Best "Walk Around " Lens

CajunDisneyFreak

Certified Disney Freak
Joined
Aug 22, 2018
I have been using my kit lenses for a while now and I am looking to upgrade. I am looking for suggestions for a good "walk around" lens that won't break the bank.
 
Some time back (years), and based on advise in this forum, I went with an 18-200mm zoom. Mine happens to be a Sigma. This works well for Disney and travel in general if you don't want to tote around a lot of lenses. I would think you could get a bit better photo quality and greater aperture with a few prime lenses but the convenience, for me, out weighs the need for absolute top image quality. There are some "reasonably" priced lenses that do a pretty good job all around. Sigma and Tamron tend to be a little lower priced and get descent reviews.

I'm now looking to upgrade my camera and a general purpose lens like this is on the must have list! I never use the kit lens any longer and rarely switch to a prime.
 
Of course much will depend on what camera mount you are using, as not every brand offers the same lenses - and different people have different needs as far as what to improve upon from a 'standard' kit lens in the typical 18-50mm range and usually a slowish F3.5-5.6 or so.

Some find upgrading the aperture and staying within the same focal range to be useful - something like a 16-50mm F2.8. Others find getting a little more reach to be more useful overall, going to something like an 18-135mm extended kit. Still others want an all-in-one lens solution that can allow them to never really have to change lenses - something like an 18-250mm or 18-400mm.

Personally, I find an 18-135mm to be a great 'kit' lens - more reach than a typical kit, still compact and easy to carry, and for general purpose shooting it can cover about 90% of needs with still good optical quality throughout the range.

Despite having a collection of 30+ lenses and 3 camera bodies, my last two trips to Disney in July and September this year, in the hot and humid conditions where I didn't want to deal with a bag-o-lenses, I ended up shooting with just two lenses: 18-135mm F3.5-5.6, and 16mm F1.4 prime for dark ride/low light.
 
I absolutely love my 35mm f/1.8. It's wide enough that I can comfortably capture most scenery pics, but not too wide where it distorts portrait pics. It runs about $500 for the full frame version, under $200 for the crop.
 



GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top