan of it, if you get the composition right you can get some really interesting shots. Still saving up to buy another Fuji kit with the 3 new primes. But I totally agree that each focal length has its own use case and I really had a lot of fun shooting at different focal lengths, but I guess I need to find a balance between enjoying taking photos and gear acquisition syndrome.

I've just swapped my 56mm f1.2 for the 50mm f2 as I wasn't really using the 56mm. Wow what a fantastic lens the 50mm is. I'm blown away by the sharpness even wide open and it's a lot faster at focusing compared to the 56mm. Obviously it also has the weather sealing. I haven't had chance to use it for Street yet but it'll be a fantastic addition to my kit alongside the 35mm f2

Thank you for this video. I found it really helpful.

Great, great thought about considerations and priorities! I agree on the wide angle when doing street photography. People don't seem to know they are in frame. Often times I do aim at something not wanted, maybe up high in a building (not taking a picture). Take a fake look at the LCD screen, and then pop it up and get the people in the frame. By that time I think people think they are not the subject, and if paying attention they think I don't know what I'm doing. Well that part could be true ;)

Amazing Photos!

Great advice. Been an amateur who has had some stuff published and helped out at weddings etc. Have personally found (coming from the film era) that using two cameras (Fuji XPRO 3's) with a 16mm and a 50mm on the other seems to be my best. Coming from an era where variable ISO wasn't an option have found the old system re quick choice works as the Fuji' s are so light even being an oldie at 74.

For street photography I just put on my Tamron 28-200mm which covers all the focal lengths mentioned in this video and beyond. And it’s very good optically as well.

Just what I needed, thanks dude! :D

Great content Roman, and your 85mm pictures are top nothc. Keep it up mate ;)

Excellent suggestions! I currently use the 16mm and the 27mm on Fuji. I find the 16 is great when you're in areas where backing up is not an option but you still want to capture most of the scene. Sometimes the 27mm is a little to tight for the shot that I want to get. I also have the 40 and 50mm on my Nikon system, but I find that they're very difficult to work with for anything street since they're basically portrait lenses on APS-C, but occasionally I do take them for a spin.

For me the 75mm (50mm cropped) is so far my fave. Being a slight introvert who does not enjoy invading peoples spaces it's the perfect focal length. Not too far and not too close. Since the Fuji one is a bit on the expensive side, I got myself a cheap little TTArtisan F1.2 for 120 Euros and it's now my new favorite. It's fully manual and boy is it FUN!!! It reinvigorated my passion for photography.

Now I understand why I so love my Fuji XF 18-55mm f/2,8-4 R LM OIS, and use it only on 18 or 55 🤣. Thank you very much Roman 🤗👏👍

Learned a lot with this video. Thank you

I started out with a 50mm, but soon realized that I wanted something a bit wider. I settled with a 35mm, and I am very happy with it and take it more out than my zoom lens.

I am in Bursa at the moment and had only the X-T3 and XF 16-55mm with me. Amazing camera and lens, amazing for everything except street photography. I did buy the X100V at the Fuji Shop, 600 euro price difference in Europe. It’s the most beautiful and amazing travel camera I used so far. I did some street photography at the bazaar and the 35mm is perfect. I also made some great portraits, documentary, architecture, landscape and night photography pictures.

Fabulous photos. Thanks for sharing. I do need to get braver at going out with just a 35Mm.

Good video and excellent photos. I really enjoyed your photos - to me it was the highlight. I only shoot primes and I collect a number of them. I have over 20 lenses between 24mm and 85mm (FF equivalent ) mostly manual focus but if I had to choose one, it would be 40mm (27mm APS-C). This fits nicely between 35 and 50.

I would most always choose my X-E4 with the 23/2.0 - well done, Roman. I admire your photos.

Roman, excellent video. I love your style of presentation and your photography. Wish you worked around my area. It would be worth taking a workshop with you.

Very well done video making good use of photos to illustrate your points. The Fuji 23f2 (35mm equivalent) has been my go to lens for street photography for almost 2 years. I had decided to get the 50f2, but your video has got me thinking about the 35f2 or the new 33f1.4.

