Search Results for: joel

Joel Meyerowitz Photographer

Joel Meyorowitz is a contemporary of Tony Ray-Jones. His YouTube videos are both educational and inspirational.

Here he describes how his photography is not the record of a single thing, but the coming together of two different things. This is about contradictions and connections in photographs which we talk about frequently in these pages. However for Meyerowitz it is about having the scene as busy as possible so that the eye is not necessarily drawn to just one thing.

This is how he works and why it is important to photograph in colour, and not have a single thing dominate the image.

Street Photography

Street photography is so exciting because it is so unpredictable. It is not just about pointing the camera at a scene and taking a photograph. With street photography, you have no idea what your image will be.

Street Photography Techniques

Definition of Photographing the Streets

What is street photography? We have looked to find a definition, by searching through quotes from some of the photography masters who make their living from shooting the streets.

Quick Tips for Street Photographers

If you have your camera at the ready and just want to get out there now. Then here are some quick tips. These tips will be especially useful for street photo beginners.

It takes nerve to photograph strangers. That is why it is the most challenging medium in all photography. However, learning by doing is still the best way to build your street experience. Enrolling on a course is also a good idea because then you get to try it out with others.

A dilemma that will likely bug you from the start is how to shoot candid images. Is walking the streets the most productive way of spending valuable shooting time or should you wait in one spot and let the picture come to you.

I only know how to approach a place by walking. For what does a street photographer do but walk and watch and wait and talk, and then watch and wait some more, trying to remain confident that the unexpected, the unknown, or the secret heat of the known awaits just around the corner. –
Alex Webb

However if for example, you were in London’s East End where there is painted street art and graffiti, then shooting standing still and letting the picture come to you is a great option.

The Law on the Street

This article from Amateur Photographer sums up the law for photography on the street. However basically the law in the UK is:

Taking photos in a public place is not illegal. The only time an offence is committed is if the photographs being taken are considered to be indecent. There is no law stating that you cannot take photographs in public.

However, not everybody knows the law and members of the public can be quite upset having a camera thrust in their face. We discuss just how close is close, but often it is best to be open about why you are taking photographs and deleting images if asked to. Carrying a business card gives you an air of legitimacy, but always offer to send copies of the image to those who complain.

Occasionally I have been threatened that they will call the police. If you are on public property then you should have nothing to worry about. Pick up your phone and offer to give them a call.

Street Photography Cameras

What is the best street camera? The Leica is synonymous with urban photography because it is compact and has a wide fixed lens. Our analysis of the best fixed lens compact cameras that are available in 2022 are explored here.

As we explain a useful accessory is a flippy screen. Discreetly looking down, as if looking at a phone is often a good ruse for getting close to a subject.

An alternative to an expensive Leica is your smartphone. In our opinion it is likely that smartphones will gradually replace traditional cameras for candid photography. Think of it. As soon as a big DSLR camera is spotted that candid moment is gone. We spend all our time on our smartphones now and no one notices.

Street Camera Setup

We have guides for the best camera setup for street life photography. The Canon R, the Sony a6300 and Sony a6000 are all covered. We also offer a guide to street post processing.

Experts suggest using aperture priority but this advice is a little outdated. Modern cameras have very advanced autofocus systems, so it is unlikely that older techniques like zone focussing are ever going to be required.

Our advice is set your camera to shutter priority. Use a high ISO to enable a fast shutter speed. Your subject will likely move, and a blurred image is a lost image.

Street Photo Lens

A fixed wide angle lens, a 28mm. 35mm or even 24mm is recommended to get in close to your subject to allow your audience to feel that they are there. Zoom lenses suffice but the additional time taken to frame the shot may miss that decisive moment.

“The photograph itself doesn’t interest me. I want only to capture a minute part of reality”. –Henri Cartier-Bresson

Documentary Street Projects

Documentary photography is an adjunct to street photography. So often when developing a street theme it can morph into a documentary project.

So much of our life is documented by film, television, podcasts, videos etc, that any more would seem to be unnecessary. However, when we report on the world from our unique point of view, that is just as valuable as a segment on national news.

