Street Photography with the Nikkor 500mm Reflex lens

keith kennedy
7 min readJul 25, 2021
Spirit Guardians. Nikon Z50, Nikkor 500mm f/8 Reflex. Photo by author.

Perhaps I’m developing a “style” or something but much of my street photography is starting to look the same. For example, if I was to replace a block of color or swap a head from one pic to another, I’m not sure I’d notice later. While I can’t say yet if I think it is a good thing or a bad thing, the sameness is something I observed recently while working on my website. Frustrating at first, it became a catalyst to try new things and a few old things but with new perspectives. Eventually, I came up with a plan, something that required me to first analyze what I was currently doing.

Normally, I aim for wide shots. Fuji X100F, 23mm.

My typical setup for a street session is ridiculously easy: bring one camera. A Fuji X100F rangefinder… maybe a bag to carry it in. The small, mirrorless camera is the most versatile of all the digitals I own, despite being locked to a 23mm lens. While out on a session, the X100F is either invisible to those around me or it’s a conversation-starter with it’s classically smart looks. 24 megapixels of sensor resolution come in handy as I typically shoot to crop later. Technique wise, I’m either riding shotgun in a car, lining up snaps perpendicular to the subject or I’m on foot and waiting for someone to walk…

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keith kennedy
keith kennedy

Written by keith kennedy

Polymath, jack of all trades or just really, really bored. You can find more examples of my bored at https://www.keith.one And please, check out my Series!

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