What Is A Walk Around Lens? (Page 7): I am so pleased to be a M4/3 photographer. With my retro-range finder style Panny GX8 and my 14-42 (28-84) G X pancake lens fitted it is...

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

I am so pleased to be a M4/3 photographer. With my retro-range finder style Panny GX8 and my 14-42 (28-84) G X pancake lens fitted it is comfortable to wear round my neck, will fit beneath an anorak when necessary and never gets in the way. I don't shoot BIF, but have excellent IQ for most everything else. Front to back this rig is less than 3 inches.

DebiB

My definition of a walk around lens is one that I don’t have to stop and change. 24-55m is to far away for some shots. 55-200 is too close. I have a 24-270 which covers almost anything I come across on a photo walk. Your definition may vary.

One Rude Dawg Loc: Athol, ID

Mac wrote:

I have always thought of a walk around lens as a compact, light weight, general purpose lens to carry on strolls and take on picnics, etc. Something like 24-85mm or 28-105mm.

Lately I’ve seen recommendations like 18-400mm or 28-300mm which strikes me as overkill for a walk. They seem to me more like one size fits all lenses.

Is there a consensus on what makes a good walk around lens?

Anything it doesn't take a burro to pack .

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

Mac wrote:

I have always thought of a walk around lens as a compact, light weight, general purpose lens to carry on strolls and take on picnics, etc. Something like 24-85mm or 28-105mm.

Lately I’ve seen recommendations like 18-400mm or 28-300mm which strikes me as overkill for a walk. They seem to me more like one size fits all lenses.

Is there a consensus on what makes a good walk around lens?

Depends on what you're shooting? People in the downtown or birds in the marsh...

bwa

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

My daily walkaround lens is a Tamron 16-300. When I have to go out to the East San Diego County boondocks looking for wildlife, I'll switch to a Tamron 150-600.

cambriaman Loc: Central CA Coast

At one time my "walk-around" was a 50mm f.//1.4 lens to capture mainly monochrome low light images on film. It was great on film. The dynamic range of the digital world encouraged a bit more from me so I am using a 24-120mm f.4 lens.

mundy-F2 Loc: Chicago suburban area

One Rude Dawg wrote:

Anything it doesn't take a burro to pack .

Good point. I like to hold my camera, if possible, in one hand. The autofocus on new cameras will make this possible for me, so I stick with small prime lenses to keep the camera and lens lite and easy to quickly take a shot. For me, using a zoom lens, is heavier and may require two hand operation.
This process/technique works for me taking night street photos in the Chicago urban city.
When I purchase my first DSLR later this year, I will use a similar camera and lens combination. In the mean time, I will listen to the advice from all of you on digital photography.
Mundy

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

I wish to thank everybody who participated in this discussion. The different views, perspectives and opinions made it very informative and useful.

Mac

raypep

My walk around lens is my Iphone X. I got so tired of lugging around my Nikon 7100 or leaving it at home to go to dinner and then seeing a great shot I decided to change my ways. I now use my Iphone exclusively to take photos.

I only view my photos on my computer or send them via email to friends that I don’t have to worry about issues affecting printing photos.

I am thinking of switching to the Iphone 12 since I hear it has a better camera.

wingclui44 Loc: CT USA

chrisg-optical wrote:

My preferred walk around lens is my all-in-one 8mm... (show quote)

I agree with you. There is no such term as "walk around lens" or you may call it a single "All purpose" lens which will never happen.

BebuLamar

wingclui44 wrote:

I agree with you. There is no such term as "walk around lens" or you may call it a single "All purpose" lens which will never happen.

Reading this thread I see 2 definitions of the "Walk Around Lens".
One definition is "all purpose lens" which can be from a single 35mm lens to an 8mm-1000mm lens but they all still have the same meaning as a general purpose, all purpose lens.
I saw at least one other definition which literally means "Walk Around" that a 600mm f/4. The person may love to walk around with it but it's definitely not an all purpose lens. Perhaps it is a single purpose of walking around with it.

wingclui44 Loc: CT USA

BebuLamar wrote:

Reading this thread I see 2 definitions of the &qu... (show quote)

Yes, you are right! Any lens with any focal length can be your "Walk around lens".

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

wingclui44 wrote:

Yes, you are right! Any lens with any focal length can be your "Walk around lens".

I fully agree with the idea that there are some days that photography is not the driving motivation for our being out and about. There are other days that it is our whole purpose for being there. And there are those conflicted days between the two extremes. Let me expand on the examples I provided in my earlier posts.

I like to take a camera with me whenever my wife leave the house. Occasionally we end up in photo-worthy locations. Sometimes she goes into a store in which I have no interest, and in which my worn-out knee will not support a guided tour up and down each of the aisles. In the first situation, I like to have a camera with decent capability in case we see something of interest that I'd like to photograph. In the second, I like to have the opportunity to have the camera in order to review and research its capabilities and maybe even develop some new capture techniques. It was in a situation like this that I learned that increasing saturation (and occasionally adjusting exposure just a tad) can be a very useful and effective alternative technique to using polarizing filters to enhance the sky if done properly. I've also learned a tremendous amount about using and managing the image "distortion" produced by my extreme wide angle zoom while waiting in the car. This is the case for selecting and taking a camera and one carefully chosen lens (a "walk-around" lens, if you will) when leaving the house. Making that selection and preserving peace in the family is way more important than having every possible choice of lenses with me.

