Best Walk Around Lens?

[Fleetwood271]

I have a Nikon D90, with 18-105 kit lens, 55-200 kit lens, Nikon 50mm 1.8 and a Tamron 70-300 lens.

I went to a zoo yesterday and the 18-105 was good for 75% of the shots. But there were several times when I had to swap to the Tamron for some of the animals that were far away.

I am new to photography (about 8 months), and found it difficult to swap lens. No place to sit camera or lens, trying to remove one lens, put cap on it to protect it, hold both lens at same time, etc.

I am looking at the Tamron 18-270 lens, but I am giving up 30mm. Is there a great lens out there that'll give me a range from 18 to 300, 400, or more?

I've seen a 50-500, but I still wouldn't be able to get some close shots with the 50mm, like inside with the insects and fish.

Am I just asking for too much? Is this just part of the fun of SLR photography?

I'd appreciate your thoughts.

 

[bigtwinky]

Yep, you are asking too much...

Let me rephrase. If you want top notch image quality, you usually give up on the convenience of using 1 lens. The 18-270 has alot of range, you wont need to change the lens, but it is not as sharp as a canon 70-200 2.8 or 4. It is also slower in autofocus (as most 3rd party lenses are).

The more focal range you cover, the less sharp the lens is. A prime lens often offers the sharpest image.

So it comes down to either dragging all your gear with you or chosing your lenses before you leave. Heading to a zoo, I wouldnt bring my ultra wide. Probably a medium telephoto (28-75) and a telephoto (70-200). Might bring an extender as well.

Practicing changing your lenses. Crouch on the ground, use the inside of your bag to keep the lens protected, ask a friend to hold the lens,...

But if you are just going for general fun family images, a wide telephoto range might work. Depends on your needs and expectations of image quality

 

[Derrel]

Wear camera around neck on neckstrap. Press in lens release button, twist off lens with left hand, bayonet on new lens with right hand....takes about 6 seconds total if you're slow...can be done in 1.5 to 3 seconds if you practice...this is how we did it in the 1980's when we carried four or five or six prime lenses and no zooms. With Nikon, your left hand's thumb presses in the lens release button, and you just twist the lens off...the incoming lens can just be slammed into the mount and it'll drop into place...you need to practice how to do a lens change...with the right body mechanics and practice one can do a lens swap and do it FAST,with the camera in the best place ever--right around your neck, so BOTH hands are free.

 

[orb9220]

Yep I learned to do it at home first in a controlled enviroment. Camera bag open hanging on shoulder. Open bag All my lenses are already face down. So I just twist the cap loose on back element before changing. Then dismount lens on camera and insert into bag. Then transfer back cap from lens I am going to mount. And then mount new lens. All in under 15-20 seconds.

I never got people that are so inconvenienced by something as a simple lens change. And would sacrifice Speed and Image IQ for the sake of convenience.

For Zoo I would feel pretty secure about just having the Nikon 70-300VR or the new 55-300VR on it for mostly more than 90% of my shots.
.

 

[bigtwinky]

I never got people that are so inconvenienced by something as a simple lens change. And would sacrifice Speed and Image IQ for the sake of convenience.

I never get people who wear plaid pants. But yet, they do anyways because they want to. Some people are just looking for a step above their P&S in terms of versatility, speed, and most of all, no shutter lag. So for them, the lack of sharpness will not be a big deal.

Ya know, I'm just saying.

 

[ann]

i will be testing the new nikon 24-120 f4 for a travel walking around lens, but for the zoo it would have to be my 70-200 and really changing a lens is no big deal, and depending on the circumstances carrying more than one lens is fine and sometimes it is a pain

 

[ecr111]

I never got people that are so inconvenienced by something as a simple lens change. And would sacrifice Speed and Image IQ for the sake of convenience.

I never get people who wear plaid pants. But yet, they do anyways because they want to. Some people are just looking for a step above their P&S in terms of versatility, speed, and most of all, no shutter lag. So for them, the lack of sharpness will not be a big deal.

Ya know, I'm just saying.

Yep.
My D40 with the kit lens became the family camera when I upgraded. The daughter took it to Disney and told me that twice people asked her how she was taking pictures so fast.

 

[jbylake]

Well, I finally sold off a lot of my film camera's and lenses, and finally give in and make the transition to digital. I asked myself this same question, and decided on purchasing the Canon 50mm 1.4 USM as a "walking around lens".

Sheesh, after reading this thread, I'm really thinking this is going to be a much more difficult transformation than I origionally thought.

J.

 

[djacobox372]

The benefit of a camera with interchangeable lenses is that you can use specialized lenses and avoid the "do everything" lenses which suffer in optical quality.

You're asking for the reverse.