Analog film photography and cameras

Its really a question of philosophy and experience.. but I don't think SLRs are terribly well suited to street photography. SLRs are not just bulkier, nosier, slower (slower to compose, focus, expose and advance) but also tend to demand a less fluid style and better lighting. Without a mirror swinging about one can learn to shoot rather slow speeds. One can easily focus in much lower light on a rangefinder than an SLR. Use some high latitude film and one can shoot pretty much anything in ambient light. Robot cameras have rotary shutters and they let one go to really slow shutter speeds without shake .

Also the rangefinder (and rangefinder 'style')cameras often have the viewfinder stuck right atthe edge of the body, when you use it it block your face much lessly than an slr so if you talk to your subject etc it's less inbetween you.