One of the greatest mysteries of street photography is that there’s really no ruleset, so to speak, on how one can shoot street photography. Barring trespassing and disregard for common etiquette, you can pretty much do whatever you want and shoot whatever type of pictures interest you within a public space.

Much of what you do out in the streets shooting candid scenes boils down to what style or approach you’ll find yourself drawn to as you put in more time into the craft.

So while there’s no official guidebook to the street photographer’s gear, we do have useful traditional knowledge of what works and what you should be considering if you’re just getting started.

35mm vs. 50mm for Street Photography?

There are two traditional focal lengths that a lot of pros and hobbyist street photographers swear by: 35mm and 50mm (and their full frame equivalent). A lot of the most iconic street photos were shot using these two focal lengths, but their popularity isn’t solely caused by their legacy.

Shooting with a 35mm prime for instance feels as natural as the 50mm, only it gets more of the scene without you needing to step back as much. It’s wider than 50mm, obviously, but it doesn’t get too wide that it begins to distort the image. The 35mm’s utility and ease of use are some of its main draws over any other lens for street photography.

The 50mm is a classic — Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank used the venerable 50mm for most of their life’s work. Peering through the viewfinder with a 50mm on almost lets you forget you have a camera pressed against your face. It closely resembles what the human eye sees and it “flattens” the background more than the 35mm, allowing for more straightforward compositions.

There are of course emerging focal lengths for street photography other than the 35mm or the 50mm, but the two are some of the genre’s staples. Each has its strengths and unique looks that half of the population might favor over the alternative, so the choice of whether which is best for you again falls to personal taste.

Below were going to cover some of the best lenses for street photography. We have many many lens guides so I do recommend checking out some of our other lens guides, such as for legacy lenses (and my favorite Canon FD), and the sharpest lenses for Canon, Sony and Nikon. I’ve also linked to our lens guides for Sony, Canon and Micro Four Thirds below…

Sony FE 35mm f/1.8

The Sony FE 35mm f/1.8 sits as your middle of the road option for Sony’s current lineup of 35mm primes. For my money, the Sony FE 35mm f/1.8 is the lens to get if you’re thinking about your first proper street photography lens and here’s why. First, it’s more than a stop faster than the compact FE 35mm 2.8, lending it more versatility if you want to use it for anything other than street photography work.

It’s got a snappy and reliable AF when the alternative may struggle more when shot in low-light. The metal build and unassuming form factor is another plus — it’s got a solid build quality and the absence of obvious markings and branding on the small barrel will help you stay incognito when you’re out shooting.

Image quality-wise, DPReview says it’s one of the sharpest 35mm lenses they’ve tested. Comparing it to the FE 35mm 1.4 ZA, the more premium option, the Sony FE 35mm f/1.8 still delivers the sharper and more contrasty image in the center and at the edges of the frame at max aperture.

You will however find some purple fringing with high contrast details at f1.8, though it cleans up most of the fringing at f2.5 anyway. For $750, I’d say forget the Zeiss and get the Sony FE 35mm f/1.8 instead.

Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 IS Macro STM

The Canon RF mount is still a maturing system. If you want a nice, compact 35mm prime for an EOS R body, the Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 IS Macro STM is currently your only option. Good thing it’s a real good one. At $500, you’ll be getting a modern RF mount prime lens that does more than the competing compact primes.

At a glance, you’ll see the simple and minimal design language used in the later EF primes carried over to the RF 35mm f1.8 IS Macro STM, and that’s a good thing. You won’t find a focus distance scale or any loud markings on the compact barrel that may attract unwanted attention. Image quality is also rather impressive for a lens of this size. Resolution is good wide open but contrast may need a little boost when shot at its max aperture. Sharpness and contrast however will improve starting at f2 to f2.8.

The “macro” designation may have been a dead giveaway. It is indeed a macro lens, though macro purists may be turned off at the 1:2 magnification. Still, this neat little lens can get a lot closer than your typical 35mm prime and will be more than serviceable for most hobbyist macro work.

Optical stabilization is also a welcome treat as it can help street shooters play around with slower shutter speeds and help them emphasize movement in their scenes. For such a feature-packed lens that won’t break the bank, the Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 IS Macro STM is an easy pickup for street photography.

Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM

At $200, it’s the cheapest RF mount lens you can get. It’s got that bright f1.8 aperture, the classic 50mm focal length, and it’s practically the same compact size and weight as the older EF version. The nifty-fifty spirit lives on in the Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM.

