I'd be interested in hearing others views on this, as (like most aspects of photography) there is no real holy grail , consequently it's often a series of compromises to arrive on a 'best fit'.
I enjoy, and have shot numerous street photography events, particularly the Whitby Goth Weekend, War Weekends around Yorkshire and street entertainers, and after a lot of trial and error, these are the bits of kit that I take that suit my style of shooting.
I have gone through a full circle, taking 2 bodies, a few lenses, including 'just in case' lenses (usually a very wide angle), two flashguns, and once even a tripod, down to taking one body and one lens.
I've finally whittled it down to one body (usually a FF), and two lenses, 85mm and 50mm and one flashgun.
I find I use the 85mm for most of my shots, it's great for head & shoulder shots and if you step back , full body shots, while the 50mm is for group shots. Both are fast primes, therefore are good at kicking the background out of focus, which is important on these occasions, as there are usually crowds, therefore inevitably fussy backgrounds.
I used to carry a 135mm around, but realised it was perhaps a bit long, keeping you too distant from your subject, and when there are 20 other togs around competing for the subjects attention, I feel you do need to be close enough to communicate with the subject(s)
I gave up on wide-angle lenses, there is just too much going on around the subjects to get a meaningful result.
I'm aware that zooms are much more convenient, and if I was using a 1.6 crop body, a 24-70mm F2.8 would be ideal, on a FF it's a bit more difficult, 24-70 is probably not quite long enough, 24-105 F4L is not fast enough, 70-200 F2.8 is good, but comes at a weight price.
So I'm probably happiest with a couple of primes.
I take one flash gun, with a diffuser attached, mounted on camera, and used for fill flash if the light is very bright.
And one lightweight rucksack, consequently, it's easy to carry around, which is important, with lots of the activity at different places.
If I was limited to one body and one lens, on a FF body it would be a fast 85mm, and on a crop body a fast 50mm lens.
I enjoy, and have shot numerous street photography events, particularly the Whitby Goth Weekend, War Weekends around Yorkshire and street entertainers, and after a lot of trial and error, these are the bits of kit that I take that suit my style of shooting.
I have gone through a full circle, taking 2 bodies, a few lenses, including 'just in case' lenses (usually a very wide angle), two flashguns, and once even a tripod, down to taking one body and one lens.
I've finally whittled it down to one body (usually a FF), and two lenses, 85mm and 50mm and one flashgun.
I find I use the 85mm for most of my shots, it's great for head & shoulder shots and if you step back , full body shots, while the 50mm is for group shots. Both are fast primes, therefore are good at kicking the background out of focus, which is important on these occasions, as there are usually crowds, therefore inevitably fussy backgrounds.
I used to carry a 135mm around, but realised it was perhaps a bit long, keeping you too distant from your subject, and when there are 20 other togs around competing for the subjects attention, I feel you do need to be close enough to communicate with the subject(s)
I gave up on wide-angle lenses, there is just too much going on around the subjects to get a meaningful result.
I'm aware that zooms are much more convenient, and if I was using a 1.6 crop body, a 24-70mm F2.8 would be ideal, on a FF it's a bit more difficult, 24-70 is probably not quite long enough, 24-105 F4L is not fast enough, 70-200 F2.8 is good, but comes at a weight price.
So I'm probably happiest with a couple of primes.
I take one flash gun, with a diffuser attached, mounted on camera, and used for fill flash if the light is very bright.
And one lightweight rucksack, consequently, it's easy to carry around, which is important, with lots of the activity at different places.
If I was limited to one body and one lens, on a FF body it would be a fast 85mm, and on a crop body a fast 50mm lens.
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