I've got the Fuji XF 18-55mm f2.8-4 for multipurpose (28-85 approx) + 35mm (50mm equivalent) F1.4 for specific circumstances. I surely could have an additional 16 or 55 with wider aperture, but sincerely this cover all my needs.

As someone who has the 23mm (35mm) as my first prime, I agree with your point that this is a good starter lens if you're not sure what you like to shoot yet. Now I'm using the 56mm (85mm) and I think i'm in the category who enjoys this focal length. I love the compression it gives and I notice myself being more creative with my shots because I have to work with a pretty tight field of view. But I'm sure if i hadn't come from a wider lens I woudn't have this mindset.

Excellent advice.

85mm F1.4 was my first prime lens. being the "disconnected" lens it makes a lot of sense why it ended up being my favorite with how I see/feel myself among people.

One advantage the wider lenses have is that you can zone focus them more easily so you can react quickly if you need to. I mostly use a 50 though, just like the look.

Thanks Roman. Nice concise and thoughtful analysis. As an interesting option is the Tamron 20-40 mm 2.8, for if you switch it to APS-c mode, you can get up to 60 mm.

I quite like using both 24 and 35mm full frame or full frame equivalent field of view. 85mm for portraits, close or mid distance. 35mm is my most used prime lens. Least used is 50mm.

I really appreciate this video thank you

Good overview. I buy an 85mm for every system I get into, and they always collect dust on my shelf. I just can’t get my head around it. And I’m not at all opposed to telephoto street photography, recently been playing with a 120mm equivalent. For those interested in 85mm, check out the 1970s work of Frank Horvat in the book “Side Walk”.

Nothing and confused, touché, well not anymore but I’ve been there. Great advice, cheers👍👍

Thank you for this informative video. I was thinking about getting a prime lease or two for my street photography. And your description of each lens has convinced me to not buy any prime lenses at this time. I would never carry two cameras and dislike changing lenses. I would have to change them too often to get the variety of shots which I take. After viewing your videos I think I would find being stuck with one lens at a time in the camera too be too restrictive. Like being boxed in. I guess I am too use to zoom lenses. Currently using a Nikon P950, which allows me to take photos of people from two city blocks away. Not to mention shots of animals, birds without scarring them away. I tend to shoot what see, both distant and close up. Again, thanks for the video.

I love going ultrawide and fast, like 20mm equivalent wide, to get that shallow depth of field and very wide angle or a 50-85 to pick out those details. However since the sigma 18-50 released my bag is down to the viltrox 13 1.4, the og 35 1.4 (mainly for low light/indoor or when I want to go film recipe and bake in some additional character) and the sigma 18-50. Allows me to travel very light, handle all lighting conditions, go weather sealed if I need it and reach basically every focal length I want for day to day landscape/travel/street.

Great video, Roman! I consider myself a shy photographer and I prefer to keep a certain distance from my subjects. But I live in Porto, where the historical city center is covered with very narrow streets. You've been here, you know it haha. I shoot with Fuji, so a 50mm (75mm equivalent) makes it almost impossible to capture a full scene, more often than not. I found the 35mm (50mm equivalent) to have the best balance for me. Good enough to keep a certain distance or even capture some details, but still wide enough to capture more context if needed. I do intend to buy a XF 23mm F2 in the near future though.

i feel the 35mm(ff) 23mm (apsc) is the best (not perfect) focal for street. i enjoy shooting 23mm on my fuji. its pretty versatile for wide shots and close up shots. i have many great shots and i think most street shooters should definitely start with this focal length.

I have an X-T1, and some Artisan prime and a Nikkor zoom from my Nikon analogue SLR, so I use an adapter for it. I find myself using the zoom more. More versatile. I like zoomed in for some cases, but some times, wider is better for something different. For street ph, you never know what you'll come across

Started with 35 and 75mm even tough I really felt comfortable with the 50mm when shooting analog. But so far was a good challenge.

