24mm VS 35mm Lenses for Travel Landscape & Street Photography!

In this video, we'll be comparing the 24mm versus the 35mm focal lengths for travel photography. And don't worry, unlike last time where I only had one battery for two different cameras, I have two batteries for two different cameras, making this comparison video a lot easier to work on. By the way, this helpful comparison is brought to you by our friends over at Squarespace. So let's go ahead and show you some of the shots that we've gotten with both of these lenses Alright, so we just did our second DisneySea ride and we already have our casualty. I lost my a7iii piece somewhere in the ride, so something just has to go wrong, you know? And while we're at it, I'm mainly talking about the 24mm and 35mm on a full frame camera setup. If you're an APS-C user, you'll want to be looking at the 16mm and 24mm lenses, as these are equivalent to the looks of a 24 and a 35mm lens that I'm talking about in this video. Now, both 24mm and 35mm are considered standard wide-angle lenses. That means compared to an ultra wide-angle lens, both lenses offer the least, if any, amount of distortion on the edges. Both are also considered the best prime lenses for general photography, which includes, but not limited to, landscapes, environment, portraits, street, and food photography. Which is what makes them so desirable for travel photography, as it encompasses all of the above mentioned applications. The question is, So I'm definitely pulling out the 24mm more for places like Disneyland, just because this is a more landscapy vibe. The 24mm is wide enough to take in all that scenic view into that shot. Whereas the 35 is a little bit limiting. You can of course try to back up to get the shot, but it just doesn't have that grandness of the 24 to try to capture the whole scene into one shot. But I feel like where the 35mm shines is it really holds it on an object or subject and creates a tension on it. Now, it's not so tight like a 50mm or an 85mm where you can't tell what the background is. It still does a good job illustrating where that subject or object is in retrospect, in perspective, in retrospect. It paints that picture of where the object is. So if you want a single out shot in an environment, the 35mm does a really good job. Now that's not to say you can't make the 35mm work for landscape. It just takes a little bit of finessing, but it's definitely possible. If you're a more scenic photographer, go for the 24mm. I've been using the 24mm for the entire month I am in Japan and I absolutely love it for all the scenery shots that I've been getting. It's not too wide where I'm capturing too much empty spaces and I might need to highlight a subject or an object through environmental portraits or environmental product photography. The 24mm does a great job showcasing where the subject is. And oftentimes in a crowded space like Disneyland or even Japan in general, the wider aspect of the 24mm gives me an extra bit of breathing room to get my shot. But if you're more of a photographer that notices the finer details, go for the 35mm. The one that I'm using from Sony has close focusing capability, which is handy to get up close shots on certain objects. Food shots in particular would be fantastic with this lens. And if I have the space, I can still go for scenic shots with the 35mm as well. In fact, scenic subjects that are a little further away, I can count on a 35mm to bring them just a little closer. By the way, I apologize if I'm going overboard with all these fake skies on some of these photos. I'm testing out Luminar 4, which has this one-click AI sky replacement, and I'm just going hand with it and testing it out on all of my photos. Only certain ones will get officially published on my social medias, and they will be marked as photos that were digitally manipulated. But hey, let me know, what do you think of some of these shots in the comments down below? Oh, and if you have a significant other that always complains that your photos of them always makes them look short, the minimal edge distortion on the 24mm should help exaggerate the length of their legs just a little bit. You're welcome, folks. So when it comes to photographing these amazing Disney shows, these lens just don't cut it. You're going to need a telephoto lens to get a good shot of Mickey, Donald, Minnie dancing. These lenses, they're just too dang far away. Unless the action is happening up close, you're not going to get that much of a great shot. So if you know you'll be seeing a lot of shows that allows you to bring in a professional camera setup and you want to get some great photos, it might be worth bringing a telephoto zoom lens to get some nice action shots. Otherwise, sit back, put down the camera and just enjoy the show. Now, you might be asking, for travel photography, wouldn't it be wiser to choose a versatile zoom lens over prime lenses? And to that I say, go for it. It's definitely more handy to be able to zoom in and out to get the shot. Instead of being limited to one focal length or having to swap out different prime lenses, choose the lenses and the camera setups that works for you. So then why are some people, such as myself, choosing prime lenses over zoom lenses for travel photography? All right, so let's go ahead and do some low light with these two lenses. We're currently up here in this observation deck called the Shibuya Scramble, which is like the newest observation deck out here in Japan. So the tricky thing with photographing up in observation decks in Japan is that you can't really use a tripod, so we can't really do long exposure shots. But good thing we do have 1.4, 1.8 lenses, so it does help out a lot. In fact, I don't really think we have to dip all the way down to 1.8, 1.4 just to get these shots. Depending on the situation and environment, having a faster aperture like f1.4 or f1.8 allows us to squeeze in more light into the sensor and get cleaner results in our low light photos. We may not necessarily need to go that wide open, but having that flexibility of f1.4 or f1.8 just allows us to have some wiggle room when we really need it. For Sony E-mount users, let's talk about these two specific lenses, the 24mm f1.4 G Master versus the brand new 35mm f1.8. Now, some would say just use an a7R camera, take advantage of the high megapixel and use super 35mm crop mode to make the 24 G Master into a 35mm, and you can absolutely do that. With the a7R mark or a 61 megapixel camera, you still have 26 megapixel to work with in super 35 mode, which is like using a standard 24 megapixel camera. Even an a7R mark 2 or a7R mark 3, both 42 megapixel full frame cameras, you have 18 megapixels to work with in super 35 mode, which is honestly plenty enough. But for those who are using regular a7 and a9 setups, it's a little bit harder to go with the cropping route due to you only having 24 megapixel in full frame mode, but 10 megapixels in crop mode. In that case, you're kind of forced into making a choice between either of these lenses. The 24 G Master has the f1.4 advantage, whereas the 35mm has the smaller form factor advantage. I'll say this, if spending an extra $400 is not an issue, then go for the 24mm G Master. The overall versatility for travel just makes it more appealing. However, if you're not gonna really bother with the wide landscape shots, then go for the 35mm. It's still wide enough to capture the environment and the street at least, if needed, but it places more emphasis on the subject matter. By the way, both lenses are weather sealed, so they can take on some rain in case you ever get caught without an umbrella. However, if price and form factor are some of your concerns, guess what? Tamron just announced the 24mm and 35mm f2.8, which both are extremely lightweight, compact, and incredibly affordable. Though I personally haven't tested them out yet, based on their track record of their wildly popular zoom lenses, I'm willing to say that these prime lenses are gonna be fantastic optically. Let me know in the comments down below, which would you pick, the 24 or the 35? And if you enjoy the photos in this video, make sure you follow me on Instagram at jasonvmedia for more of my photography adventure out here in Japan. Thanks for watching, guys, but before you go... I'm sure you heard by now, Squarespace is an all-in-one platform to create beautiful and clean websites. Recently, Vivian and I launched our free filmmaking course, and we created a landing page to house all five tutorials. Creating this page took us no more than 30 minutes to put together, thanks to Squarespace's user-friendly interface. Whether you need a website to build a portfolio or an e-commerce store, build it with Squarespace. Start your free trial today, and when you're ready to launch, go to squarespace.com slash jason vong to save 10% off your website or domain. See you guys in the next video. Peace!