Know Your Best Lens for Landscape Photography

Hike in Patagonia

What use is this world if you cannot show everyone what you’ve just seen with your eyes and what use would a camera be if it does not reciprocate the imagery your brain jumped with joy at? In the past decade, photography has jumped out of the hands of highly skilled professionals and is now more of a chicane hobby to enthusiastic tourists than a man dressed in a coat holding a hat and an image he just took.

landscape photography lenses
Find out the best landscape photography lenses

This brings us to the question of choices that arises in every mind holding even the remotest desire of self painting a landscape into the digital memory of the camera. “What can be the best lens for landscape photography?” While the overall structure and work are admirable, the real magic is and will always reside in the “eye” of the camera or “Lens” as we know it. Looking for guidance? We have done all the research about the type and effect of the most important part so you don’t have to do it yourself. Here’s everything you’ll ever need to know

Let’s take a bird’s-eye view of some of the top companies’ offerings in this particular field and then we’ll have an in-depth analysis.

Nikon
Nikon f/1.8g (50 mm)
Nikon 14-24 f/2.8 g
Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 ED AFS
Nikon 24-120 f/4 g ED

Canon
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM Lens
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L

Sony
Sony FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM Lens
Sony FE 12-24mm f/4 G Lens
Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Lens
Sony FE 24-105mm f/4 G OSS Lens
Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS Lens

But before diving into the market of companies and their offerings, let’s have a brief session about the essential characteristics of lenses for landscape photography.

Characteristics of lenses for landscape photography:

Here are the 5 most important factors that will help you to choose the best lenses for landscape photography.

Focal Length 

Wide-angle lenses are most commonly used for landscape photography. The best focal length is anything between 12mm and 150mm. A wide-angle allows you to capture beautiful scenery, while telephoto lenses allow you to crop more precisely. Why? Because when you’re hiking or travelling, a lot of amazing scenes aren’t directly in front of you, but far away. Holding such a zoom, you can isolate that specific part. Hence the majority of landscape photography is taken with wide-angle lenses, zoom or prime, and equally good results are shown.

Aperture 

Most landscape photographers never shoot with big apertures, like f/1.4 or f/2.8. Instead, when you want everything sharp in your shot, you choose something like f/5.6, f/8, or even smaller, because the depth of field will be so small. The only scenario where having a big aperture would be useful is if you photograph at night and need as much light as possible, but unless that’s you, you shouldn’t worry about buying the lens with the biggest aperture if you know you will never shoot that big anyways. Also, telephoto lenses can be used for clicking flawless landscape photography.

Auto Focus

It’s great to have reliable and fast autofocus if you don’t have the time to focus manually. For travelling, hiking or just shooting on the go, a wide angle or a telephoto lens has good autofocus so you can expect shots that are perfectly in focus. However, many landscape photographers often prefer focusing manually.

Weight & Size

Photographing is fun, carrying a ton of heavy gear is not. Make sure to look at how big and heavy a lens is, especially if you always travel with lots of other stuff as well. While small bodies and lenses are great for landscape shooters due to their compactness, some people may still prefer carrying 1 zoom instead of a few primes, or simply just a pancake lens.

Image Stabilization 

Image Stabilization is a vital feature for landscape shooters, especially when you’re tired of shooting in low light. Most wide-angle lenses don’t have it since this is more problematic when shooting through telephoto lenses, but it simply doesn’t go for worse if the lens has it.

Image Quality 

It’s all about image quality, sharpness, and colors. You want a good center and corner sharpness, especially if you print large. Panasonic has excellent glass quality and we made sure to select lenses that offer a lot for the money

The recommended lenses

 

Nikon

lens for landscape photography wide angle lenses
Nikon is known for their outstanding devices and prime lenses

The name itself needs no introduction. It has established itself as a trusted candidate across the international markets and studios. The most remarkable of the products are listed below

  • Nikon f/1.8g (50 mm)

Widely recognized as the portrait lens, this one comes at a bit of a surprise when it comes to landscape photography. The versatility is the main strength of this handy product which is by far the most recognized Nikon flagship.

  • Its small and compact meaning it can be carried to any location without making much of a space issue
    • This focal length allows you a considerable amount of creativity such as tiny details of a rock with a blurred sunset in the backdrop
    • Color range feels like melting or blending together between sharp and blur making it almost a poetry on hand
    • You are essentially free to play with angles and styles hence bringing innovation to your much-revered shots
  • Nikon 14-24 f/2.8 g

Although it’s quite big and expensive and is not able to accommodate filters, the sharpness and quality are unparalleled in the digital world.

  • Edge-to-edge performance and outstanding contrast, this brings to your table a remarkable range
    • Nanocrystal coat that reduces flare and ghosting to a very large extent
    • Dust and moisture-proof body that is sturdy in the build

If you have been doing landscape photography for some time, this lens should be in your bag for advancements

  • Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 ED AFS

Put aside it’s working, it is beautiful to look at!!! The structure and the working of this lens are an art though its recommendation is not so much…

  • Extremely wonderful shoots in low light situations
    • It’s heavy….very..though that is well compensated in performance
    • Versatility is the leading edge
    • It features 15 lens elements including 3 extra-low dispersion glass elements that ensure the reduction of chromatic aberration while increasing the overall sharpness.

Learning to use this lens to its full limits can take quite a lot of time before you reach perfection. Happy learning process ahead !!!

  • Nikon 24-120 f/4 g ED

With a phenomenal zoom that maintains an aperture of f/4 all the way through and marvellous vibration reduction technology, the Nikon 24-120 is a lens to be looked out for.

