What Walkabout lens? (Around London)

[atmax1]

I live in SE London and around 20mins from C London by train and I am after a walk about lens that I can use to go around london and where I live.. I have a Canon 500D

I dont have a budget but I'm saving up for it but under £500 would be nice.

 

[Oddball]

I'm also in SE London (Blackheath) and have a tamron 17-50 non vc as my walkabout lens for the moment. I like it

If you want to try it out, you're more than welcome...

 

[ElDude]

I'm going to see BB King in the Albert hall in June (only mentioned this because I'm about as excited as you can get ) and I'll be taking my 30D and 50mm1.4 with me. I may stay down there for a few days, purely for photography reasons, and take all my kit for variety. I suppose it depends on what you want to take photos of really, and from what angle. A lot of London is quite cramped in the centre, from what I remember so for structures to be in shot I'll be using the Sigma 12-24. For street photography/candids I'll use the 50mm. I may try the 70-200F4 I've just got, but I don't really see this as a walk around lens, plus walking around with the 50mm attached would attract less attention than a big white lens stuck to the front

Actually, this has just made me realise I'll need more memory cards! Damn!

 

[OG]

Can probably pick up the canon 17-55 2.8 for around £500 or so if you get second hand. Depends how wide you want to be though, your either going to be looking at the Canon 17-55, Tamron 17-55 or Sigma 18-55.

Or you can go wider with the sigma 24-70 etc. I personally have the tamron as I prefer to shooter wider but its personal choice I guess.

 

[aztechnology]

Can probably pick up the canon 17-55 2.8 for around £500 or so if you get second hand. Depends how wide you want to be though, your either going to be looking at the Canon 17-55, Tamron 17-55 or Sigma 18-55.

Or you can go wider with the sigma 24-70 etc. I personally have the tamron as I prefer to shooter wider but its personal choice I guess.

There is a Sigma 17-50 2.8 available for about £500ish if that's the money you are spending....

 

[neil_g]

i used to have a sigma 18-50 f2.8 macro and that was a great walkabout lens. only sold it as it wouldnt work without bad vigenetting on the 1.3 crop sensor in the 1D.

I'm going to see BB King in the Albert hall in June (only mentioned this because I'm about as excited as you can get ) and I'll be taking my 30D and 50mm1.4 with me. I may stay down there for a few days, purely for photography reasons, and take all my kit for variety. I suppose it depends on what you want to take photos of really, and from what angle. A lot of London is quite cramped in the centre, from what I remember so for structures to be in shot I'll be using the Sigma 12-24. For street photography/candids I'll use the 50mm. I may try the 70-200F4 I've just got, but I don't really see this as a walk around lens, plus walking around with the 50mm attached would attract less attention than a big white lens stuck to the front

Actually, this has just made me realise I'll need more memory cards! Damn!

careful if youre planning to take your kit into the venue with you, a lot wont let SLRs in and youll have to surrender them to security.

 

[AtticusFinch]

Try the Canon 18-200 IS it is a good walkaround lens that lets you get a wide variety of shots.

 

[Voxination]

Got the Sigma 18-200mm OS as a walk about, sure it lacks in sharpness, but as Atticus says about the Canon, you can get a lot of shots especially as you don't need to mess about changing lenses.

All depends on what you define as "walkabout" really and what suits the area you'll be in.

 

[Doohickey]

Personally I'm thinking of getting a Canon 15-85, looks to be pretty sharp and it's IS which is helpful. Around £475

 

[atmax1]

Hmm I don't know what too get! lol and when i say walk about lens I mean just walking around and see what catches my eye, I'm still new and learning (have not found my style yet)... but I do like sharp images... This is normally the kind of pictures I like taking http://www.flickr.com/photos/59353502@N07/ (my pictures)

I do have a Canon 50mm II 1.8 lens and a Sigma 10-20mm F4.0 USM Lens are they good enough? (but I do like the thought of a 200mm - 300mm lens) Also I have a friend in a camera shop who sells second hand lenses etc, I have bought new all my life but I notice a lot of people buy second hand, are second hand lenses ok? like they wont shorten the life span or anything?

I was looking at the Canon 18-200 IS, Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS Telephoto Zoom and the Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC.

 

[ElDude]

i used to have a sigma 18-50 f2.8 macro and that was a great walkabout lens. only sold it as it wouldnt work without bad vigenetting on the 1.3 crop sensor in the 1D.



careful if youre planning to take your kit into the venue with you, a lot wont let SLRs in and youll have to surrender them to security.

No, I'm going to scout out some places with secure storage while I'm at the concert. I'm there to watch possibly his last tour, not to take photos. Although I'd like to, I don't have the pass or the kit to do it

 

[Snapshot]

Have a look at the Sigma 17-70mm f2.8-4. Usefully fast without the cost penalty of a constant f2.8 lens. Also focuses down to 1:2 so will handle sensible close-ups. Around £330.