23mm f/2 vs 35mm f/2 beside my 12mm

Cagey75 wrote:

RivkiLocker wrote:

The 23 and 12 are not too close but personally I love doing street with a wide and a long. My favorite current combo is the 14 and 35f1.4. I like to have the 14 on one body and the 35 on another. That said, if I am going out with just one lens, I use the 45 on my gfx which is the same focal length as the 23. So, I’d probably opt for the 23 if you intend to use only that. IF you intend to take two, I think the 12 and 35 make a better complement.

I completely agree with this. I like to separate focal lengths as much as possible, you have plenty of room to manouvre in between.

I have the 35F2, I don't find it in any way tight, I've used it plenty indoors and took pictures of groups of people. I really don't get this '35 is too tight' complaint whatsoever. A 50mm on FF is ideal for street, a 35 on APSC is much the same. A 23mm will be slightly better for taking in more of the environment, but honestly, unless you only ever shoot down tight alleyways or your idea of 'street' is to capture the whole street itself!? a 35mm on APSC is plenty wide enough.

You should also note that the 23mm is very soft with tragic discoloration at close focus distance, if this is important to you. You really need to stop it down to 5.6 for decent sharpness for this purpose, no matter what anyone tells you, just watch the reviews and see the proof for yourself. It performs very good at F2 from a distance. The 35 suffers a little from the same but nowhere near as bad. It often has a bit of a 'glow' and softening when at CFD at F2 but is already very decent by 2.8. Otherwise it is tack sharp at all apertures for general shooting.

I also don’t understand the, “The 35 is too tight” narrative. The 50mm was the master of street photography back in the day.