EOS Rebel T6i Street Photography Lens Recommendations

[amico0]

Hi all! I picked up a Canon Rebel T6i w/ the kit lenses about 6 months ago. First time owning a proper camera. I have made myself familiar with the camera and lenses that came with it but want to kinda up my equipment some. Does anyone have any recommendations for an affordable lease to use for street photography? I would like something basic and simple if possible as I would like to use it to get familiar with using the proper lenses for the application. Cheers!

[Tronhard]

Hi and welcome to the forum:

Are you looking for a camera for street photography or only a lens to attach the the T6i? TBH, most of the street photographers I know use small fixed focal length lens cameras, or compacts units such as the PowerShot range from Canon.

If you are serious about street in particular, then I recommend checking out Sean Tucker's channel on You Tube: 
(1) Sean Tucker - YouTube
In particular, you might find this useful:

It would help to know what lens you got with the camera - usually it is one of the EF-S 18-55 variants.  Note that  you can use EF and EF-S lenses, but NOT EF-M, RF and RF-S lenses on your camera.  Lenses are available from Canon, Sigma, Tamron and several other 3rd parties.  At the very wide angle end, most lenses tend to be zooms, rather than primes. Zoom lenses - offer a range of focal lengths, but are bulkier and slower than primes:

For street photography a fairly wide angle lens is normally used, and in the case of the APS-C sensor of your camera, something like one of these:

Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM 
Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

As regards sourcing gear, where are you located? That will have a significant impact on what's available.

[normadel]

What "kit" lens(es) do you have? You can certainly use an 18-55. Relatively small and light. Set the zoom between 18mm to 30mm and you have the equivalent of  full-frame 30-to-50mm. Street photographers typical use focal lengths in this range.

[zakslm]

I suggest the EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM. It’s a “pancake” lens meanings it’s quite thin and unobtrusive. The 24mm focal length on your camera is equivalent to a 38mm on a full frame camera and it’s a very sharp lens IMO.  

[Tronhard]

I think that is a great option.  🙂 Personally, I would not have chosen a DSLR for street photography, but with the EF-S 24mm, it's going to be as compact as possible, and with a good wide angle and good fast aperture.

[zakslm]

Thanks Tronhard!

I agree that a DSLR may not be ideal or as well suited to street photography as something more compact like a point & shoot camera, etc. 

I have a Rebel T7 and using the EF-S 24mm on it is a lot of fun and produces really nice images.