Personal projects have included:

The streets of my home town Bedford

A travel project set on the streets of Cambridge for my ARPS

Life in lockdown during the Covid epidemic

Documentary project recording the decline of High St shops in two towns

Famous Street Photographers

Included in our notes we have profiles and conversations with:

British photography legend who is renowned for his photo projects: Martin Parr.

Street portrait photographer: Dougie Wallace.

Famous New York streets photographer: Joel Meyerowitz.

Joshua K Jackson, who works in vivid colour on the streets of London

Pioneer gritty urban UK photographers: David Hurn and Tony Rae Jones

Pioneer American candid photographer: Bruce Davidson

Documentary photographer: Ruddy Roye

Street Photography Locations

Famous street photographers like Vivian Maier made the streets of Chicago famous. Joel Meyerowitz the streets of New York and Henri Cartier Bresson the streets of Paris.

However, my own small home town has proved a rich source of street photos and it is guaranteed that wherever people thrive, street photography will be there as well.

Street Photography Quick Tips.

by John Gough

This guide is full of street photography quick tips for the photographer who wants to go out and hunt for urban images.

Get Started

Street Photography Tips — Skeleton Smoking / John Gough

Remember 99% of street photography is about failure. Just accept that the majority of shots will be rubbish. The joy of getting just one image will make up for all the footslogging.

“Every once in a while at the end of the day, when I am most exhausted and hungry, something – a shaft of light, an unexpected gesture, an odd juxtaposition- suddenly reveals a photograph”. Alex Webb

It is easiest to start street photography with a theme or a project. People smoking or vaping. Reflections in shop windows. Conversations. Arguments. Eating and drinking. All human life is there for the taking.

Quick Tip: Get Close

Get close by using use a 35mm or 28mm prime lens. The advantage of a wide angle lens is that it gives the viewer a sense of being there and in the moment.

It is better to blend in with the crowd and be part of the urban scene. By shooting from across the street with a long lens, you are more like a sniper than a street photographer

‘If your photos aren’t good enough, then you’re not close enough.’ Robert Capa

Cameras for Street Photography

Compact cameras with a prime wide angle lens are best for street photography. A zoom lens is not necessary and could slow down picture taking.

Shoot from the hip. Raising a camera to your eye just says “Look at me”

Be prepared to crop, there is often no time to compose the frame. Get the picture and do the work in post processing.

Use a smartphone. It’s ideal for street photography.

Settings for Street Photography

The experts say use aperture priority, but that advice comes from an earlier time when depth of field was required to ensure the subject was sharp.

Modern cameras with auto focus don’t require zone focusing. So to ensure a sharp image use shutter priority with a high ISO. This will freeze the action and capture that decisive moment.

‘Sharpness is a bourgeois concept’ Henri Cartier-Bresson

Street Photography by Walking Around

Dilemma! Is it better to walk around and search for street images or is it better to find a good location and let the picture come to you?

Walking around is more active and interesting, however standing and waiting means that the dynamic is easier. As people will be entering your personal space instead of you entering their space.

Avoiding Confrontation: Quick Tips

Street Photographt Tips — The Preachers / John Gough

Learn the law about street photography.

If there is confrontation, be open & friendly. Apologise profusely even though you are not in the wrong and be prepared to delete images on request

Business cards are useful to show that you are a real photographer, maybe even a professional photographer.

Street Photography: Capturing Emotion and Telling a Story

Street Photography Quick Tips — Trouble Brewing / John Gough

Like no other genre street photography gives the opportunity to capture emotion.

‘You fill up the frame with feelings energy, discovery and risk, and leave room for someone else to get in there’ Joel Meyerowitz •

Most of all street photography can tell a story.

“The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things with words.” Elliott Erwitt

Street Photography Quick Tips

These street photography quick tips are just a guide. Learning by doing and experience will fill in the gaps

Best Camera for Street Photography 2022

by John Gough

Which is the best camera for street photography 2022?

I have been using my mirrorless Canon EOS R with a 35mm lens for street photography for a couple of years. It is quite discreet and certainly smaller than most DSLRs. However, I want a camera that is even less intrusive to document this phase in our lives of lockdowns and pandemics.

