Landscape photography is very wide genre and covers different forms such as abstract macros to wide expansive panoramas. So, you as a landscape photographer, not only master the technique, but also know tools at your disposals.
You need to know and decide which is right lens for particular landscape photography scene. You need to choose which is right focal length for particular landscape photography scene.
Ofcourse you bought camera first which is most important purchase, the next big things is few lenses. I have shared my top recommendation for best camera for landscape photography here.
There are hundreds (if not thousands) lens available in market this days, which is good and same time. Here are my camera gears including lenses for travel and landscape photography.
In this article, we will go in detail which will help to choose right lens for your next landscape photography.
Are you ready? I hope, yes! let’s start with few fundamentals,
What Makes a Great Landscape Photography Lens?
A great landscape photography lens is one that can capture the beauty of the natural world in a way that is both aesthetically pleasing and accurate.
The best lenses for landscape photography are those that have a wide angle of view, which means they can take in more of the scene than other lenses including the foreground and background.
They also need to have an aperture that is at least 2.8 or larger, so they can take in enough light to produce sharp images with low noise levels in low light condition such as blue hour or golden hours.
Lenses matter more than your camera.
Important factors to consider before choosing the right lens for you
- Focal Length (wide to zoom to prime)
- Aperture range
- Weight
- Stabilisation
Focal Length for Landscape Photography Explained
Focal length in lens industries various from 10mm-1000mm, and it’s very large large to buy and carry with you in all the hikes or trips.
So here is most of common and useful range which will cover almost 90% of your requirement. Having said that few cases are unique to style of your photography.
By the way how to develop your photography and editing style, itself is big topic, I will cover in another post. however to identify your style or pattern, I recommend to check your old photographs and analyse to find pattern.
Here are list of common focal ranges
- Wide Angle Lens: There is no defined definition of wide angle lens, however for landscape photography, we can consider 14mm to 24mm in full frame camera or 35mm camera. And it will be different range in APS-C crop sensor type camera like 10mm to 18mm.
- Telephoto Lens: Anything beyond 35 mm is what I am considering tele-photo lens.
Type of Lens for Landscape Photography
Different manufacturer such as Canon, Nikon, Sony, Zeiss, Tokina etc. make mostly common range of lens, however some variation is also there in lens like Canon recently introduced RF 14-35mm f/4 lens. Having said that here is the lens range broadly covered by all the lens manufacturers.
- 10-14mm f/2.8: A wide-angle, wide-aperture lens for landscape panorama or astrophotography
- 16-35mm f/2.8 or f/4: Intended for the most important range of wide angle shots
- 24-70mm f/2.8 or f/4: Meant as a walk-around lens for normal focal lengths
- 70-200mm f/2.8 or f/4: Ideal for capturing distant landscapes and isolating subjects
- 400mm f/4 or f/5.6: Super tele-photo ideal for capture detail in landscape in distant to moon photography
Note: Here, the exact numbers are not important at all. You can cover the same landscapes with a 16-35mm f/2.8, a 50mm f/1.8, and a 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 or with all prime lenses (14mm f/2.8, 24mm f/1.8, 35mm f/1.8, 50mm f/1.8, 85mm f/1.8, 135mm f/2, 200mm f/2.8, or similar). You can also cover it all with a superzoom and an astrophotography prime and stitch in post-processing to make even wide angle landscape.
Ideal Focal Length for Landscape with Sample
Focal lengths is perhaps the most important factor in choosing a landscape photography lens. As I mentioned above, the heart of the landscape focal length range is 14mm to 35mm. Here is list of focal length with sample image which I captured over the years,
- 14mm (Super or ultra wide angle lens but unique perspective)
- 18mm (Wide angle but fun)
- 21mm (the sweet spot)
- 24mm (wide but started to getting zoom now)
- 27-50mm (Good for detailed shot)
- 50mm++ (Now you can distant subject and background closer)
Conclusion
Sometimes, you should just go with your gut. If you can’t figure out which lens to pick, the simplest answer is to choose the one that feels right, instinctively. At the end of the day, the best lens for you is simply the one you like using the most, even if it seems like a strange choice on paper. Still, If I need to recommend, I will suggest to cover 16-200mm range in your kit and you will good in most of case. It can be covered by single lens (24-200mm) or multiple lenses (Trinity Lens 16-35mm, 25-70mm, & 70-200mm) based on your budget. Check out our detailed guide about lens hoods and why you need for landscape.
Now, you got lens sorted for your kit and what is your choice of camera for landscape photography?
Let me know in comment section below which lens is in your camera bag?
