A Photojournalist's Favourite LENS - Is it the best lens for street and travel photography?!

In this video, you will learn what my favourite lens is for street photography, travel photography and photojournalism.

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As a working photojournalist, I do street photography during all my assignments and I have chosen three lenses that I want to introduce to you, breaking down the advantages and disadvantages of using each.

But I’ve only chosen one as my favourite! Which one is it?! Do you agree with my choice?

📷 What's In The Video:

0:00 Introduction
00:53 The Lens Shortlist
02:01 35mm Wide Angle Lens
03:50 24-70mm Zoom Lens
05:28 70-200mm Telephoto Zoom Lens
06:52 Results & Discussion
09:43 How to Join my Online Communities

✏️ Have questions or thoughts? Drop a comment below!

Embark on a journey to refine your photography compositions and discover the artistry in everyday life with me.

[Narsuitus]

My favorite one-lens/one-body for photojournalism, documentary, street, travel, and vacation are:
35mm f/1.4 Nikkor on Nikon SLRs
35mm f/1.4 Zeiss ZM on Leica rangefinders
28-70mm f/2.8 Nikkor on Nikon SLRs

[baobo]

You mirror my choice almost. 35mm absolutely mine is 1.8 S Nikon. Had 24-70 but replaced it with a 24-120 f4 S. One of these a body and a spare battery and I am away, Agree completely re the Zoom issues like more to think about and size but I still like the versatility. Not really needing longer certainly at the moment. Cheers, Will visit your site.

[BearBreath]

I really enjoy your videos. Great to see the disclaimer at the start. Thanks.

For the record, I’ve never warmed to the 35. I prefer the 50. That’s probably because it’s the only lens I had in the film days, so it’s the lens I’m most comfortable with. I also like to keep my distance.

[freekvanbuul]

The RF 70-200 f4 is small and light.
I preset my RF 24-70 to the mm I expect to use (e.g. 35 mm) and only change if really necessary. And if I changed it then I set it back to the preset.

[dillank]

I agree with what you are saying. I would say either 35mm or 50mm would be my favourite.

[gohumberto]

I definitely gravitate towards a 35mm Prime. I have a Fuji XV100 (35mm equiv), a Canon M50 with a 22mm pancake (35mm equiv) and a few Canon Full-Frame with a 40mm f2.8.
It means that I see the World in a 35mm frame so I know what the final composition will be before I raise the camera to my eye.
I have the "Holy Trinity" of Canon Zooms but I reach for those when I have a bit more time to compose an image. None of them lend themselves to "running & gunning" in a street environment.

[RolandHoltz]

Great lecture thank you, one more subby, Roland from good old Germany

[marioacosta]

Thank you Sean, good perspective of each lens.

[KC-inpx]

My kit consists of 3 Canon L series zooms. A 17-40mm, a 24-105mm, and a 70-200mm. I also have an assortment of non-L primes. A 20mm, 40mm, 50mm, and a 85mm. The primes are faster lenses, whereas the zooms are all f/4's. They were all bought in excellent used condition and in total cost less than a single new L series lens. I'd suggest checking out keh and mpb. They both offer 6 month warranties and superb customer service in my experience.

[carlmcneill]

I have a 24-70mm and a 70-200mm but I opted for a 28mm and a 40mm instead of a 35mm and a 50mm. I bought the 40mm before the 28mm. I thought I'd was a good compromise between the 35mm and the 50mm. I shoot with the Nikon z system. The 40mm has a smaller profile than the 35mm or 50mm. I've been really impressed with the sharpness and micro contrast with that lens. And it's not an S line lens. I like the focal length of the 28mm for up close and personal.

[robertsimpson]

While travelling i find my nikon 35mm and a sigma 17-50 are great for most situations and as you say not too conspicuous.

[leirumf]

My most used lense was a 35mm on a canon crop, so it'd be a 56mm. Right now I'm trying to shoehorn using a 28mm fully manual lens (44mm eq) because I want to get used to a wider fov. I mostly only carry one lens at a time each time I'm out.

[hurleygreen]

Thanks for this video! I'm a Nikon shooter and my favorite lenses are the nifty fifty, a vintage 28-90mm zoon lens, a DX 18-55mm kit lens and a DX 55-200mm kit lens, They're ALL useful!

[silvestersze]

These are beautiful pictures! I’m using mainly a 35mm wide angle lens myself… a Canon FD lens. 🎉

[george.fakinos]

First of all great video, as the rest of your channel. It's nice to see a real photographer, and not a YouTube one, share his knowledge. I have used Fujifilm X100F (35mm fixed) for quite some time. It was great and I learned a lot. At the moment however I am shooting with Fujifilm X-T4 with Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 (app. 27-75mm). A great combination for all kind of photography since it is very small and very capable. I do miss sometimes the simplicity of Fujifilm X100F but the current setup is extremely convenient.

[lyndsaywheelans]

I am a M4/3 shooter and almost always carry my 12-45 (24-90 equivalent) with me for street photos. It is probably the size of your 35mm. I need to work on my confidence with the prime lens in the streets as your images have such a feel to them of being right there. I see the benefits for sure. I also bought a used panasonic 35-100 f4-5.6 lens - it is literally a pocketable 70-200 equivalent. It's a cheap plastic build but the images are pretty decent for being able to put it in a pocket.

[stevenwaldstein]

Thank you. Like your choices. These days I swapped out my f/2.8 70-200L for a smaller lighter f/4 70-200. Mostly shoot Sony know and their relatively new FE 70-200/4 MACRO G OSS II is very small and flexible and it can take a teleconverter unlike Canon’s RF 70-200mm f/4L. I do also shoot Canon though. Take care.

[dewindoethdwl]

28mm on my APS sensor Canon (45mm full frame) and it does seem to do everything as long as I move around. I’ve tried 24mm to get the 35mm effect but find it a tad wide.

[lawrencehorowitz]

Great video. I use 35mm (23 mm on my Fuji cameras) for street and travel. I use the 24-70 (18-55 on my Fuji xameras) for woodland and nature because I can't predict what I'll find.

[chesslover]

If cost were not an object, this is what I would buy and use as a professional:

Ulanzi Falcam TreeRoot Tripod

Photojournalism
Canon EOS R5 Mark II
Canon RF 35MM f/1.4 L
Canon RF 24mm–105mm f/2.8 L (has built-in stabilization)

Street
Leica M11-P (assuming good electronics and firmware)
Sumilux-M 50 f/1.4
Sumilux-M 35 f/1.4