These are the best Voigtländer lenses for street photography when you want compact metal builds, tactile manual control, gorgeous micro-contrast, and discreet profiles for candid moments, night walks, travel diaries, and environmental character studies—and here’s what to look for as you buy: prioritize small, all-metal primes with de-clickable apertures (on most native E/Z versions), long, silky focus throws with hard stops, modest focus breathing if you film, flare-taming coatings with beautiful sunstars, and close-focus housings (native mirrorless versions usually focus closer than classic VM); standardize front diameters via slim step-ups (39/43/52→77/82 mm) so one VND (and a gentle CPL used sparingly) covers the kit, and lean on IBIS since these are unstabilized. Full-frame stealth heroes: Color-Skopar 21mm ƒ3.5 (pocketable wide with disciplined geometry and clean sunstars), Ultron 28mm ƒ2 or ƒ1.5 (the classic street FoV—fast, compact, crisp micro-contrast), and Ultron 35mm ƒ2 (balanced “normal-wide” with neutral color); for speed/character at night add Nokton 21mm ƒ1.4 (blue-hour context with graceful flare control), Nokton 35mm ƒ1.2 (cinematic falloff, lovely glow when wanted), and Nokton 40mm ƒ1.2 (tiny “do-everything” normal that flatters faces while keeping scenes honest). Normal/short-tele for quiet portraits and layered street: APO-Lanthar 50mm ƒ2 (reference-clean edges and color for high-contrast daylight), Nokton 50mm ƒ1.0 (dreamy low-light signature with precise long throw), Ultron 75mm ƒ1.9 (light, fast short-tele with elegant roll-off), and 90mm ƒ2.8 APO-Skopar (featherweight long with disciplined rendering—great for compressing scenes from across the street). Ultra-wide specialty for tight alleys and bold perspective: Heliar 15mm ƒ4.5 and Ultra-Wide Heliar 12mm ƒ5.6 (tiny, flare-smart, gorgeous sunstars; E-mount versions focus close and the 15 often takes filters). Macro-adjacent for detail cutaways: APO-Lanthar 65mm ƒ2 (1:2) and 110mm ƒ2.5 (1:1) when you want textures—posters, signage, café still-lifes—without changing the color signature. APS-C users can run the same lenses for compact rigs (e.g., 21≈31-eq, 28≈42-eq, 35≈52-eq, 40≈60-eq) with instant gimbal balance; Voigtländer’s native mirrorless runs in E/Z/VM (and selected X) make close-focus street kits surprisingly small. Practical buyer tips: build a two- or three-prime spine that maps to your rhythm—“Classic street”: 28/2 + 50/2 APO (add 21/3.5 for breadth); “Night mood”: 21/1.4 + 35/1.2 + 50/1.0; “Travel light”: 15/4.5 + 40/1.2 + 75/1.9—and standardize fronts so swaps are fast; add 0.8 focus gears if you pull video, use native E/Z for declick + EXIF + auto magnify, and pick a rigid adapter if you mix VM with mirrorless. Street-shooting tips: set Aperture Priority around ƒ2–ƒ4 for people (ƒ5.6–ƒ8 for deep scenes), use peaking + magnification for precise MF and pre-focus at common distances (zone focus at 1–2 m with a small stop), keep a minimum shutter (~1/250 s for motion) with Auto-ISO, work backgrounds 1–3 m behind subjects for clean separation, and shade the front element to avoid veiling flare from streetlights; for high-contrast sun, expose for highlights and lift shadows later—APO and Skopar/Ultron coatings hold color beautifully; for video, lock a 180° shutter with a slim VND, de-click the aperture, keep moves small, and enable IBIS but disable stabilization on sticks to avoid micro-jitter; whether you’re weaving morning markets, framing neon-soaked corners, or catching quiet gestures from across the café, the best Voigtländer street choices combine tiny size, painterly micro-contrast, and cine-friendly mechanics—so your lines stay clean, your focus pulls feel intentional, and your moments look timeless straight out of camera.