These notes document my personal search for the best street camera available now. Hopefully, they will be of value to other street photographers

What Type of Camera for Street Photography 2022

To start I am dismissing DSLR’s because they are too big and bulky. They also make you look like a professional photographer. Those people who notice you wonder if you are from the press, or maybe you are someone in authority. You are not going to fade into the background with a camera and lens that is worth thousands of pounds.

I don’t want a big camera but I don’t want a very small camera. So small that the settings are fiddly to find. Again this just draws attention to yourself.

There is a lot of discussion as to whether a telephoto lens works in street photography. My view would be definitely not. If you are using a long lens to photograph people in an urban setting you are a sniper not a street photographer.

Furthermore, a telephoto means that it takes longer to compose the shot and then it’s gone. Much better to use a wide angle lens and then crop during post. That means a big sensor! It also means preferably a full frame sensor to take advantage of the increased dynamic range required to draw out detail especially in low light.

A tilting LCD screen is also useful, but preferably it is handy to learn how to shoot without looking through the viewfinder or down at the screen. Another reason for cropping in post.

Wide angle lenses also add so much more emotion and drama as shown in the image above. This picture was taken during the Covid lockdown in the UK, close up with a 35mm lens.

Phone cameras are ideal for street work, but the small 12MP sensor restricts how the image can be cropped. I also want the control of RAW. Especially when converting an image to monochrome.

Conclusion

The camera should be small and unobtrusive but not too small. It should have a big full frame sensor and a fixed prime 35 or 28mm lens.

Which Cameras Are in the Frame for Street Photography

It is surprising that there are only three cameras

Leica Q2

Leica Q2 Street Photography Camera Choice

Obviously, Leica is in the frame. It has been the street camera of choice since Cartier Bresson and is the camera chosen by the master street photographer Joel Meyerowitz

The Leica Q2 is a compact camera with a fixed 28mm lens and a whopping 47.3 MP full-frame sensor. The full spec’ is here.

In a review, the DPReview gave the camera a gold award.

The Leica Q2 is nearly as competent as a fixed-lens digital camera can be. It’s built very well, it handles very well, it’s capable of excellent image quality and it’s a joy to use. We wish Leica would address the lackluster JPEGs, but the Raw files are excellent. It all comes at a price, of course, but the Q2 really is a wonderfully engaging photographic tool that will appeal to photographers of all kinds.
DPReview

However, the Leica Q is priced at an amount that I just could not justify: £4500 / $5695. I also feel that I would be being a tiny bit showy offy, buying a camera with that red dot.

Fujifilm X100V

The Fujifilm X100V is a real contender for Best Camera for Street Photography. If you hold the camera in your hands it just has the feel of real quality.

It is quite heavy. All the vintage looking dials are sturdy and beautifully machined. The grip is sure and secure without being oversized, and you feel that you could easily spend several hours walking the streets with this camera.

This is the spec’ for the Fujifilm X100V:

26.1 МР Ѕеnѕоr
Х-Тrаnѕ СМОЅ APS-C sensor
Fіхеd 23mm lеnѕ (35mm еquіvаlеnt)
Аdvаnсеd Нуbrіd Vіеwfіndеr (ОVF & ЕVF)
Тwо-wау 3″ tіltіng LСD tоuсh ѕсrееn
Vеrѕаtіlе аnd соmрасt
17 Сlаѕѕіс Fuјіfіlm fіlm ѕіmulаtіоn mоdеѕ
Вluеtооth аnd Wі-Fі соnnесtіvіtу

Price: £1299 / $1399

DPReview also award this camera gold.

The X100V is an engaging, well-built camera that produces beautiful images, has best-in-class video, excellent autofocus and optional weather-sealing. Meaningful updates like a tilting touchscreen, updated viewfinder and redesigned lens have us largely looking past its imperfections. Assuming you like the 35mm-equivalent focal length, it makes a strong case as a photographer’s carry-everywhere compact that’s good for all kinds of photography.
DPReview

The APS-C sensor does not fit the ideal profile, but reviewers assure us of beautiful RAW images

This may be unfair but there are still doubts about whether Fujifilm RAW files can be processed successfully in Lightroom and Photoshop. I have come up against this problem before albeit on older Fujifilm cameras.

Fujifilm camera owners recommend that RAW files are processed in Capture 1 but you may not want to change your workflow.

