Ian Boys wrote:
[...] Apparently David Alan Harvey shoots 3 scenes a day but stays with each one for a long time instead of trying to happen upon a decisive moment.
That's a great idea, I'm going to try it! Do you remember where you heard this? I'd love to learn more about his process.
I find, coming from Olympus, that Fuji X cameras are slow for street photography. Of course, one can strongly argue that these cameras are "made" for street photography in that, they are very conspicuous, quiet and with small primes you can disappear in the crowds. And their retro looks not raising attentions. More so with the X100/x series.
However I am more of a "grab the moment" guy and Fuji autofocus is plain unreliable for me. You just can't trust it to grab your subject at that peak moment, giving you the shot of the day. However you set the AF settings and however much you point the square at contrasty points, you frustratingly end up looking at the screen with the lens grinding forth and back, while your moment has already passed by. Or perfectly focused backgrounds. With m43 you just frame and press the shutter. It's so trustworthy it is practically almost zone-focus like.
Maybe I need some practice in zone focusing. But I also like some separation;
^ Nice shots and write-up. I've seen on your Flickr that you've also used the A7ii with various lenses. What's your take on that system for street shooting?
Yes, I've been using the A7ii too. It is obviously also no Olympus either in terms of AF, but I've found it a bit more reliable than Fuji in the street. It also does well enough AF-C. While it cannot touch the Olympus AF in terms of grabbing instant moments, it is good for more static scenes and it doesn't tend to focus the background.
There is also the issue of shutter sound. It is a high and long sound, therefore it makes it known that a photograph has been taken around you. Especially at portrait distances. Therefore you cannot be as conspicuous. Maybe in busy and noisy streets.
Honestly one of the main reasons I'm using the Sony system is the CZ55 You just want to create opportunities to use it. Fifty is one of my fav FLs, so it seems the Sony system will be with me for a while.
I think it boils down to the style of street photography (SP) you do. SP is such a wide genre that comes with many approaches. It seems like you prefer shooting with larger apetures near or wide open. In these cases AF is definitely crucial and of course some of the M4/3 dominate the field in the AF speed/accuracy/reliability in the mirrorless world.
On the otherhand there are many SPers that often shoot at smaller apetures (often f/8 give or take) and shoot zone, use hyperfocal distance or combination of all the above. In these cases AF is not as crucial since the DOF is quite large. They prefer to have most or all of the scene in focus throughout to have the subject/environment(aka street)/etc be an important part of the image. For many of these shooters the Fuji AF is more than 'good enough' on top of the many reasons why people enjoy Fuji cameras.
I'm personally love to shoot at the smallest aperture possible that my ISO/SS can handle for the scene. The exception would be some types of street portraits.
