dpardue wrote:
Hi y'all,
Looking for suggestions for an all around
lens for travel for my Nikon D7200.
Thank you.
You have gotten some good advice here. You will have to make the final choice based on what you like to photograph.
Years ago, I used an 18-70mm Nikkor zoom as my basic travel lens. It's really not a particularly good lens, neither really sharp nor fast, but I still have a lot of pretty decent and important images that I captured with it. Later I bought a 17-55mm f/2.8 Nikkor DX zoom. Much nicer. Tremendously better images, but pretty heavy. Then came a 18-200 mm zoom in a collection of equipment that came my way. Very flexible (but quirky) lens. Not great, but pretty capable if you pay attention to what you are doing. Finally (and for me, best) settled on the 24-120mm f/4 full frame Nikkor. I almost never used the really widest focal lengths, so don't miss them. I just make a panorama when a really wide image occasionally presents itself. Doesn't work for railroad shots when the trains are in motion, but wide shots of trains lose too much detail anyway.
What you have to decide is whether you are asking for a lens that is the only one you are going to take on your trip with you or if you are looking for the lens that will generally be on your camera, even if you have others with you. It makes a huge difference in how you make your choice. That choice may not be the same for a trip to the great outdoors as it is for a trip visiting museums and historical buildings.
The next choice is what your expectations are around your travel photographs. I decided a long time ago that there is a big difference between those photographs that I'm taking to mark and remember my trip and those that I'm taking hoping that they turn out to be wonderful works of art. And if I am travelling with my wife, I don't try to capture too many images in that second category. Not the purpose of the trip. But I can still work quickly and competently to capture images that are more than just "snapshots."
There are times to be "that guy with a camera," and times just to be that guy with a camera. I really like to travel with a D500 and a 24-120mm f/4 and nothing else on family trips. It captures enough light (at least most of the time), provides a good zoom range, produces sharp images, isn't excessively big or heavy, and doesn't take up too much space in the car or plane. When going by myself, there may be two bags full of everything that might be needed, one for DX and one for full frame. Plus a tripod.
So give it some thought. Where do you usually go? Always the same sort of destination? What do you photograph? Do you really do a lot of wide angle photographs? Do you like them later when you have a chance to look at them? Do you use long focal lengths a lot? Does that work out for you, or do you just end up with a bunch of hazy images of distant mountains? Match your lens to those images that end up being worth keeping.