Ricoh GRIII

This camera has cult status. It is small, it does not have a viewfinder, but it has a zen like quality and is built for street photography. There is even a street photography version of the camera.

There is a front rubberised grip and the magnesium body feels sturdy and purposeful. The matt black look is very discreet.

There is autofocus but to make focussing even more instant for street photographers there is a version of zone focusing. This allows you to pre-set a focusing distance to which the camera automatically ‘snaps’ at a full shutter button press. It can also be set up to work at the touch of the rear screen.

Recently Ricoh have launched the GRIIIx which has a 40mm lens. This is better for street portraits whilst the 28mm remains better for urban scenes

This is the spec for the Ricoh GRIII

8.3mm f2.8 lеnѕ (28mm іn thе 35mm fоrmаt)
APS-C 24.24 МP Ѕеnѕоr
Ніgh-ѕрееd аutоfосuѕ ореrаtіоn uѕіng а hуbrіd АF ѕуѕtеm
3-Ахіѕ shаkе rеduсtіоn sуѕtеm
Соmрасt аnd ruggеd dеѕіgn. Ѕuреrb іmаgе quаlіtу аnd роrtаbіlіtу
Fast ѕtаrt-uр tіmе оf аррrох. 0.8 ѕесѕ
3.0″ LСD mоnіtоr wіth quick tоuсh-ѕсrееn ореrаtіоn
Price £799 / $936

DPReview gave this camera a silver award.

If you shoot street, documentary, or just want a genuinely pocketable travel camera with excellent image quality, and if you can afford the admission price, just buy one!
Fred Abery Petapixel

The downsides are no viewfinder, no flippy screen and the battery life is only around 200 shots.

However, it is the minimal aesthetic and the quality of the images that make this camera so special. Special enough to have a fanatical following including the renown Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama and German freelance photographer Samuel Lintaro Hopf, who has used Ricoh since 2013.

Then there are the GRists. Go over to their community webpage and suck up the vibes, and dont tell me you dont want one.

The Best Street Camera for 2022

So where does that leave us with fixed lens compact cameras which are so right for street photography?

Well, for most camera makers their attention is elsewhere, concentrating on mirrorless cameras. Compact cameras have largely been replaced by mobile phones. The compact cameras that remain are aimed at the travel market with catch-all mega zoom lenses.

So well done to Leica, Fujifilm and Ricoh who have stuck with the tradition of the street camera. This stretches back to the 1930s and Brassai, Cartier-Bresson, and Helen Levitt and now thanks to them, proudly continues into 2022.

Street Photography Close Up

by John Gough

I am reinventing the way I approach street photography. I want to do more street photography close up. So this is how I have changed my street photography technique and adapted my kit to make this happen.

If you are a visitor to these pages you will be aware of my love of the photography of the great New York street photographer Joel Meyerowitz and Scottish photographer Dougie Wallace. The immediacy and spontaneity they bring to street photography is so much more refreshing than the easy urban shot taken with a long lens.

So if you are going in for street photography close up. How do you adopt an in your face attitude, without getting your face slapped?

Street Photography Advice from Dave Mason

I was watching a Zoom presentation by Dave Mason. He is the master of juxtaposition as you will see if you visit his website. He talked about how he gets in close for street photography.

This is his advice:

Walk slowly so as not to draw attention.
Stand or sit and wait to become part of the scene
There is no time to adjust a zoom lens and doing so would draw attention
Use a prime lens and zoom with your feet.
Do not lift the camera to your eye
Hold the camera in front of your chest
Frame the shot through the rear screen

Setting your Camera for Getting in Close on the Street

I use a Canon EOS R, and I have set a custom button to switch the camera into street photography mode.

I use a 35mm prime lens, a 28mm may be better. Cartier-Bresson used a 50mm lens.