If conditions permit you can pano/stitch with the 50 and crop into that for a wider look 👍 So many carry foto-phones these days. I'd 1st chose a 50mm on a camera and also take the cellfone. Using both I'd get to see my preference in the EXIF data afterwards. Not sure why but I see the world at 50mm; that's when the connections start.

Excellent video, very well presented. Just been advised as I type this that my new Fuji 23 f1.4 Lm WR has just been shipped Express Post. I also have the 35 mm f2, but bought it used when I first got into Fiji equipment. F1.4 would have been nice, but budget was lacking back then.Now if i could sell my 35 f2...........

I shoot an EOS M quite a bit and like the 22mm (35mm equivalent) I also shoot the MJU II quite a bit which is also a 35mm. I do like to shoot a 28mm on an X700 for wide street shooting.

Great video. For me, if I’m only carrying one prime, it’s gonna be the 40mm equiv pancake. I’ll toss the camera in my jacket or a tote bag and I’m good to go. If I’m bringing an extra prime, I’ll pack the 28 and 50 equiv combo and pack in my super compact HEX Ranger Mini, which is perfect for just the camera and an extra prime. To keep decisions simple, If I’m with friends/family or in narrow streets, the 28 will be the one mounted on my body. If I’m doing street photography alone, I know I don’t like to get as close to people, then the 50 is the one to start with. The x100v is calling though, wondering if I’d swap the 40mm for it.

Very nice video. I pretty much agree with all of it. I feel the same. I mostly own a 35 and a 50 and they are my faves. I do have a 90 for portraits in the studio but for everyday I am a 35 and a 50. I have recently purchased a 28 to challenge myself. Let’s see how that goes :)

Thanks Roman, another great video. For years I was a 28, 35, and 50mm guy. Perfect. But, carrying three lenses was getting a bit much (plus another issue which I will cover below). I found a great solution. I now carry two Voigtländer lenses. 21mm and the 28mm (stick with me, it will make sense soon). The 21mm = 31.5mm FF equivalent. This now covers the original 28 and 35mm with literally half a step either forwards or backwards when composing. The 28mm = 42mm FF equivalent which again, with a step forward or back when composing, now covers me for the 35mm and 50mm. See, whilst carrying three lenses was annoying, it wasn’t my main issue. My issue was feeling like I always wanted to swap out lenses when I came across a scene (too tight or too wide). However, in both of these instances, I now feel like I am right in between and can make the images work more often without feeling like swapping out lenses. Even swapping between these two lenses is rare because most often, a location will generally be fairly spread out so I reach for the 28mm, or they might be super tight compact streets and I reach for the 21mm. Then, they generally stay on the body for the entire walk/shoot! I know this isn’t for everyone, but it has changed my world for the better. Thanks again for your inspiration Roman. ✌️

Great breakdown of focal lengths and why. Always good to to hear other’s opinions and reevaluate how we are shooting. Bye the way, what brand is the sling bag you had in the video? Stay well.

How I picked the best lenses for my street photography on my first try as a total beginner, follow this guide carefully: I bought a lens I was advised blindly, not even knowing what focal length is when I asked a beginner friend what to buy for photography, and I bought another one but bought the wrong one. Too broke to even send back I did with what I had, and I've never felt the desire to change ever since. Those are a 17mm and a 45mm for mFT (both f1.8). It works specifically because I didnt have a choice, and dealt two complementing lenses that don't tread over each other. One lens for a specific shot and not the other depending on what u want to achieve. Even now that I'm moving to APS-C, I'm scouring the web to find the most similar lenses in every aspects because I dun need anything else and they have become core to my photographer's eye. It's been 4 years now. I might add a longer focal length to enable that adds smth significant to my photography that my 45 can't achieve rn. But that's all. Might not even use it that much

85mm for street photos in London was a revelation. Also good if you’re feeling a little shy at the start of a photo walk

As always, another great video. Maybe the next time you are visiting NY or NJ, you can have a Meet-up. I'm sure you'll get a good turn out.