There’s not much to say about the Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM except it gets the job done better than most nifty-fifties we’ve had. Wide open performance is really good and easily better than what you’ll get from similarly priced budget offerings. The optics they crammed into this tiny barrel are of a new design and not simply carried over from the last generation, reportedly resulting in a better spread sharpness across the frame than its previous iteration.

You don’t get many bells and whistles like stabilization or extra function buttons, only what you really need which are good optics and reliable AF. What you’ll get though is the control ring that is in every RF lens, so if you don’t really bother with manual focusing at all, you can set it to let you adjust your exposure settings. At this price point, the Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM gets an easy recommendation if you want a low-cost, light and compact set up for street photography.

Sony FE 40mm f/2.5 G

The 40mm focal length may sound a bit odd for newcomers, but you’d be surprised to know that it’s been a staple lens since the olden days of film. It’s what they call a wide-standard lens; right in between the 35mm and the classic 50mm range, and it’s quickly becoming a favorite among street photographers who fell in love with the focal length’s versatility.

Sony’s trio of compact G lenses introduces the FE 40mm f2.5 G (along with the 24mm f2.8 and 50mm f2.5) to the new generation of photographers. Out of the three mini primes, I think you should seriously consider getting the 40mm f2.5 if you’re mainly interested in street photography.

At f2.5, sharpness is excellent. Stopping It further down to f2.8 almost seems pointless as the small bump in sharpness can be tough to discern — it’s a prime designed to be near peak-sharpness at its widest aperture. The Sony FE 40mm f/2.5 G also shows little loss of contrast when shot directly into the sun and exhibits very minimal distortion. Now all these can be said for any of the three new compact G lenses, except maybe the 24mm’s pronounced barrel distortion, but the 40mm f/2.5 G edges the other two in sharpness and AF performance.

Pair the 1.8-inch-long FE 40mm f/2.5 G with a small camera like the Sony A7C and you’ve got yourself a compact, full-frame street photography powerhouse.

Micro Four Thirds Street Photography Lenses(Panasonic/Olympus)

Panasonic Lumix G 25mm f/1.7

There are a lot of 50mm full frame equivalent options out there for the micro four thirds system, but the Panasonic Lumix G 25mm f/1.7 is the easiest lens to recommend for street photography work.

Sharpness at f1.7 is already excellent, even matching the more premium Leica 25mm f/1.4 at max apertures. You’ll get to its peak sharpness pretty quick just by stopping it a little further down at f2 and f2.8. The Leica will get you better sharpness at the center when both lenses are set to f4 and f5.6, though the corners would look fairly identical.

It’s in the AF where the Lumix G 25mm f/1.7 will outshine the Leica and this is specifically the reason why it made the list — you’re going to want a more consistent AF system than top tier image quality when shooting street photos. Speaking of focusing, the minimum focusing distance on this little lens is just a hair under 10 inches, letting you get pretty close to your subjects if you want that extra shot of drama to your street photos.

The Panasonic Lumix G 25mm f/1.7 is everything you could hope for an m43 nifty-fifty: it offers amazing image quality, has snappy AF, compact, and can be had for a lot less than $200.

Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f/1.8

I went back and forth between the trusty M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 and the much newer M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.2 for our m4/3 street photography lens pick. The f/1.2 may be objectively better than the older 35mm equivalent in most aspects, but the original Olympus 17mm f1.8 is still the better tool for street photography.

At only 1.4 in. by 2.3 in., it gets really close to pancake lens dimensions. If you like using zone focusing when shooting street photography, the Olympus 17mm f1.8 has a manual focus clutch that lets you switch between AF and manual focusing. Image quality on the 17mm f/1.8 is no slouch either. Wide open, it performs well above the average crop of primes and gets a bump in both center and at the edges starting at f2.8 and peaks at f5.6.

The 17mm f/1.8 encapsulates what a good street photographer’s lens is all about — unobtrusive, light, and fast. There are (optically) better lenses now in the decade the Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 has been out in the market, but the 17mm f/1.8 remains as the preferred m43 lens for street photography.

Panasonic Lumix G 20mm f1.7

Now if you want something in between the classic 35 and 50mm, the Panasonic 20mm f1.7, at a ~40mm equivalent just might be your best bet. As a pancake lens, it helps you keep a low profile. I’ve not only called this lens one of the Best Value Lenses for Micro Four Thirds, but also one of the best lenses for the m43, period.