A question that I often see being asked in photography forums is

What’s a good walkabout lens for my xxxD?

Rather than it being a reference to lenses with legs, a walkabout lens is one with which you might take out on a day of walking whether it be to a park, to the shops or to your friends barbeque. The requirement being that because you don’t know what type of subject you’re going to come across you take a lens that can cover most general situations rather than lugging about a heavy bag filled with lenses.

Prime lenses don’t fall into this category very well unless you’re deliberately wanting to restrict yourself to a single focal length. As such, zoom lenses - particularly those around the ’standard’ lengths - are favoured for this role. In particular, zoom lenses that start at a wider (<= 35mm) focal length and reach up to short telephoto (=> 50mm). These ranges often provide a good balance between focal length range, image quality, cost and weight.

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On Saturday, a group of us took a trip up to Buttermere, a stretch of water in the north-west of The Lake District. As we arrived at Saturday lunchtime and the weather was looking a bit gloomy, we stopped for lunch at The Fish Hotel before setting off for a leisurely walk around the lake.

The clouds started to break as we started walking which provided ideal conditions for some landscape photos as patches of sun were rolling over the surrounding mountains. The very bright sky presented a problem in so much it made getting a suitable exposure to preserve all of the visible detail impossible with my 40D and a single exposure. So I set up my tripod and 40D to auto-bracket with the intention of capturing the highlights, mid-tones and low-lights separately so that I could combine them later on using HDR techniques.

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… Or you’ve just dropped it 200-feet during an aerial shoot. What are you going to do?

With typical SLR photography equipment costing hundreds and even thousands of pounds, any loss or damage could be rather expensive to rectify.

It’s possible that a household contents or travel insurance policy would cover any damage or loss, but it’s worth checking what restrictions are in place e.g.

• If you’re covered for everywhere you’re likely to go - you may not be covered whilst you’re traveling or for the complete length of your trip.
• If you’re covered at all times - some policies might have time restrictions e.g. leaving equipment unattended in a car overnight.
• Whether all of your equipment is insured - there may be an upper limit on the value of a single insured item.
• There may be minimum security requirements that must be met.
• Whether you’re covered if you’re earning money from photography - professional photographers usually attract different rates. Make sure you’ve got the right sort of cover.

With specialist insurance cover available from under £100 per year, it makes good sense to get your expensive equipment covered as soon as possible if it’s not already covered by an existing policy.

Here’s a few UK-based insurers to get you started:

• Aaduki Multimedia
• photoguard
• e&l Insurance
• AUA Insurance

For that extra bit of security, you could also invest in a safe. They’re becoming quite popular and can even be purchased at your local B&Q store for under £50.

I’ve had my camera gear for a few weeks now, but have only just got separate insurance cover for it.  I do feel better knowing that it’s all covered now.

I just recently got back from a 3-week trip to Hong Kong where I put my new Canon EOS 40D kit through its paces and took over 2,000 shots of the landscape, people, food, animals, architecture, basically anything and everything that I found interesting.

Most days consisted leaving the hotel early in the morning and then spending the day seeing the sights, eating the food, meeting the people and taking lots of photos! Whilst Hong Kong has arguably one of the best public transport systems in the world, there was also a fair bit of walking which allowed more photo opportunities, but also very achy feet!

I plan to create a more in-depth write up of what there is to take photos of in Hong Kong and how to go about it, but I thought I’d offer a little taster first.

Without a shadow of a doubt, Hong Kong is a photographer’s paradise. Not only is there so much subject matter, but it’s a very safe environment (important if you’re lugging expensive kit around) and you can shoot all day long and well into the night. You only need to search for Hong Kong on Flickr to see just what it’s got to offer a photographer.

Aside from its natural beauty, Hong Kong has a lot of financial clout, being one of the most important financial centres in the world. This allows the state to create and maintain a lot of attractions that are freely accessible. For example, A Symphony of Lights is a nightly light show that stars over 40 of the buildings on both sides of Victoria Harbour. The electricity bill alone is several thousand dollars for each 14-minute performance. Guinness World Records says it’s the world’s “Largest Permanent Light and Sound Show” and every night it’s watched by an audience of thousands spread across square miles.

Each of Hong Kong’s parks also makes for a unique photo experience whether candids, floral, landscape, wildlife, or architecture is your thing and you don’t have to worry about litter or debris ruining your compositions as all are well-maintained throughout the day.

Organised attractions aside, Hong Kong also offers many opportunities to capture a very rich and diverse culture. From the fishing villages along the coastlines to the busy street markets of Mong Kok, the older folk performing tai chi in the mornings to the hundreds of temples, from the bird’s eye view from public viewing galleries of the tallest buildings to the 360-degree view from Victoria Peak.

As a photographer anywhere in the world, you’ll appreciate just how much of an impact the weather can have on outdoor shooting. Given its sub-tropical climate, the best time of year to get good visibility is in November and December when it’s warm, but dry. April through to September are more humid and susceptible to tropical cyclones. High humidity can help to give a misty feel to shots and provide its own interest as subjects literally vanish into cloud, but do be careful to keep it out of your equipment.

As you can probably gather, I have nothing but high praise for Hong Kong. Just try to visit in the drier seasons unless you’re suitably equipped (waterproof), have no say in the matter or want to get some tropical shots!