These are the settings I use:

Prioritise shutter speed over aperture and depth of field. You are going to be working up close. Movement is exaggerated the closer you are. So ramp up the shutter speed to capture that action.
Set to shutter priority fast enough to capture movement without blur i.e +400th sec.
Use a high ISO 1000 – 1600 or higher depending on your camera to achieve as wide an aperture as possible.
Set to continuous shooting so that by holding down the shutter release you fire off as many shots as possible to increase your chance of that ‘decisive moment’.
Set your AF to servo and tracking, if your camera can hack this. Don’t worry if not. Cartier-Bresson’s 35mm Leica rangefinder camera was little more than point and shoot compared with today’s technology.
Set your shutter to silent release. A traditional DSLR with a noisy mirror lifting mechanism may be too much in a close environment.

Actioning Street Photography Close Up

Putting all this together I now walk slowly, without drawing attention to myself with my camera unobtrusively in my left hand, tethered to my arm with a wrist strap. When I see a picture I raise the camera to my chest, steady it with my right hand and shoot.

Try it for yourself. Street photography close up, can be thrilling, you are in with the action and could lead to some spontaneous and unique photographs.

Autumn Multiple Exposures

by John Gough

Lately because of the COVID restrictions I have had less opportunity for street photography. I don’t want to travel on a train to London, and I have decided that pubs and restaurants are off limits for me at the moment.

So I have been looking for different outlets for my photography. My first love, landscape photography is restricted because long road trips and overnight stays are out. So it is difficult to visit the Lake District and Scotland.

So I am going to go a bit abstract.

An Impression of Autumn

It is just coming into Autumn. The most beautiful time of year IMHO. The next six weeks or so are going to be just so amazing. What I want to do is photograph the leaves and the trees and the sky and capture the mood. The feeling of darkening days, and ripe fruit. Hunkering in, log fires, smoky chimney pots, mellow mists and the foreboding of winter. I want to create an impression of the Autumn I see.

As Joel Meyerowitz says:

‘Once you have a camera in your hand you have a license to see.’

Abstract allows a creative control. Some would say too much. However, the end result is unique to you. It may be crass, but it is your kind of crass. A camera can give you the license to see, but abstraction gives you the freedom to feel and express emotion.

Multiple Exposures

One of the most accessible ways of going abstract is to find the multiple exposure function on your camera. With this, you can create stunning abstracts in camera.

There are numerous videos that go into the technicals of ‘how to’ like this one.

You take several different images. These multiple exposures are then stored in the camera and merged to create a final image. Sounds complicated and technical, but it is not that difficult. Just have a go and experiment. Take 2, 3 or more images stacked on top of one another. See what works and carry on.

The most difficult part is finding Multiple Exposure on your camera’s menu!

The example above was taken in my local park. There are three exposures. Lengthening shadows on a white wall, autumn leaves and pine needles.

I think I will print my Autumn Abstracts. Stick them on a wall and then the next six weeks will be with me all winter

To see what you can achieve with this technique. Look no further than the work of Valda Bailey If you really want to get into Multiple Exposures then the Bailey Chinnery workshops are well worthwhile.

Now let’s get out there and enjoy the Autumn.

Tony Ray-Jones

by John Gough

There is an exhibition at the Martin Parr Foundation of work by Tony Ray-Jones.

The exhibition is on until December 21st 2019.

Pioneer

Ray-Jones was a pioneer and an inspiration to Parr.

“Tony Ray-Jones was one of my initial inspirations. His imagery showed me what was possible photographing my own country.” – Martin Parr

He is famous for photographing the eccentricities of English life. After studying in the US, he returned to England. Between 1966-68, Ray-Jones travelled around England in a VW camper van, capturing the customs and peculiarities of the British people, on the street, on holidays in seaside towns, and at social events. The ubiquitous class system so prevalent in 60’s Britain was a constant theme.

As he explained to Creative Camera in 1968:

I have tried to show the sadness and the humour in a gentle madness that prevails in a people. The situations are sometimes ambiguous and unreal, and the juxtaposition of elements seemingly unrelated, and the people are real. This, I hope helps to create a feeling of fantasy. Photography can be a mirror and reflect life as it is, but I also think that perhaps it is possible to walk, like Alice, through a Looking-Glass, and find another kind of world with the camera.

Influences

During his time in the States at the Yale School of Art, he knew and was influenced by young American documentary photographers like Gary Winogrand and Joel Meyerowitz.

Returning home in 1965 he was full of ideas with notebooks full of lists and what to do next.

