What is the perfect lens for street photography?

[mackguyver]

+1 on the 24L II on a full frame and the other lens I used a lot for street photos was the 135L, which is good to get more discrete shots. I now use the 24L II & 50L about 95% of the time for street photos, but I'd say any fast prime between 24 & 135mm is going to be your best bet. The 16-35/17-40 and 24-70/105 lenses work well, too, but primes are smaller, lighter, and more likely to give you "that look".

The focal length really depends on your preferences, there's no right or wrong choice. Take a look through your photos and see what focal length (in the EXIF) you've used for your favorite shots. That should help you narrow down your preference.

 

[Tanispyre]

1. What is your opinion on the "perfect" lens for street photography and why?

I prefer the 17-40L as my walk around lens. It gets closer to normal than the 16-35, and I rarely feel the need for the extra stop of exposure. When I need a low light I walker I usually slap on my 50mm 1.4

2. Which shooting mode do you use?

I actually prefer the shiftable program mode rather than aperture or shutter priority. I don't like being constantly locked to one value. If I don't like the setting it gives, I just spin the dial to get the combo I want.

3. What auto focus setting do you use (single point, af expansion, auto)?

Maybe it is because I am old and grew up with spit image manual focus cameras, or maybe it is because I am lazy, but I usually use Single Center Point focus and recompose. OK, my favorite was the focus system on my ELAN 7e. I loved being able to just look at a focus point and have it focus there. Whatever happened to that technology. It worked well for me.