Suggestions for a good street photography setup?

I have a D7500 which is just too annoying to carry around with me when I'm on trips and it's hard to keep a low profile while shooting with a black DSLR in the streets.

I'd like a camera that isn't too big (I am a big guy so I don't mind a slightly bigger camera), that's well built, with decent image quality and dynamic range, possibly with weather sealing, with decent battery life, decent EVF and interchangeable lenses.

That's why I started looking at the m4/3 ecosystem. I like that there are many available lenses around and I like the fact that m4/3 cameras tend to be small and cute.

My budget is about €1000 for a camera and a lens. What do you suggest?

For the lens, I thought about getting the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 asph. mark II which goes for about €300, and this would leave €700 for the camera.

Thanks.

If you like the field of view, the Panasonic 20mm is a nifty little street/ walkaround lens. I have the original version, which is not particularly fast focusing. This is fine with me, but I think the current version is supposed to be better in this area.  It's optically excellent and pleases me with its good close focus capabilities particularly for a pancake lens.

I have mine on an Olympus EM-10 mk2, which is a very capable and very small camera.  It's an older model and would be well within your budget.

The 20mm f1.7 takes beautiful images plus V1 & V2 share the same optics., so you can even go for the cheaper V1. But, the 20mm is also well noted for its slow and noisy autofocus, two attributes you don't want in a street lens.

The Olympus 12mm f2 coupled with the Panasonic GX9 make a perfect street shooting pair, nobody will pay much attention to you and if you learn to shoot while holding the camera against your gut, all the better. Plus the 12mm has the AF/MF snapback clutch which allows you to switch to MF and use zone focusing.

Here in the U.K., I’d buy used from a reputable dealer.  I’d also get a 20Mpix body with decent IBIS.

The 20/1.7 is a bit slow and noisy, so not suitable for video.  Unless you shoot action, it should be fast enough.  You can’t hear the noise unless you are close.

Given you don’t want the smallest camera, I’d go for an EM1.2.

If you want a rangefinder style smaller body, the the GX9 with kit 12-32mm and 20/1.7.

Excellent IBIS is the great strength of the EM1.2, along with a lot of stills functionality.

Andrew

20mm did annoy me with its focus time.

Plus I didnt really like 20mm fOV and the pancake has some distortion on the edges, but its a good lense and many others like them.

I would prefer any of the other 17ish lenses which are faster to focus. Though not as small but still small.

I thought about the same thing, for riding with my new bike, but instead, I dug out my Ricoh GRII, which I never completely got the hang of, and now I love it!
It forces me to take photos a different way -- mainly a street photo style -- and the output is tremedous.  It truly does fit in a pocket and is so unobstrusive.  With snap focus it isn't even obvious you are taking a photo.
I already had mine, and they aren't inexpensive, but so glad I made the effort instead of adapting my EM1.3 for that job.
jan

pdelux wrote:

20mm did annoy me with its focus time.

Plus I didnt really like 20mm fOV and the pancake has some distortion on the edges, but its a good lense and many others like them.

20mm f/1.7 seems to AF better on Panasonic bodies. Distortion is automatically corrected, except perhaps on some older Olympus bodies.

I would prefer any of the other 17ish lenses which are faster to focus. Though not as small but still small.

Panasonic 20mm f/1.7, Panasonic Leica 15mm f/1.7, Olympus 17mm f/1.8, Sigma 19mm f/2.8 are all good options, 20mm f/1.7 being my first choice. I would probably add a Panasonic 12-32mm pancake or 12-60mm (non-Leica) or maybe Olympus 14-42mm EZ pancake. This would mean a 400€-600€ budget for the camera, meaning something like Panasonic GX80, Panasonic G80, Panasonic G90(?), Olympus E-M5 mk II, Olympus E-M10 mk III/IV. I would first look at G80 and E-M5 mk II that are a bit older upper mid-range models.

I'm not annoyed by it at all, but then I work primarily with static or highly predictable subjects so AF speed is not a high priority for me in general. I think It's faster than some of my Fuji lens/ camera pairings as it is.

I chose my first version (used) over a new version 2 because the two are optically identical, and a lot of people around the world are still using the first version happily. It even seems to be considered a bit of a classic. So since the whole thing was an experiment for me anyway, I decided to save the money. I was not expecting to like the lens nearly as much as I do.

bs1946 wrote:

The 20mm f1.7 takes beautiful images plus V1 & V2 share the same optics., so you can even go for the cheaper V1. But, the 20mm is also well noted for its slow and noisy autofocus, two attributes you don't want in a street lens.

This is complete BS. at least for stills. Nobody will hear the AF noise in a street configuration

This is obviously hearsay and not firsthand experience

g.

Harold

ange_photo wrote:

For the lens, I thought about getting the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 asph. mark II which goes for about €300, and this would leave €700 for the camera.

Thanks.

A rarely-mentioned drawback of the 20mm f/1.7 is that it focuses by moving a group of lens elements (and inbuilt filter thread) in and out - so it's not advisable to press the lens against glass surfaces (the windows of shops, cars or planes, museum display cases, etc) to cut out stray reflections.... on pain of causing damage to the focusing mechanism.

May matter to you, or may not - but probably better to know, rather than finding out the hard way?

I enjoy using the original version, while trying to keep the above in mind!

Peter

uniball wrote:

Not going to comment on the body. The 20/1.7 is about the slowest focusing lens I've used since the original, sans-firmware updates, X100. Its a total annoyance for street in anything but good light and contrast. In the absence of decent light, it will hunt, and hunt, and... I have the current version. Nice render but rarely mounted and will likely be sold.

I use either the PL15/1.7 or the O25/1.8 and am delighted with both of them.

Interesting, it doesn’t hunt on an EM1.2.  Just been trying inside a dark cupboard.

Andrew

dwkdnvr wrote:

I think a GX80/GX85 + Panny/Leica 15mm/1.7 is a great combo, and kinda/sorta can be an M43 alternative to a fixed lens street camera like the X100 series (different ergonomics, obviously)

I completely agree.

I do most of my shooting with a G95 but whenever I want to go light and walk around the street with a camera, I find my GX85 with the PL15mm lens ideal. The tilting screen allows me to shoot from the hip which helps keep a low profile.