Which Lens for LANDSCAPE???

bloodline76

bloodline76

bloodline76

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Hi I am new to digital photography but am all ready loving it with a passion. I am currently interested in landscape pictures after I witnessed a fantasic thunder storm the other night.

I did manage to get a shot off which captured the lightning but I was in a dark room and had the wrong settings on the camera. (Ill post later anyway once I transfer it to the computer)

But I would like your advice on which lens i should be looking at getting for landscape pictures?

I have a 350D with basic lens and a 300mm one from my old SLR

Thanks in advance
 
Well for Landscape photography you are going to be looking at either a good quality wideangle zoom or prime lense with also a budget for a set of decent quality NDGrads.

For my landscapes I use a 10mm-20mm f/4 Sigma zoom lense and recently I have just bought a 17mm f/3.5 AT-X Tokina prime, see this link for a "mini review":-

http://www.trickery.net/vb/showthread.php?t=38060

The Sigma at 10mm really does do some outstanding shots for Landscaping but as you will see in my review it does have some minor shortcomings. The reason I bought a 17mm prime lense for Landscapes is that this is the equivalent focal length on my 350D as a full format camera has using a 90mm lense which almost all landscape photographers use. Another very good lense at around the wideangle mark is the Canon 17mm-40mm L zoom lense but this costs around £500 but it is very good, but imo it doesn't just go "wide" enough like the little Sigma can...

As for NDGrads you can either get the best and purchase a set of Lee 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 soft NDGrads (£100+ and necessary holder) or go for the 85 series HiTech ones in the same format for around £40 plus holder (you can use the Cokin P Holder with them), rumour has it the HiTech ones are made in the same factory, whatever you do don't be tempted by the Cokin NDGrads as they cast a reddish / brown tinge to your shots and are not really that neutral at all.

Also I noticed you haven't mentioned that you have a tripod or not, if you haven't got one yet this is probably as important as anything in Landscape photography and Manfrotto is a good brand, yet again make sure you dont scrimp on the purchase of this as the cheap ones are usually too light and will move in the wind etc..

To summarise:-

  • Good Wideangle Lens (10mm or above)
    Strong sturdy Tripod
    Set of NDGrads
    Remote shutter release (cable or IR)
    The light

See my Photoblog for what I am managing to achieve with the limited kit I have to hand :)

Russ

p.s. Also remember to shoot in RAW mode all the time in your camera and do the exposure and WB settings in something like Capture 1 Pro or the free application by Pixmantec.
 
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Thanks. That was a great response. I always take pictures in RAW anyway appart from the picture of the lightning which is annoying as i switched to wrong settling when rushing.

I have a nice solid stand which hasnt blown over yet.

Just need the rest of the gear now. Although that wont stop me shooting in the mean time. :)

Thanks again.
 
i would recommend the Canon 10-24 over the Sigma 10-20. I have owned both and the Sigma was very poor in comparison, with more distortion at 10mm, and the image lacked significant clarify.

The 10-24 isn't the sharpest lens in the world, and compared to my 24-105 is about 80% as sharp, but the Sigma I had was terrible.

The Tokina 12-24 is supposed to also be excellent and is cheaper than the Canon but I can't comment as i've not used it

PS Sysagent it's lens not lense! ;)
 
It depends what you want from a landscape lens really

a) do you want a wider lens than your kit lens?

Go for one of the UWAs, all of them are great, I have the sigma and it's an absolute gem, i took some comparison shots with all the UWAs i could get my hands on in a shop, took them home and pixel peeped :p and all of them pretty much came out identical, but the sigma having identical IQ, being cheaper and feeling more solid swung it for me.

b) is the kit lens range fine but you just want a better quality lens?

A good bet would be the 17-40L, it's probably one of the most popular and widely used landscape lenses out there.
 
Another thought: Wideangle lenses are the traditional lens to use for landscapes - but don't discount using a telephoto to pick out elements, or compress the distance beteween elements - gives nice layering from foreground to background
 
Yeh I know about the blodge its nothing that the Heal Tool can't mend...

I usually clean the sensor when it gets to untolerable levels :)

Oh and thanks for the comment Bloodline much appreciated!

Yes the Tokina 12mm-24mm is also very highly rated and built a whole lot better than the Sigma, optically they aren't far apart for sure, but I guess it is all down to how much you are preparing to spend on the lens. If you have £500 spare and you don't mind being Ultra wide then the Canon 17mm-40mm L lens is the best bet, that is if you have some money spare as well for NDGrads.

Russ
 
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