“Get more involved (talk to people),” began one typical list of these notes to self. “Stay with the subject matter (be patient). See if everything in the background relates to the subject matter. NO MIDDLE DISTANCE.”

There followed six years of photography that defined him, where he searched for the essence of Englishness. As the Guardian shows here it was an England that was not so swinging. The Ray-Jones version was how the 60’s really looked

In 1971 he was back in the States with his wife Anna working at a teaching position at the San Francisco Art Institute. He was diagnosed with leukaemia in 1972. He returned to England to be treated at the Royal Marsden Hospital but died aged 31.

I have curated some of his work here

Camera Wrist Strap

I have avoided dropping my camera so many times using a simple inexpensive wrist strap like this one. Cameras and expensive lenses do not bounce!

USA

Street Photography Update

by John Gough

Jerk Pork / John Gough / Canon EOS 6D

What is happening in the world of street photography?

I found a film on Amazon Prime called Everybody Street, which has street photographers from New York, including Bruce Davidson, Mary Ellen Mark, Elliott Erwitt, Ricky Powell and Joel Mayerowitz, talking about how and why they take pictures.

Everybody Street

I have since sourced the film on YouTube:

As I watched the film I jotted down some insights from these iconic photographers:

Why do some photographers go to the street and others go to the studio?

Learning to read your culture is a great fascination for photographers

Capture what might be of interest in the future. When its gone, you realise that you missed taking a picture of it

There are too many bad photographs, but the good ones illuminate and entertain and get some sort of emotion, laugh or cry or something in between

Invisibility, a little camera makes you look like a sneak

Definition of public and private is smashed, so objecting to having a camera in your face is obsolete

You make the picture in the moment, turn left you have a picture, turn right and you don’t get one

Rendering the human condition, sharing the world as it is, recording life my way

More and more I want to take pictures, because I have less and less time left

Photography is about description, that is what a camera does. However as human beings we learn to understand minute little exchanges. It is down to us believing that this slice of a moment will present its self. There are a lot of people that don’t believe that the world is going to present itself in that way, so they don’t see it because they don’t look for it.

If you have a spare hour and a half and you love street photography you will love this film.

I recently saw Damien Demolder talk about street photography

Damien Demolder

Damien is an interesting speaker. He was editor of Amateur Photographer for around fifteen years. He is now a journalist, photographer, reviewer of kit and a judge on some big photography competitions. I recently saw him speak about his photography. Street photography he defines as people and architecture. His work is here

This was just some of the learning I took away.

Photography and especially street photography is showing ordinary things in an extraordinary way.

Light is important. Our subject is light. Wait for light.

Photographers are more observant than other people. Look for that decisive moment.

Shoot with a standard lens. Need to be involved with the subject not standing far away

Holding a viewfinder to your head cuts you off from the world. 98% of pictures are taken from head height. If you have a flip up the screen then shoot from the hip. It is a different view and you can see the picture coming next.

Hold your camera in front of you. Use the screen. You look like an idiot but not like a photographer.

Here is Damien talking about street portraiture:

Sony a6000 for Street Photography

by John Gough

The Baron of Beef / John Gough / Sony a6300

I am researching what the Sony a6000 and its’ derivatives the a6300 and a6500 are like at street photography. Not so long ago (well 60 years ago) you set forth into the streets of New York. (See Joel Meyerwitz) with Leica in hand. Now we are all striving to be street photographers, and there are lots of alternatives to a Leica. These include the mirrorless Sony, Fuji, Panasonic and Canon cameras. But how good are they? Concentrating on the Sony a6000s, here are some views from some street photography bloggers: Thomas Fitzgerald Photography

The big advantages of the A6000 for street photography are as follows:

1. It’s really fast in operation. The camera responds quickly and you are never left waiting for it to catch up, which can be an issue with some older mirrorless cameras, especially in this price range.
2. The flip up screen is great for shooting from the hip. It’s great for being stealthy when shooting on the street.
3. The autofocus is superb. It’s still one of the better autofocus systems that I’ve used on a mirrorless camera. I find it better than my X-Pro 2 for autofocusing (send your hate mail to….) especially when shooting street photography. It’s very fast and it locks on really quickly. Also, the face detection works well, and is a really useful option when shooting street shots.
4. It’s really small and discrete. When coupled with a small lens it’s not much bigger than a compact camera.
5. You can adapt it to an incredibly wide range of lenses (pretty much anything). While it doesn’t autofocus with adaptors as well as the newer A6500, if you’re willing to manual focus, and have old glass, there is more than likely an adaptor for it. And some of these adaptors are pretty cheap too.

