The Camera Gear Street Photographers Don’t Need
When I was starting out in street photography, I watched quite a few tutorials and photography entertainment. Some of it was from street photographers like Eric Kim, but I was also learning the fundamentals, so I watched and read from general photographers as well.
A lot of them would talk about how you have to have this and that piece of gear.
Well, I’m here to say that if your main interest is street photography, you can disregard a lot of that. Here, I’m going to go through some of the gear you don’t need for street photography.
So Called “Must Have” Gear
If you watch photography content on YouTube, you’ll frequently hear photographers say this is a “MUST HAVE” lens or camera or whatever. They make it sound like you will die without it.
Some of them may genuinely believe it, but what’s a must-have for them is not the same as a must-have for you. We all have different needs and styles. They’re also often speaking from the point of being a video creator in addition to being a photographer.
I really don’t believe there are any “must-haves” in general. You should just choose the gear that’s right for you and go make photos with it.
A Tripod
Tripods are useful for certain things, but you don’t need a tripod for street photography.
Unless I really need it, or if a photo will be better by using one, I like to avoid using tripods. They’re slow and cumbersome.
The use cases I can see for using a tripod in street photography are if you want to use motion blur or if a scene is very dimly lit. I can especially see a use case if you’re using film to do cityscapes and you don’t have the luxury of using a very high ISO, as you get with digital cameras.
However, you can still do handheld shots with motion blur or set your camera on a table or other surface.
Additionally, the majority of street photography I do is in pretty well-lit scenarios during the day, or I make use of available artificial lighting sources.
I see nothing wrong with using a tripod for street photography, but it’s not something I would use and I wouldn’t want to lug one around with me.
Filters
Filters shmilters! You don’t need ‘em.
ND filters are useful for using very wide apertures during the day in bright sunlight. This doesn’t apply to me because I stop down as much as possible, somewhere between f/8-f/11.
I don’t want shallow depth of field for street photography - I want it as deep as possible. I want everything to be in focus. This allows for layering and for the viewer’s eye to travel through the photo. It also shows the context that the subjects are in.
There are filters that have other effects, and if that’s your thing, great. But it’s not necessary and it’s just not my bag, baby.
Large Aperture Lenses
Large aperture lenses are totally unnecessary for street photography because the majority of the time you have more than enough light to work with. Plus, they’re big, heavy, and expensive. Of course, these lenses have their place for commercial work like portraits, but we’re talking street photography here.
Expensive Gear
I would love a Leica. However, I’m not made of money (that would be an understatement), and there are plenty of more affordable cameras to choose from.
I lust over new shiny gear just as much as the next photographer. But I don’t want that to get in the way of doing photography, because that’s what I really love about it. I love being out on the street making photos and the end result.
When you think about the gear that legendary street photographers used decades ago, it’s kind of silly to want even more than we have now, because we have a lot more technology than they did.
If you’re on a budget, I say go the used gear route. New cameras and lenses are genuinely expensive these days. I’m no economy scientist, but I reckon prices for cameras are going up quite a bit faster than our stagnant wages are.
Buying used camera gear is not unlike buying a used vs. new car. It makes financial sense to buy a lightly used car because you get a pretty steep discount and pretty much all the benefits and performance had you bought it new.
Oftentimes, you can find used camera gear that’s in excellent shape for a lot less than new. Plus, cameras are so good these days that even 10+ year old digital cameras still hold up.
What You Do Need for Street Photography
With all this said about the gear you don’t need, I want to include what you DO need. And I think it’s a good idea to start with the bare minimum and only stray from it if absolutely necessary.
My thinking is this. For one, if you stick to one setup, you’ll become very adept at using it. I want my camera to feel like an extension of my eye. This comes with familiarity with the gear I use.
On that note, if you keep buying gear, you’re always having to adjust to getting up to speed on using it competently. Plus, you end up with a bunch of gear that you can’t even put to good use. You can only use one camera and lens at a time.
So what you do need is very simple: a camera and a lens.
A Camera
Obviously, at the bare minimum, you need a camera to do street photography. I think you should figure out your budget and buy the best camera you can reasonably afford. It should be something you can pay for with money in your bank account - don’t go into debt to buy a camera.
For me, the more convenient a camera is to take with me, the more likely I am to take it with me. So for me, the smaller and lighter, the better. That’s why I like compact cameras like the Ricoh GR III.
A Lens
I think it’s best to choose one lens and stick with it as your primary lens. If you’re switching lenses all the time, that’s time spent that you could be photographing. You also get decision fatigue, and having a ton of lenses to choose from can get in the way.
I like 28mm lenses for street photography. It’s wide enough so that you can stand on a sidewalk and photograph towards storefronts without being too tight.
Everybody sees differently, though. So I think you should try a bunch and see what works for you and then stick with it.
A Strap
This isn’t a necessity, but I’ve just always used either a wrist strap or a neck strap, and this has kept my clutz ass from dropping any of my cameras. I’ve dropped my phones plenty of times, but never a camera!
Bonus: Comfortable Walking Shoes
You do a lot of walking when doing street photography, which I love and is one of my reasons for why I do street photography. So, try out some shoes that are comfortable for you to wear for a lot of steps.
Resist Gear Acquisition Syndrome
I think we all have this desire for more and more things, whether it’s photography-related gear or otherwise. Maybe it’s a resource hoarding thing or something.
I think it’s important to resist the urge to buy gear for street photography that you don’t need or won’t use. And you should especially avoid getting into a bad financial situation to do photography.
We’re at a point where camera technology has gotten so good that it’s not necessary to have the latest camera model.
Camera brands are only one part of the problem. They’re doing what they think will serve their customers and will generate sales for the company. I don’t feel like they do super insidious marketing, though. They’re not on the same level as oil companies who greenwash their planet-destroying product and say they’re working on green energy. But camera companies do exist to make a profit, so just don’t buy gear you don’t need because of clever marketing is all I’m saying.
The important thing that we all need a reminder of from time to time is to go out and use the gear we have. Obsessing over gear for street photography is a mistake, in my opinion.
I think about being on my deathbed, looking back on my life. When I’m at that point, I want to have left it all on the table. I want to leave behind a body of work of photos that I’m proud of. Photos I went out and took. Maybe even photos that required painstaking adventures to take. Because in the end, I’m not going to be able to take my cameras with me. I’d rather have spent my life using cameras merely as a tool to create pictures than obsessing over the tools themselves.
