Is 24mm Too Wide for Street Photography? The Pros & Cons of Shooting with a Wide-Angle Lens

Travel photographer Pierre T. Lambert has been on worldwide photo tour, shooting images and sharing how-to videos about his experiences. During his travels, he’s mainly been using two lenses for his Sony mirrorless camera: a 16-35mm and 70-200mm f/2.8.

While they’re great travel photography companions because they offer good focal ranges in relatively small packages, he’s been wanting to shake things up a bit recently.

“With zoom lenses you get kind of lazy. You don’t move that much,” Lambert says. “So, I decided, why don’t I spice things up and put myself in a 7-day challenge. And I thought why not go ahead and do some street photography at 24mm with a 1.4 lens and see how that feels. I really want to share the experience and show you how different it is.”

In the video below, which was shot on location in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands (nice, right?), Lambert discusses the pros and cons of shooting with the Sony FE 24mm F1.4 GM lens for street photography. Here they are:

The Good

  • Gives a Sense of Place
  • F/1.4 Is Amazing
  • Gets You More into the Scene
  • Fast, Small & Light Lens

The Bad

  • You Need to Get Close
  • Harder to Isolate Subject
  • People Can Be Shy

So, check out the video below where Lambert goes through the pros and cons, and stay to the end where he shares some street photography tips for shooting with wide-angle lenses. And, of course, visit Lambert’s awesome YouTube channel for more great video content.

X