What's your favorite all-purpose lens?

On Mon, 29 Nov 2010 13:23:43 -0600, dickr2 wrote:

You're going out for the day, maybe just to walk around, visit
friends, etc., and you don't want to carry a camera bag with a
bunch of lenses. What would be your favorite lens?
Mine would be an old Vivitar Series 1 28-90, 2.8-3.5 that I use
on my Canon FD bodies. Close focus to 9", sharp glass.
It has served me well for the last 20 years.
How about you?

Dick


My "obvious" choice for a walk around lens is my Sigma 28-300, however, it
depends on where I'm going... what I don't like about this lens is the long
minimum focus. I want to replace it, hopefully with a VR lens.

If I think I'll be needing more wide angle, being indoors for example, I'll
bring the Nikon 18-70, or the Nikon 18-55 VR which is better for natural light.

If I'm on a nature hike, I bring the Sigma 50-500, and a tripod!

If I have my Sony gear instead, I bring the 18-200.

On 2010-11-29 14:23:43 -0500, dickr2 said:

You're going out for the day, maybe just to walk around, visit
friends, etc., and you don't want to carry a camera bag with a
bunch of lenses. What would be your favorite lens?
Mine would be an old Vivitar Series 1 28-90, 2.8-3.5 that I use
on my Canon FD bodies. Close focus to 9", sharp glass.
It has served me well for the last 20 years.
How about you?

Dick

My D5000 has only the two kit lenses thus far, the 18-55VR and the
55-200VR. I usually carry both. For true walkaround I guess I'd have to
say my 43-86 mm Nikkor on my Nikon F. For those too young to know it,
the Nikon F was, in the 1960s and very early 1970s, the choice of most
working pros. I use mine with the plain prism and a hand held meter
(most of the metering Photomic heads are no longer functioning), which
makes it a beautiful, fully manual, optically and mechanically
excellent camera. It's nice knowing your battery can't fail because
there is none. When I used my Minolta Vectis S-1, which is a true SLR
system based on the APS film system, my walkingaroundlens was the 20-80
zoom, which is the same equivalent as you'd have on a DX digital
(because DX digital is APS-C) and it was and is a great little lens.
The problem is that now there's only ISO 200 and 400 Kodak and some
Fuji film left, and most of the labs that did APS no longer do the true
IX coded processing, so other than the compactness of the camera and
storage of negatives it has no particular value. But the Vectis S-1 is
an excellent camera and I still have a lot of lenses for it, all the
way up to the 400mm mirror lens.
--
Michael

On Tue, 30 Nov 2010 18:54:33 -0500, wrote:

On Mon, 29 Nov 2010 13:23:43 -0600, dickr2 wrote:

You're going out for the day, maybe just to walk around, visit
friends, etc., and you don't want to carry a camera bag with a
bunch of lenses. What would be your favorite lens?
Mine would be an old Vivitar Series 1 28-90, 2.8-3.5 that I use
on my Canon FD bodies. Close focus to 9", sharp glass.
It has served me well for the last 20 years.
How about you?

Dick


My "obvious" choice for a walk around lens is my Sigma 28-300, however, it
depends on where I'm going... what I don't like about this lens is the long
minimum focus. I want to replace it, hopefully with a VR lens.

If I think I'll be needing more wide angle, being indoors for example, I'll
bring the Nikon 18-70, or the Nikon 18-55 VR which is better for natural light.

You should look at the 16-85. I find the increased angle of 16
compared to 18 is well worth having.

If I'm on a nature hike, I bring the Sigma 50-500, and a tripod!

If I have my Sony gear instead, I bring the 18-200.



Eric Stevens

dickr2 wrote:
You're going out for the day, maybe just to walk around, visit
friends, etc., and you don't want to carry a camera bag with a
bunch of lenses. What would be your favorite lens?
Mine would be an old Vivitar Series 1 28-90, 2.8-3.5 that I use
on my Canon FD bodies. Close focus to 9", sharp glass.
It has served me well for the last 20 years.
How about you?

