JulyLL Posted December 15, 2022 Share #1 Posted December 15, 2022 (edited) Advertisement (gone after registration) I just got my Leica M11 and plan to do some street photography soon. What are the best settings I can use? Lens - 35mm 1.4 FLE Should I try F8 - Auto ISO - Auto Shutter? Watched a video with Eric Kim where he mentioned F8 - ISO1600 and auto shutter Edited December 15, 2022 by JulyLL Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted December 15, 2022 Posted December 15, 2022 Hi JulyLL, Take a look here best settings for street photography?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
DenverSteve Posted December 15, 2022 Share #2 Posted December 15, 2022 (edited) Congratulations on the new M11. It's a great tool. Photography is about finding your look. Take a great deal of time and experiment. Go out one day and shoot wide open. Go out another day and shoot at f8, or whatever. Experiment with your internal photo-style settings until you get what you like. There are no universal settings or formulas. Find juxtapositions in nature and experiment with what you find to make it into interesting compositions that tell a story or evoke emotions. "See" what's around you and document what you find. World renowned photographers spend a lifetime creating a handful of meaningful images. Enjoy the hunt. Don't fall into the habit that so many "street photographers" today do by happy-snapping everything they see in the guise of "street photography". If it doesn't evoke a feeling, or tell a story, it's probably not worth pressing the shutter release. Enjoy the experimentation. Edited December 15, 2022 by DenverSteve 10 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulyLL Posted December 15, 2022 Author Share #3 Posted December 15, 2022 58 minutes ago, DenverSteve said: Congratulations on the new M11. It's a great tool. Photography is about finding your look. Take a great deal of time and experiment. Go out one day and shoot wide open. Go out another day and shoot at f8, or whatever. Experiment with your internal photo-style settings until you get what you like. There are no universal settings or formulas. Find juxtapositions in nature and experiment with what you find to make it into interesting compositions that tell a story or evoke emotions. "See" what's around you and document what you find. World renowned photographers spend a lifetime creating a handful of meaningful images. Enjoy the hunt. Don't fall into the habit that so many "street photographers" today do by happy-snapping everything they see in the guise of "street photography". If it doesn't evoke a feeling, or tell a story, it's probably not worth pressing the shutter release. Enjoy the experimentation. Love it thank you so much Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Telecaster Posted December 15, 2022 Share #4 Posted December 15, 2022 If you are new to rangefinder cameras I suggest to watch a couple of videos on YouTube about Zone Focussing. Enjoy your M11 !!! Cheers, Andreas 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianforber Posted December 15, 2022 Share #5 Posted December 15, 2022 7 hours ago, JulyLL said: I just got my Leica M11 and plan to do some street photography soon. What are the best settings I can use? Lens - 35mm 1.4 FLE Should I try F8 - Auto ISO - Auto Shutter? Watched a video with Eric Kim where he mentioned F8 - ISO1600 and auto shutter Like you, I’m trying to get into street photography, albeit with a 50mm Summicron. Try watching the YouTube videos by Brian Lloyd Ducket. I’ve found them useful. I still haven’t settled on my settings yet! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LBJ2 Posted December 15, 2022 Share #6 Posted December 15, 2022 (edited) 8 hours ago, JulyLL said: I just got my Leica M11 and plan to do some street photography soon. What are the best settings I can use? Lens - 35mm 1.4 FLE Should I try F8 - Auto ISO - Auto Shutter? Watched a video with Eric Kim where he mentioned F8 - ISO1600 and auto shutter Eric Kim gives some good getting-started advice on this. Auto ISO Auto Shutter is a good place to start. So is the 35 FLE set to F8 and about 14-15' Zone Focus and you can snap away at just about whatever you like, just mind the shutter speed for subject movement. For people walking you can try setting the camera's Auto ISO Settings=>Shutter speed limit to : 1/250s or 1/125s. Enjoy, have fun and do more reading/Youtube videos--lots of rangefinder tips and tricks to learn along the way. Edited December 15, 2022 by LBJ2 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnwolf Posted December 15, 2022 Share #7 Posted December 15, 2022 (edited) Advertisement (gone after registration) You just want to be sure you get a sufficiently fast shutter speed.. My preference is f8 or f11 and 250, with ISO free to run. Edited December 15, 2022 by johnwolf 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimtong Posted December 15, 2022 Share #8 Posted December 15, 2022 9 hours ago, JulyLL said: I just got my Leica M11 and plan to do some street photography soon. What are the best settings I can use? Lens - 35mm 1.4 FLE Should I try F8 - Auto ISO - Auto Shutter? Watched a video with Eric Kim where he mentioned F8 - ISO1600 and auto shutter I usually use F8 and zone focusing. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rramesh Posted December 15, 2022 Share #9 Posted December 15, 2022 (edited) Set aperture, set speed and then set ISO in that order. Auto ISO should be fine as long as the aperture (~f8) and speed (~4x focal length) are fixed. These days newer Ms can take great pictures at higher ISOs. Practice zone focusing using any lens with a tab focus. With practice, you can work with lower apertures. Edited December 15, 2022 by rramesh 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
