Very good points. Yes, I can see that this is pretty excellent for street invisbility even if one wants to get up close and personal; there is certainly the benefit of point-and-shoot ubiquity that maybe draws the perceptual blinds down for the subject. The only minus-side of this is that, like the "telephoto voyeurism" phenomenon, perhaps, is one helped by having less of a challenge to forge a "relationship" with the subject, potentially?
This might be a daft addition by me here but I found that when "street photoing" in a local city once, I made sure I carried some extra cigarettes and change, slinging the camera(a highly visible Nikon F4S, about as big as the Canon) visibly out of the way(but still visible). I then just bought a coffee, sat down either on the floor or on a seat..and waited for the attention.
After parting with conversation, a bit of change, a cigarette, the street folks always have a tale to tell: listening itself then generated their enquiry about the camera, and after asking permission, forward came the camera. The prize inclusion then was the wide end: up nice and close AND pointing the camera off-subject, they were still looking at the camera/me but not spooked by the lens being perceived as pointing at them. Result= wideangle street portrait with intimacy and without scurrying about(sadly, as these were on 35mm film, I can't post any examples...but might get the courage to nip out one Saturday morning and try it out.
I'm convinced(and wondering if Toad will agree?) that having a decent fixed-length prime really ensures that one is prepared more to use feet and voice to move about and also interact...I'm also pretty sure that the standard of work and the self-confidence are given a decided boost...and so I wonder if this also touches on Matthew's point about the "experience" of m4/3?
I have to say again: I realise that(or rather am guessing) highlights appear to be quite quickly blown in this format...but also that dynamic range seems really quite wide: that detail despite its contre-jour nature is really quite impressive. Do users(I'm thinking of Matthew and Toad here) find they have to lay off the exposure compensation at all...?
A really fascinating shot, in terms of all its implications.
Gosh, aren't cameras fun!
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