I found the 35mm lens has made me a step back and think more in my photography

You can’t go wrong with the 50mm 🤙

I mostly use my 85 mm and I got a 35 mm. I mostly shoot street, but also sometimes landscape. But 85 mm is my go to for street photos, I can get some nice details without being in the scene feeling anxious about my present with a camera on top of ppl.

excellent.

40mm 1.8 superglued to weather seal and welded to camera works well too, or so I've heard.

I like the 50mm equivalent for the most natural compression look of the photo. But I also like the wider 35mm equivalent. I am waiting for fuji to make a good 40-42mm equivalent f2 lens to the same quality as the 50ish equivalent (35 f2)

Haha what does across the puff mean? But seriously thank you for this video Mr. Fox. I loved the detail you provided and I really really appreciate the sample photos. That's often missing from these types of videos or they just take the same simple photo with the same lens which isn't very helpful in the really world. I appreciate it!

hey, landscape photographer here, and there is a similar kind of discussion to have about what focal length you'd use compared to street. By going with your standards : 28mm for wide shots, 35mm for general purpose, 50mm for detail shots : For landscapes, the scales are not the same, you need to capture elements that are much bigger and much further away. I'm doing landscapes on hikes mostly, and there I have my two "modes". I'm either going to take a picture of something far away, like a full landscape, mountain, what ever, or I'm going to take the picture of something I'm coming by when I'm walking. For the latter, well it isn't much different than street : my general purpose lens is a 35 (23f2 on my Fuji) and a 50 (35f2). I sometimes happen to get out my 85mm if I want to get a detail a bit further away, but that kind of lens is not as important I think (at least I clearly don't use it as much). If you want to photograph something big and far away, then you'll need two types of lenses that are extremes to what we've been using before. Sure, your 35 and 50 equiv can still work to an extent, but you're not going to get images nearly as striking to the viewer. My first lens is an ultra wide angle, generally 18 or 20mm to be sure to get all the scenes. I'm generally carrying around a 12-24 zoom, but since it's quite big and bulky I sometimes take panos that I then stitch together with my 35 equiv. For details shots though, the 50, even sometimes the 85 aren't enough in my experience. Here, I get out the 135mm equiv (either a 90mm f2 on a Fuji, or a VIltrox 85 f1.8), this kind of lens will get you very striking images about specific details in the landscape. Sure, you could take a 70-200 with you, but I would not recommend it on a hike as the lighter you go the better you are and the 70mm end of the lens is not very useful while the 200mm is sometimes too zoomed in for my taste.

I really like shooting a 24mm theese days in tandem with an 85mm. Makes for more interesting images, but sometimes a 35mm is missed from my kit, but I wanted to have a small and light bag so this is the compromise. a7r3 has a lot of cropping potential anyways.

great great video

Hi Roman. Your video on choosing a prime focal length was a great one for me. I have a Fuji XT30 with the XF 16 mm F2.8 and XF35 mm F2 primes, also the 18-55 mm zoom lens. I have been thinking of buying a used XF 23 mm lens, but wondered if it would be overkill with those lenses. I wasn't sure too, if the XF 27 mm would be better for than the XF 23mm and I Iike the idea of that lens being so tiny. I'll probably still get the 23 mm, but wondered what you may think about the 27 mm instead. Thanks for your thoughts and of course your videos and they are always very informative for us.

Great material, very informative, although I use 70-200 mm f2.8 for street photography. And the second lens is a 24-70mm f2.8. But after watching this movie, I will choose 35mm. You have helped me a lot, thank you and best regards.

Used a 28 / 43-86 / 200 as my travel kit on fe & fm Nikons. On the fm I shot b&w, and on the fe reversal with a polariser most of the time and the exposure compensator set to under expose by a 1/3 of a stop. For really quite and unobtrusive street photography I went with a little Rolli TE that I picked up in Singapore in 83. In hindsight I wish I had of also grabbed the a secondhand Nikon range finder.

Great video Roman, what's your view on the Fuji 27mm pancake lens, I have it in my collection and enjoy using it. I have both the 23 and 35 in F2, great lenses.

Been loving your clips mate, thoughts on the 27mm, I like for street on the xt4 makes for a compact setup, and sits between the 35-50