raizans Posted December 15, 2022 Share #10 Posted December 15, 2022 There are various methods available for use, depending on the situation. To just start out, I would go out in daytime sun, put the shutter dial to 1/1000, lens at f/8-11, ISO 100-200. Prioritize learning how to scale focus by feel. Street ninjas make it out to seem like the ultimate skill, but focusing tabs actually make it the easiest thing. They're why rangefinders make it easier than anything else, especially for beginners. No need to learn how to estimate distances, to be able to say "that person is 10 feet away." You only have to learn how much to pull the focusing tab when a subject is "that far away." It's about the physical distance, not the mental calculation. Exercise on stationary objects at home before you go photographing. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Vonn Posted December 15, 2022 Share #11 Posted December 15, 2022 An understanding of hyperfocal distancing, sticking to a set shutter speed, aperture at F8 to F11 and using your eyes to anticipate the shot before it's taken is all you need as a starting point and set like that, the camera needn't necessarily be held up at your eye all the time. In the alternative and for possibly better accuracy, you can try wide open and focusing through the viewfinder, ideally using the lens focusing lever, with familiarity this can be done quickly - but again, anticipate the scene/ shot before it happens. If you use a combination of these techniques, you'll eventually settle into what suits you best, but you've got keep at it to establish that. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smogg Posted December 16, 2022 Share #12 Posted December 16, 2022 Aperture priority, f8-f11, zone focusing, Auto-ISO (1/250 or 1/500 depends on sun), highlight weigh metering and -1/3 or -2/3 EV, drive in high speed mode to ensure that I catch proper phase of step 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulyLL Posted December 16, 2022 Author Share #13 Posted December 16, 2022 Thank you so much for this input, I can't wait to get my lens this Saturday and shoot. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leica Land Posted December 16, 2022 Share #14 Posted December 16, 2022 F11 , 1/250 and auto ISO Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smogg Posted December 16, 2022 Share #15 Posted December 16, 2022 6 hours ago, Musky said: I disabled exposure compensation. It’s all a guess game and inconsistent exposure. Auto anything isn’t the best. AUTO mode is not enough for me, highlight weigh metering is very convenient for me with an additional correction of minus 1/3 or 2/3 of the stop. This almost always guarantees that the camera in highlights will not have a clip of any one channel (RGB). Given the ISOLESS feature of the new sensor, I can always make a correction towards the plus side when processing, so I'm not afraid of dark shots Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted December 16, 2022 Share #16 Posted December 16, 2022 On 12/15/2022 at 9:59 AM, Telecaster said: If you are new to rangefinder cameras I suggest to watch a couple of videos on YouTube about Zone Focussing. Enjoy your M11 !!! Cheers, Andreas If you start relying on zone focusing you'll never learn to get critical focus on your rangefinder camera. Remember box cameras? 2 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smogg Posted December 16, 2022 Share #17 Posted December 16, 2022 (edited) 17 minutes ago, jaapv said: If you start relying on zone focusing you'll never learn to get critical focus on your rangefinder camera. Remember box cameras? It depends a lot on the shooting genre. If a person shoots in the genre of street photography, then using an open aperture usually shows his weakness as a photographer and a missed opportunity to competently combine the foreground, middle and background. Beautiful bokeh is more often loved by beginners, because it requires a minimum of skills, and looks very professional for their family members and the eyes of inexperienced viewers. Of course, there are cases when an open diaphragm is necessary (evening/night city) Edited December 16, 2022 by Smogg 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted December 16, 2022 Share #18 Posted December 16, 2022 I cannot agree here. Precise DOF and critical focus are basic photographic symbols to draw attention to critical parts of the image. Nglecting them by F8 and be there creates the danger of taking snapshots instead of photographs - also, maybe especially, in street photography. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smogg Posted December 16, 2022 Share #19 Posted December 16, 2022 3 minutes ago, jaapv said: I cannot agree here. Precise DOF and critical focus are basic photographic symbols to draw attention to critical parts of the image. Nglecting them by F8 and be there creates the danger of taking snapshots instead of photographs - also, maybe especially, in street photography. In this case, I recommend looking at the work of photographers from Magnum. Focus is not so important. I usually walk down the street holding the camera ready to shoot everything from 2 to 7 meters using zone focus. I take the first shots of an unexpected scene in this mode. In the process of shooting, on the fourth or fifth frame, if the time of the event allows me, I refine the focus Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smogg Posted December 16, 2022 Share #20 Posted December 16, 2022 How do you manage to take a picture of an event that lasts for a moment, like here, if you are not always ready and do not use zone focus? Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/355439-best-settings-for-street-photography/?do=findComment&comment=4601971'>More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.