Last Updated on December 5, 2023 by Sharon Advik
So today’s article is all about shooting the streets at night.
There’s no doubt that there’s some great street photography to be had during hours of darkness, and light shooting is something we should all try.
It’s almost a rite of passage thing: neon lights, short windows reflections.
Car lights, bars, restaurants, people having fun street lighting reflections from pavements from windows.
There is plenty of material to explore.
So, in this article, I will review the 6 Best Lens for Night Street Photography that will help you become a confident and proficient night shooter.
Let’s drive in:
Which is the best lens for Night Street photography?
Here are my recommended top 6 best lens for Night Street photography:-
Canon 50mm F1.8: (Best lens for Night Street Portrait photography)
I use a 50mm lens for everything.
I shoot night streets, portraits, fashion, and many other things.
The 50-millimeter lens is by far my most used lens.
If you are looking to buy a prime lens and don’t know what to buy first, this is the one you should buy now.
I have shot Canon my entire life, and a 50-millimeter lens can be used for almost everything.
You can shoot portraits; the 50-millimeter lens is excellent for portraits of individuals and couples.
With a 50-millimeter lens, you can get close, back up, get the full length, get three-quarters, or just beautiful face shots.
A 50mm lens is also great for shooting details; it is my go-to for all nighttime street and reception pictures.
I shoot nighttime photos and room scapes with a 50-millimeter.
When you’re using a prime lens, which means that it’s a fixed focal length, in other words, you can’t zoom in or out.
It seems tedious, but you can always zoom in closer and further away with your feet.
It seems more work, but trust me, you’ll get a much more crisp image from a prime lens versus a zoom lens.
Another great thing about a prime lens is that it usually has a shallow aperture.
This gives you a more shallow depth of field, allowing you to create that excellent, soft, dreamy background with beautiful bokeh.
And it also lets you draw the viewer’s attention to a specific focus point.
This can make it a bit more challenging to focus, but with prime lenses, it is usually the ability to focus faster.
If you purchase your brand’s top-end prime lens, it’s usually a very fast-focusing lens.
The 50-millimeter, at least in the Canon line, is probably one of the fastest-focusing lenses.
Another reason I like to use it is because I can focus very quickly during street photography, and it’s not difficult to photograph at night.
Overall, the 50-millimeter lens is super versatile.
You can use it pretty much for anything.
Samyang 12mm F2: (Best Sony lens for Night Street photography)
This lens is the fact that it feels well-built despite this price tag.
It is quite a pleasant surprise because other lenses with a similar focal range would cost double, if not triple, especially with that fast aperture.
It is almost entirely made of metal, except for the lens cap and hood, which are plastic or more glamorous.
This lens has a click aperture ring, which isn’t optimized for filmmakers who need to change the aperture sign.
This lens has an equivalent focal range of about 18 millimeters on a full-frame sensor, so it’s a super-wide-angle lens even after factoring in the crop.
I found that focusing was relatively easy with this lens, and the focus room wasn’t too long at all, which is, in my opinion, a good thing.
I find lenses with long focus throws challenging to focus on, especially when shooting videos alone.
This lens has a minimum focusing distance of about 20 centimeters, which is 20 centimeters from the sensor itself, not from the front of the lens so you can get pretty close to it.
The good thing about this lens is that even though it is wide-angle, you get a fantastic amount of background separation if you get close to your subject.
This lens is generally quite sharp, even if it’s wide open.
However, if you shoot too close to the subject, it has some barrel distortion.
If you shoot bright subjects wide open, but it’s nothing, that would be a deal-breaker for me, as I guess it’s pretty much expected with any lenses of this type.
So, who do I think this lens is meant for?
This lens would suit anyone to find a fast, ultra-wide metal lens on a budget.
I can also see this lens as beneficial for those wanting to shoot night street photography and interiors in dimly lit places.
And maybe even Astrophotographers who need a wide-angle lens with a FOSS aperture.
So, all in all, I would recommend this lens to anyone who is looking for a fast and affordable super wide-angle lens.
To me, this lens is a good compromise between being affordable and being bright, too.
Usually, super wide lenses with fast apertures used to be extremely expensive.
Fortunately, we live in an age when you can find good quality, relatively affordable glass.
Canon 22mm F2: (Best Canon lens for Night Street photography)
I want to talk about the portrait capabilities of the Canon 22 millimeters F2 lens.
It’s a 22-millimeter lens made for the M mount.
It’s made for mirrorless cameras, and they usually are grouped sensors.
The 22 millimeters will act around 30 millimeters, so this is the real focal length.
The aperture of this lens is f2; you will have a decent amount of blurriness and bokeh in the background of your portraits.
If you work with it, you can play around, get some nice night street pictures, and get beautiful portraits with this lens, better than others.
It will work pretty well for night street photography and portraits when it comes to night photography.
As well as a close-up of your subject, it would help if you were a bit careful because this lens can distort a bit on edge, so keep a bit of distance or pay attention to crop your image in the editing.
When it comes to made or full-body pictures, this lens causes the background to lose its blurriness.
It’s pretty wide, and the big round is not that compressed, but I think it works well on street and fashion pictures; it will be great.
I love the 22-millimeter lens; it takes decent portraits and works amazingly in street photography, street fashion photography, and macro photography.
It is an excellent all-around lens.
You can Vlog with it; you can take nice pictures.
Initially, the best thing is to invest in a good but still versatile lens, which I did when I bought the 22-millimeter lens.
This lens can be used in many situations.
First, the focal length will allow you to use it in a small studio; you can use it for wide shots of portraits, street photography, landscapes, macro photography, whatever is just an excellent all-around lens.