Several years ago, I drove to Kansas City to the annual convention of the railroad history and modelling group that I'm a member of. In addition to the meeting, there were four field trips, all to very different destinations and locations. Since I was driving, I took essentially everything I owned with me. The field trips involved transportation on buses, so it was neither convenient not safe to drag the whole kit on each one. But since I had everything, I could select the most optimal lens (or two) for each one. Additionally everything was available in the car for the drive up and back for whatever I encountered along the way. I was travelling alone, so having everything along inconvenienced no one, and there was no competition for available space.

As mentioned earlier, my brother and I are planning an outing next Friday to chase UP's Big Boy. Photography is a main goal. We are driving, so this is sort of an example of the third possibility in my list. There's plenty of room, even to take everything. But we haven't decided who is driving. If it's me, then there's not going to be a lot of time for me to mess with changing lenses. If it's him, there will probably still not be a lot of time for me to mess with changing lenses, since I'll be the navigator. And the truth is that there really aren't that many different ways to take a picture of a train moving 40-60mph anyway. Especially when you are all grown up like us and have figured out that everything works better when you don't try to get so insanely close to the track. So either way, my choice will be to take a D500 with a 24-120mm f/4 zoom and a D850 with a 24-70mm f/2.8 non-IS zoom. The most radical thing that may happen is that the lenses may get swapped between those two cameras. I'm confident of coming back with something decent with just that setup. You may say that I should take something longer. And I could take a 180mm f/2.8 or a 70-200zoom. But my experience tells me that's not really a good idea. Not in Texas and Oklahoma in the summer. Too hot, too much humidity, and too much haze to capture anything of real value. So...simpler is better. We'll focus on finding a good spot, and we'll have fun.

ski Loc: West Coast, USA

Tamaron 28-85mm

mundy-F2 Loc: Chicago suburban area

larryepage wrote:

I fully agree with the idea that there are some days that photography is not the driving motivation for our being out and about. There are other days that it is our whole purpose for being there. And there are those conflicted days between the two extremes. Let me expand on the examples I provided in my earlier posts.

I like to take a camera with me whenever my wife leave the house. Occasionally we end up in photo-worthy locations. Sometimes she goes into a store in which I have no interest, and in which my worn-out knee will not support a guided tour up and down each of the aisles. In the first situation, I like to have a camera with decent capability in case we see something of interest that I'd like to photograph. In the second, I like to have the opportunity to have the camera in order to review and research its capabilities and maybe even develop some new capture techniques. It was in a situation like this that I learned that increasing saturation (and occasionally adjusting exposure just a tad) can be a very useful and effective alternative technique to using polarizing filters to enhance the sky if done properly. I've also learned a tremendous amount about using and managing the image "distortion" produced by my extreme wide angle zoom while waiting in the car. This is the case for selecting and taking a camera and one carefully chosen lens (a "walk-around" lens, if you will) when leaving the house. Making that selection and preserving peace in the family is way more important than having every possible choice of lenses with me.

Several years ago, I drove to Kansas City to the annual convention of the railroad history and modelling group that I'm a member of. In addition to the meeting, there were four field trips, all to very different destinations and locations. Since I was driving, I took essentially everything I owned with me. The field trips involved transportation on buses, so it was neither convenient not safe to drag the whole kit on each one. But since I had everything, I could select the most optimal lens (or two) for each one. Additionally everything was available in the car for the drive up and back for whatever I encountered along the way. I was travelling alone, so having everything along inconvenienced no one, and there was no competition for available space.

As mentioned earlier, my brother and I are planning an outing next Friday to chase UP's Big Boy. Photography is a main goal. We are driving, so this is sort of an example of the third possibility in my list. There's plenty of room, even to take everything. But we haven't decided who is driving. If it's me, then there's not going to be a lot of time for me to mess with changing lenses. If it's him, there will probably still not be a lot of time for me to mess with changing lenses, since I'll be the navigator. And the truth is that there really aren't that many different ways to take a picture of a train moving 40-60mph anyway. Especially when you are all grown up like us and have figured out that everything works better when you don't try to get so insanely close to the track. So either way, my choice will be to take a D500 with a 24-120mm f/4 zoom and a D850 with a 24-70mm f/2.8 non-IS zoom. The most radical thing that may happen is that the lenses may get swapped between those two cameras. I'm confident of coming back with something decent with just that setup. You may say that I should take something longer. And I could take a 180mm f/2.8 or a 70-200zoom. But my experience tells me that's not really a good idea. Not in Texas and Oklahoma in the summer. Too hot, too much humidity, and too much haze to capture anything of real value. So...simpler is better. We'll focus on finding a good spot, and we'll have fun.

I fully agree with the idea that there are some da... (show quote)

I saw the UP Big Boy on its tour two years ago. It is very impressive engine.
Mundy