28mm vs 35mm for Street Photography

28mm or 35mm (full frame equivalent) for Street Photography, which focal length is best for you?

Thumbnail photograph by Lee Deleon!

0:31 - 28mm Perspective
1:16 - Composing with 28mm
2:00 - Environmental Context with 28mm
2:14 - Challenges with 28mm
2:59 - Composing with 35mm
4:23 - Challenges with 35mm

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All photographs by other artists are noted. Otherwise, they were made by me.

Music sourced from Epidemic Sound

[evanlawrence]

Man this video was excellent. So concise, quick, to the point and with great examples and going beyond the basic information and giving the actual nuanced discussion. Good rhythm too. Hell yeah.

[JohnKrill]

When I was in Vietnam in 68/69 I carried two Nikon f. One had a 35mm and the other had the 28mm. Worked for me.
The other photographers in the unit thought I was crazy. But I had many of my photos get into the weekly marine newsletter.
PS I was crazy.

[DannyB-csvx]

With high Megapixel cameras, one can always crop in to make a shorter focal length pic.
You can't make a 35mm pic into a 28mm.

[NizarNoor]

I still find it a bit strange how many people are saying 35mm is boring. Most smartphone main cameras are between 24-28mm. That's all we see most of the time. 35mm isn't common, thus isn't boring, in my opinion.

[marshall]

What a well-written, tightly-reasoned and well-stated piece! In addition to being a longtime serious photographer, I write professionally for broadcast. So I know how hard it is to write about anything, let alone another mode of expression. It's like dancing about poetry. You pull it off, when so many others don't. Thanks!

[chryseass.]

I laughed out loud with your "Move in close: buy a mouth guard" photo tip! I enjoyed this one and will check out some of your videos!!

[jaspercaelan]

I come from shooting landscapes and use a telephoto a lot for that but I found the 28 works so well for the street. With a 50 I found it was difficult to create layers and depth, the 35 felt a bit boring sometimes but the 28 just felt right and gives you a sense of being right there. The chaos can sometimes be a bit hard to control though, sometimes that's a good thing, sometime it's not.

[albertsmith]

Just me, but I skipped the 28mm after decades of using 35mm as my "standard" street lens. I instead went to 24mm. This rewards me with a true different look for the effort of changing glass.

One cool trick with the 35mm/24mm combo... the 24mm being held vertically (portrait mode) has the same edge to edge coverage as the 35mm held horizontally (landscape mode) at a constant distance. This give you the ability to emphasize height or width for the subject depending on the environment.

This is of course personal. A new shooter should do a 100% immersion with a single lens and really get to know it before cluttering their brain with choices.

[ebreevephoto]

This is one of the best videos on this subject I have ever seen. Thank you. I love 35 for street but have been wanting more, so considering 28. Your comments on the amount of people in your city plays an impact on your focal length choice was one I hadn't considered...

[kenn]

Excellent take on the never ending question of 'best street lens'. Fabulous photos.

[benmorseUK]

This might be the best, most concise way of describing the differences between these two lenses I've heard. A 5 minute masterclass. Great job!

[samwang]

If I travel with friends or family, it's 35. Travel alone, 28. In the good old film days, 35 was the standard lens for point-and -shoot cameras because of its versatility. Now we can crop so 28 potentially offers even more but then the subject had better be in the center. They are both good primes to have, both can be put into good use. Don't get a kit zoom though, the aperture is usually too small. You might as well use your iphone

[JeffreyHauser]

Nice job regarding the differences in using the 28mm vs 35mm. My belief is that the wider the lens angle of view, the more skill is required of the photographer to make a compelling image. Best wishes in your photographic endeavours.😊

[leedeleon]

I was tired of losing teeth so I switched back to 35mm😭 all kidding aside, I always enjoy your thoughts on the cerebral aspects when it comes to focal length and what they represent. Those thoughts combined with memes and cartoon inserts just hit right, man. Enjoyed this one!

[charliemiller]

great line about the 28mm...."move in and buy a mouth guard"
you did a great job on this video, helped me a lot... samples of cropability were cool

[kennethakennetha]

I almost spent thousands to buy the xf 85 mm for night photography but when I discovered the works of garry winogrand and daido moriyama, i was blown away with the many details that a 28 mm can capture. i started using the 28 mm and man the results I got are something I would never imagine myself taking ever in my life.

[craig_cunha]

“Buy a mouth guard” 😂

Great video Doriyan. Both are great options. And yeah, a 40 would be a better pair with the 28.

[jorsetti]

Once I started using a 28mm, I sold my 35mm because it never got used after that...nice video sir!

[roxspeedg]

Great video! One of the critiques of 28mm is closeness to your subject, something we're afraid of, but on the flip side, I find myself "exposed" more by people on the street who notice me taking a photo of them when I'm actually farther away from them rather than closer. Think about it, no one would think you can take a sharp photo of someone that close, or there is anything worth taking a photo of that close (admittedly I'm never under anyone's chin close)...

[enfieldlover]

fully agree. 50mm was/is considered the 'to go portrait lens'... always comes with the finest bokeh and people love it like a soy sauce. have a boring image - but shot at 1.4 - they love it. i think that's the reason the starting wanna be street photographer grab 50mm (don't want to insult anybody). i love the sentence 'the longer you do street photography, the wider you go'. street photography is about it... life on street. it's tough to show a photo where you don't show the life. the interaction of the street elements. that beautiful shot by andre wagner of the kid dribbling the basketball. where would you have to stand to shoot it with 50mm. i think the more i see the photographer be close to their subjects on the street and you say 'one feels immersed in the picture'. i think that is the sole reason for that feeling. the guy was THERE in the moment. He is right next to the kids. that is why everybody can feel the 'immersion' . so the only way to be able to do that - lens must go wide(r). great video, doriyan, gotta follow you :)