  • The focal length of 24mm gives you the wide-angle view that is essential for shooting in tight spaces and light, but with a turning of the wrist, you can zoom up to 120mm, which gives you the opportunity to not only view the trail ahead of you but to capture things at a distance very effectively.
    • With this kind of versatility and control, you can shoot close-ups of flowers as well as a bird perched far up in a tree without having to change lenses. This Nikon landscape lens gives you the versatility and freedom that you’ve always wanted.

Canon

lens for landscape photography best landscape lens
Canon comes with a range of models with prime lenses

Another giant in the market that commands great admiration and stocks.

  • Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM

The promising one on the horizon!

  • From an ultra-wide 16mm focal length to a classic length of 35mm, the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 is what landscape photographers dream of possessing in the long run
    • Capturing with this Canon landscape lens is great for landscape photography because you can capture much of the foreground as well as the background scenarios while maintaining a beautifully sharp, crisp focus on all essentials.
  • Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM Lens

It’s also one of Canon’s flagship lenses and by far one of the best available  Canon lenses for landscape photography out there

  • the focal length the 24-70 f/2.8 provides is extremely important—and versatile for pics
    • It provides key landscape photography focal lengths while its AF maintains a stunningly fast and accurate image in all ranges
    • The body is pretty solid and includes fantastic weather resistance which gives you an advantage over the elements.
    • The aperture is made of curved diaphragm blades (the older model had eight straight blades in its build), which gives you an incredible boost to your photography
  • Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM Lens

We love this ultra-wide-angle zoom lens on hand

  •  It has superb image stabilization, built-in fantastic spectra coating (reducing lens flare and chromatic aberration in a single go), and Canon’s innovative stepper motor technology, which gives it a quieter and smoother focusing system in all ranges
    • And it’s affordable for everyone, It’s one of the smallest, lightest, and least expensive lenses in the Canon landscape lens lineup to date

This makes it perfect for the newbie’s landscape photographer that wants to explore new perspectives on their own.

  • Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L

This one is a pricey beast of a landscape lens that boasts a phenomenal focal range effectively

  • It is very lightweight and sturdy, it also produces excellent image quality at almost any focal range you use it for
    • This lens allows you to pick out the extreme, fine details of a landscape from a distance, and, in many cases, its brilliant and revolutionary image stabilization allows you to capture fantastic images without a tripod from a remarkable distance.

This marks the end of our canon camera ranges that are phenomenal, to say the least. Let’s move on to the next section dedicated to other manufacturers.

  Sony

zoom lenses zoom lenses
Sony stands apart from the crowd with the pre-eminent devices and zoom lenses

Just as respectable and worthy of admiration in the digital world as the 1st two ones…..

  • Sony FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM Lens
     
    If you could choose only one Sony lens for landscape photography, this would be the one.
    • The FE 16-35 is the Sony ultra-wide-angle zoom lens you can get, an excellent choice for a wide variety of uses in your hand.
    • The image quality it creates is really great. The lens is well built and includes weather sealing innate.
    •  Those photographing the night sky will also find the f/2.8 aperture advantageous.

     An Exceptionally Wide-Angle Lens in the market.

  • The focal lengths available in this lens are extremely wide, and photographing with these angles of view is very fun for now.
    •  Considering  the 12mm end provides the opportunity to set one’s work apart from the crowd of pictures
    • The FE 12-24 is a superb lens, but note that it does not accept front filters which is a downgrade
  • Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Lens

Superb Combination of Image Quality, Build Quality, Wide f/2.8 Aperture, Fast Autofocus Speed, Weather Sealing, all you’ll ever need. Due to  its all-around capabilities and features, the Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Lens is the reference for many, including the most advanced professionals out there

  • The coveted focal length range is solidly covered with good image quality.
    • The  f/2.8 max aperture equips this lens for stopping action in low light, making it an ideal choice for photographing action sports and low light events without much effort.
    • The aperture is also used for creating a strong background blur and haze, allowing the subject to be isolated from a distracting background effectively.
    • This autofocus system performs really well, and the wide aperture enables solid low light AF performance effectively. The Sony build quality ensures enduring performance in every manner
  • Sony FE 24-105mm f/4 G OSS Lens
  • Presenting the excellent image quality, close-focusing capabilities, excellent build quality, great focal length range, fast autofocus, optical SteadyShot, weather sealing, and close-focusing all in all
  • Though it lacks the wide f/2.8 aperture of other series, the Sony FE 24-105mm f/4 G OSS Lens adds considerably to the long end of the general-purpose focal length, and it also adds Optical SteadyShot to its arsenal.
    •  Lightweight, small size and lower price are additional advantages this lens has over the previous counterpart, and somewhat surprisingly, the f/4 lens is slightly sharper in most comparisons taken on board
    • The optical performance and stabilization combined with the rest of this lens’s features, including good weather-seal build quality and a great close-focusing capability, make it a very popular landscape photography zoom lens choice for professionals.
  • Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS Lens

Long Focal Length Range with Long Focal Lengths, Excellent Image Quality, Well-Constructed, Optical SteadyShot, Weather-Sealed

  • landscape photographers may sometimes find this lens’s 100mm wide end a bit too narrow, but sometimes the 400mm end is very constructed, including for making distant mountain scenes large in the frame. For a photograph of wildlife and landscapes simultaneously, this lens’s range is ideal for that dual purpose in every manner.
  • When 400mm is not good enough for you, this lens’s teleconverter compatibility will be found advantageous at hand. The FE 100-400 has Sony GM pro-grade build quality appraisal.

This wraps up our article on the best landscape photography lens. We hope this has been informative and helps you choose the best lens for you.