Steven Brokaw Photography

There are MANY reviews on the A6000 focusing on features & performance, so I won’t try to do one myself. I would recommend if you are looking at an ILC for street then check out the online reviews, blogs and go to your local camera store to get the feel of the Sony A6000. However, I did want to highlight what I liked about the camera. They are:

Lighting fast focus,
Easy to use menus & menu layout,
Fine lineup of Sony lenses and readily available adapters for non Sony lenses,
Focus tracking is awesome,
Burst rate is stupid fast,
OK (but, not great) low light performance,
Feels good in my hand (very sticky),
APS-C sensor,
Good video,

Crazyaboutcameras http://crazyaboutcameras.com/best-cameras-for-street-photography/

The main benefit of the a6000 is its portable size. The ability to put a camera in a coat pocket and take it out everywhere with you is not to be underestimated. Especially with street photography where you may want to be discreet.

But apart from the portability, we are just amazed by the image quality that a camera of this size can produce. The a6000s sensor is incredible and is widely regarded as being one of the best in this “size class” of cameras. It picks up colors well and the processor that powers the whole product can accurately adjust the balance on auto mode.

Some other cameras without a digital viewfinder can struggle in bright lighting conditions making the shot reasonably difficult (or impossible) to take. The OLED viewfinder on the a6000 makes it well suited to shooting in bright conditions. It is perfect for the street where you never know when the next shot might arise.

Tim Brookes MakeUseOf http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/mirrorless-cameras-great-street-candid-shy-photographers/

For street photography, this matters. As someone who’s always been a bit shy when it comes to pointing a camera in people’s faces, a smaller and more discreet camera allowed me to get closer and push myself further than an SLR ever has. The amazing thing is that modern mirrorless cameras don’t require you to sacrifice image quality — I’ve been shooting 24.2 megapixel images in RAW format images in RAW format and the excellent low-light performance and 425 points of autofocus on the A6300 allowed me to trust the camera completely. Aforementioned street photographer Eric Kim notes that “ultimately capturing the moment, emotion, and feeling of a scene is more important than how many pixels or how sharp it is.” This could apply to a whole manner of photographic applications, but it’s especially true for street photographers and anyone who wants to get into candid photography. Kim’s top pick for a dedicated street camera is the Richoh GR-II, a compact camera with a fixed lens and an APS-C sensor that retails for around $700.
Considering the flexibility offered by an interchangeable system, Sony’s A6000 is cheaper and ultimately more versatile. The newer A6300 has a groundbreaking autofocus system and full silent shooting for around $1,150 with a kit lens. These are easily two of the best mirrorless cameras on the market in terms of value for money, raw performance, and overall size — so be sure to check them out if you’re planning your next move as a photographer.

The Phoblographer

Review: Sony a6300

In many ways the Sony a6300 is an excellent camera. Great image quality, very versatile RAW files, a small size, great autofocus, and more. What more could you possibly ask for? My qualms with it have to do with the fact that the high ISO output is starting to fall behind the competitor and that I genuinely feel like the ergonomics need to take a step up at this point. Otherwise, it’s a very solid camera.

It is interesting gaining the views of actual users. The Sony a6xxx have fantastic autofocus, good IQ and are small and discrete, ideal for street work. May also have to invest in some primes. the Sigma 30mm 1.4 looks a good option very highly rated by DPReview. Plus a top tip, if the 30mm is too tight then take a few pictures and stitch together in Lightroom

Where to Buy Your Equipment

I buy my equipment from Wex because of their exceptional customer service. I once returned a camera after 30 days, and the next day they called to return my money to my account. Their prices are always competitive and they offer good prices on the trade in of your used gear

Camera Wrist Strap

I have avoided dropping my camera so many times using a simple inexpensive wrist strap like this one. Cameras and expensive lenses do not bounce! UK USA