Initially, the best thing you can do is get an excellent all-around lens.
Nikon 35mm F1.8: (Best Nikon lens for Night street photography)
If you are looking for something much better but on a budget, something that creates the best for night street photography and takes great pictures and videos in night conditions.
Could this be the best lens to upgrade to?
So, guys, this is possibly one of the best lenses to upgrade from the kit lens in the Nikon family.
F 1.8 is the maximum aperture, which allows us to conclude that it is a high-speed lens for the price.
The focal length is fixed, meaning you won’t be able to zoom in with it.
As you did with a kit lens, consider this prime lens feature an advantage, not a disadvantage.
Zoom in by moving closer to the subject; it will help take out the creative side.
The next best thing about this lens is that its F 1.8 aperture allows for much better low-light photography.
The wide aperture allows more light to enter the camera sensor, which produces a much better and more visible picture in low-light situations.
It’s an EF lens, indicating the presence of a silent autofocusing motor inside.
I don’t want to raise any questions, but isn’t silent wave autofocus supposed to be silent?
The lens tends to make some noise while autofocusing during the video.
This could be a problem for many shooting videos out there.
It isn’t as bad as the standard kit lens, but it’s much better.
This 35-millimeter lens doesn’t have a super solid autofocus motor.
It tends to make a chattering noise, which can be challenging if you listen carefully; the focusing ring isn’t the best available.
It’s made up of rubbish material.
The good thing about this lens is that it also has an auto/manual mode, meaning you can manually set the focus, even when it is set to autofocus mode.
I find this handy just in case the lens has problems focusing automatically.
We’re using the 35-millimeter lens instead of a 15-millimeter on such a crop sensor camera because this 35-millimeter lens would work like a 50-millimeter lens in itself.
If you choose a 50-millimeter lens with a crop sensor camera, your video or image will zoom in.
If zoomed-in pictures are your game, then go for it.
Overall, this is a superb lens.
Many of us record audio separately, so focusing noise shouldn’t matter.
Adventuring is subjective.
Some people like to have it, and some don’t.
So, should you go in for this lens, I see no reason to refuse this for an upgrade.
Fuji 35mm f1.4: (Best Fuji lens for night street photography)
Need to capture the nighttime scene?
Fuji 35mm f1.4 is your tool!
With a fast aperture of 1.4, this lens is ideal for nighttime street photography and can easily capture stunning photos in low light.
The bright 1.4 aperture makes your pictures crisp, even when fading light adds a dreamy haze to your scene.
No other lens offers more of what you want in a single package.
Bringing the best street photography to life is easy with the newest Fuji lens, which offers beauty and precision like never before.
Perfect for traveling with luggage restrictions as the aperture stays constant throughout zooming in and out.
From professional photographers to hobbyists, this lens has a story that can tell anyone’s tale.
With 7 rounded diaphragm blades, different exposures occur at various aperture openings, making it perfect for portrait work or shallow depth-of-field shots with a useable depth of field up to about 1/2 MFD (maximum focus distance).
Images from this lens will have the perfect bokeh for night street photography.
Its high rendering capabilities of dramatic lights and speedy response to low-light conditions also characterize it.
This lens’s focal length (35mm format equivalent) is a highly versatile 53mm with an angle of view of 44.2 degrees that will capture everything right in front of you for sharp detail!
Unsurprisingly, one reviewer called it “a must-have” for nighttime shooters.
With this lens, you’ll get sharper shots at wider apertures than with other lenses!
The Fuji 35mm f1.4 lens is an excellent choice for shooting photographs at night and in moonlit street scenes.
Sony 35mm f.18: (Best lens for nighttime street photography)
Sony has created this 35mm lens for our street photographers whipping out their cameras to shoot in the dark.
Let’s say you want to take crystal-clear shots of your surroundings at night, in any weather.
The Sony FE 35mm f1.8 is designed just for that.
If you want to catch images of the city like never before, look no further than this unique product!
You’ll be drawn closer and more intimate with your subject matter, making you an audience favorite.
With 6/8 optical elements and an angle of view of 44° on APS C cameras, it gives a clear image while allowing you freedom from carrying multiple lenses around all day!
This works perfectly when there isn’t enough light to take amazing photos by street lamps in New York City or San Francisco area cities like Oakland and San Jose!
The fast autofocus system within the lens allows rapid focus acquisition even in dim lighting, without slipping or jittering as other lenses struggle with – great for capturing shots when time matters!
This versatile fixed lens is ideal for shooting portraits in tight locations or colors in low lighting at night.”
This lens is the most popular, best, and widely used lens for nighttime street photography.
It’s also the perfect camera support for shooting movies.
The best part about this product is that it comes at a cost-effective price, so you don’t have to break the bank.
CONCLUSION:
Alright, guys, that concludes all the lenses we will discuss today in this article.
Do you guys have any experience with these lenses? What are your thoughts on them?
Which is your best lens for night street photography?
Is there a lens I didn’t mention in this article that you love using for street photography?
Would you please leave your thoughts and comments below?
Related Posts:
10 Best Nikon street photography lens:
8 Best Focal length for street photography:
10 Best Sony lens for street photography:
6 Best Fujifilm Lens for Street Photography:
I am a Professional and Certified Digital Photographer born in the USA. I have been in this field of photography for 22 years, and in these years, I have used many photography lenses and Cameras, which I want to share here on this website about my experience. The idea for Bestoflens.com is to provide honest information about different Lenses and Camera products in the format of a “Best lenses for AYZ” list. I want this website to be the last destination for people to pick the best Cameras and lenses to fit their needs. You can find our unbiased reviews here on Bestoflens.