Dick

I like my 24 - 120 mm Nikkor. I do wish I had the VR version, however.

Alan Browne wrote:
I hardly ever travel without some 6 lenses in the bag, damn the weight.

20 f/28
50 f/1.7
100 f/2.8 macro
135 f/1.8
28-70 f/2.8
80-200 f/2.8

85/2.8 T/S mounted
12-24 Sigma
300/2.8 Tokina before the 79-200 VR
40/2 if I remember
35/1.4 or 50/1.2 for low light

Pete wrote:
On 2010-11-29 19:23:43 +0000, dickr2 said:

You're going out for the day, maybe just to walk around, visit
friends, etc., and you don't want to carry a camera bag with a
bunch of lenses. What would be your favorite lens?
Mine would be an old Vivitar Series 1 28-90, 2.8-3.5 that I use
on my Canon FD bodies. Close focus to 9", sharp glass.
It has served me well for the last 20 years.
How about you?

My 180 mm f/2.8 AF Nikkor has produced my best images, partly because
it's a good optic, mainly because its angle of view makes me think hard
before I press the shutter.

That's a good one to remember.

On 11/30/10 PDT 11:17 PM, Paul Furman wrote:
Alan Browne wrote:
I hardly ever travel without some 6 lenses in the bag, damn the weight.

20 f/28
50 f/1.7
100 f/2.8 macro
135 f/1.8
28-70 f/2.8
80-200 f/2.8

85/2.8 T/S mounted
12-24 Sigma
300/2.8 Tokina before the 79-200 VR
40/2 if I remember
35/1.4 or 50/1.2 for low light

Hmmmm---- What was the question??

On 2010-12-01 17:43:00 +0000, John McWilliams said:

On 11/30/10 PDT 11:17 PM, Paul Furman wrote:
Alan Browne wrote:
I hardly ever travel without some 6 lenses in the bag, damn the weight.

20 f/28
50 f/1.7
100 f/2.8 macro
135 f/1.8
28-70 f/2.8
80-200 f/2.8

85/2.8 T/S mounted
12-24 Sigma
300/2.8 Tokina before the 79-200 VR
40/2 if I remember
35/1.4 or 50/1.2 for low light

Hmmmm---- What was the question??

Answer to original question: Just a second, I'll rummage for it :-)

--
Pete

Pete wrote:
On 2010-12-01 17:43:00 +0000, John McWilliams said:

On 11/30/10 PDT 11:17 PM, Paul Furman wrote:

Alan Browne wrote:

I hardly ever travel without some 6 lenses in the bag, damn the weight.

20 f/28
50 f/1.7
100 f/2.8 macro
135 f/1.8
28-70 f/2.8
80-200 f/2.8

85/2.8 T/S mounted
12-24 Sigma
300/2.8 Tokina before the 79-200 VR
40/2 if I remember
35/1.4 or 50/1.2 for low light

Hmmmm---- What was the question??

Answer to original question: Just a second, I'll rummage for it :-)

Here you go
You're going out for the day, maybe just to walk around, visit
friends, etc., and you don't want to carry a camera bag with a
bunch of lenses. What would be your favorite lens?
Mine would be an old Vivitar Series 1 28-90, 2.8-3.5 that I use
on my Canon FD bodies. Close focus to 9", sharp glass.
It has served me well for the last 20 years.
How about you?

Dick

I spend a lot of time with a 70-300mm on a 1.6 crop factor DSLR. When I travel I usually add a 50mm/F2.0. It is not wide enough for many shots.

w..


Some of teh new super zooms are getting very nice.

dickr2 wrote:

You're going out for the day, maybe just to walk around, visit
friends, etc., and you don't want to carry a camera bag with a
bunch of lenses. What would be your favorite lens?
Mine would be an old Vivitar Series 1 28-90, 2.8-3.5 that I use
on my Canon FD bodies. Close focus to 9", sharp glass.
It has served me well for the last 20 years.
How about you?

Dick