Whats your favorite (Digital) camera for street photography

After a long thought process I have decided to try and use the LX100 for he time being for street and look out for a decent body at a good price. I have not had the LX100 long enough to give it a fair go and have a few 48hr trips coming up so will let rip with it and see how I get on. The other thing I wanted to get was the Panasonic 35-100mmm f2.8 lens (not for street..although.....) to go with my 12-35mm f2.8 so I can now get that and I'll have plenty of coverage.

Thanks all for the input. It has been very interesting to read all the comments.
 
I would personally avoid any of the lower tech cameras which only offer a more traditional user interface. Anything requiring the use of manual focus for street photography will usually require the selection of an unnecessarily small aperture, which can result in too much depth-of-field, too low a shutter speed, too high an ISO, or all of the above. Any of the Micro 4/3 cameras that you mentioned with a tilting touchscreen interface will avoid these issues as long as you're not using one of the original pancake lenses (AF is too slow with them). Unfortunately, none of them have proper Auto ISO customisation.
 
I beg to differ about "lower tech"... This is my all-time favourite street camera and lens and the one with which I have enjoyed most success over the years. I never use a meter; Sunny-16 (actually overcast-11 in the UK) and ISO 400 mono film, focus preset to 10', job done. Walk, shoot, refine, shoot again, move on. Stop every 36 frames for a coffee while you rewind, trim the leader and reload, then repeat. Heaven.
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Jan 30 - Back to Leitz
par Lightmancer, on ipernity
 
I beg to differ about "lower tech"... This is my all-time favourite street camera and lens and the one with which I have enjoyed most success over the years. I never use a meter; Sunny-16 (actually overcast-11 in the UK) and ISO 400 mono film, focus preset to 10', job done. Walk, shoot, refine, shoot again, move on. Stop every 36 frames for a coffee while you rewind, trim the leader and reload, then repeat. Heaven.
18988265.408cc8de.1024.jpg

Jan 30 - Back to Leitz
par Lightmancer, on ipernity

The basics. They can be very liberating.
 
I would personally avoid any of the lower tech cameras which only offer a more traditional user interface. Anything requiring the use of manual focus for street photography will usually require the selection of an unnecessarily small aperture, which can result in too much depth-of-field, too low a shutter speed, too high an ISO, or all of the above.
As I noted earlier in this thread, it really depends on how you shoot. I really prefer using manual focus with quite a bit of DOF, a pretty high shutter speed, and whatever ISO is needed to make it work. With today's sensors, this is highly doable at really usable ISOs. I like a good auto ISO setup to help me balance shutter speed and ISO and I pick the aperture based as getting as much DOF as I can for the light conditions. But I've learned to zone focus pretty effectively even with relatively narrow "zones" in focus. But with a crop sensor, there's still a pretty good amount of DOF even with pretty large apertures.

-Ray
 
For those that have had both the GR and Coolpix A, does the Coolpix's display work as well out in sunlight? I have only used the GR and I remember it being quite good compared to other LCDs I have used outdoors.

I am going to grab either a refurb A or discounted GR II.
 
For those that have had both the GR and Coolpix A, does the Coolpix's display work as well out in sunlight? I have only used the GR and I remember it being quite good compared to other LCDs I have used outdoors.

I am going to grab either a refurb A or discounted GR II.
I remember when I was shooting with both the first GR and the A, immediately after both were introduced, I thought the A had a much easier display to see in bright light. I don't remember thinking that the GR was particularly bad, but I didn't think it was all that good either. Sony, with it's sunny weather setting, has always been kind of the gold standard for LCD type displays in bright sun IMHO. Neither of these were as good as the Sonys I've had (a Nex 5, an RX100, and an RX1) but the A was quite good and the GR a bit behind it. I can't say if the display on the GRII is an improvement over the one in the first GR, but I didn't find that one to be all that good.

-Ray
 
i seldom shoot anything that could be seen as street, but I would go with a Sony NEX or Alpha body and a Konica Hexanon 40/1.8. It's small and easy to shoot from the hip, fast, the flip up LCD is pretty easy to see in bright sunlight and focus peaking makes MF a snap.
 
Thanks for the great feedback, Ray.

The refurb price on the Nikon (do I have to call it a Coolpix?!) makes it very tempting!
No, you don't, but if you just keep calling it the A, people get confused and it can quickly turn into a "who's on first" routine. Which camera? A camera. Yeah, but which one? ;)

They're both equally good cameras with a few different strengths/features that will appeal to each of us differently. But the prices on the NIKON COOLPIX A (heh heh) have been pretty compelling for a while now. And Nikon won't say they're discontinuing it. I talked to their support department about something totally unrelated not long ago and asked if they were ever gonna redo the A (knowing they wouldn't have a clue), but they were pretty adamant that they're still selling it and it's still a live model. Although I can't imagine they're actually manufacturing any more of 'em... Hard to go wrong with either...

-Ray
 
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