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What would be a good lens for landscape photography day and night?

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ryanman123

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Hi all, I'm new to this forum, I've had my D3200 SLR for over 6 months now and I think I've found my style of photography - Landscape.

What I'd love to find out is what lens would be best for this type of photography, I also love shooting at night capturing (or trying to at least) the night sky etc. I am relatively new to photography buy do understand that these can get quite pricey.

Also any advice, hints and tips would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Ryan
 
ryanman123 said:
Hi all, I'm new to this forum, I've had my D3200 SLR for over 6 months now and I think I've found my style of photography - Landscape.

What I'd love to find out is what lens would be best for this type of photography, I also love shooting at night capturing (or trying to at least) the night sky etc. I am relatively new to photography buy do understand that these can get quite pricey.

Also any advice, hints and tips would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Ryan
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I've had great fun using my nikon 16-85 at night for aurora shots, the milky way etc, and with some good results.

Generally speaking through, the wider the aperture the better for night photography, so a faster lens might be even more fun! :)

It really depends on how wide you want to go, the 16-85 is a great landscapes all rounder, but there are other lenses that could possibly suit night photography better (like the newer Sigma 17-70 for example)

If you want to go really wide, Tamron and Tokina make some pretty good ultra wide angles, (as well as Nikon of course).
 
ryanman123 said:
Hi all, I'm new to this forum, I've had my D3200 SLR for over 6 months now and I think I've found my style of photography - Landscape.

What I'd love to find out is what lens would be best for this type of photography, I also love shooting at night capturing (or trying to at least) the night sky etc. I am relatively new to photography buy do understand that these can get quite pricey.
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True, that lens is quite pricey, but I don't think there is anything better for stated purpose, at lease as far as IQ. Obviously nothing is perfect, and this lens is susceptible to flare, and you can't use filters with it.

 
Tokina 11-16 f/2.8. Nice and wide, fast, inexpensive and well made. I have never shot it, but if I needed to go wide on a DX that is what I would buy.
 
Jeff AG said:
Tokina 11-16 f/2.8. Nice and wide, fast, inexpensive and well made. I have never shot it, but if I needed to go wide on a DX that is what I would buy.
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True that.

Since you're shooting on a d3200 make sure to buy the newer version (d2 or something like that), so it will autofocus on your camera.
 
You'll get many answers, especially about how wide angle lenses are a must for landscapes (not true at all, and not really what WA lenses are for). The only thing that REALLY matters for a good landscape lens is good edge to edge sharpness.
 
+1 on 14-24mm 2.8. You could look used or refurb. If you can squeeze it in the budget, you'll never regret it!!
 
ryanman123 said:
Hi all, I'm new to this forum, I've had my D3200 SLR for over 6 months now and I think I've found my style of photography - Landscape.

What I'd love to find out is what lens would be best for this type of photography, I also love shooting at night capturing (or trying to at least) the night sky etc. I am relatively new to photography buy do understand that these can get quite pricey.

Also any advice, hints and tips would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Ryan
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If you are looking for the "best," you will have to pay top dollar. I have no doubt that the "best" landscape lens shooting in the 'night" would be the Nikon 14-24 F2.8. A less expensive model that is very nice but not as well suited to low light would the Nikon 12-24. Shooting on a tripod, either lens would work great.
 
nfpotter said:
You'll get many answers, especially about how wide angle lenses are a must for landscapes (not true at all, and not really what WA lenses are for). The only thing that REALLY matters for a good landscape lens is good edge to edge sharpness.
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+1.

You need a lens that doesn't push the middle distance too far back, and that's exactly what a wide-angle lens does. 24mm on a DX camera is a pretty good landscape FL, as it doesn't distort the distance and perspective that much, yet permits a decently broad field of view. Extremely fast apertures aren't useful either, other than they ensure that the lens will reach its maximum sharpness by f4 to f8. Slower kit lenses require more stopping down to hit their peak. But for landscapes even a kit lens, at f8, will do well; you just have to hold them more steady to extract all the sharpeness they offer.

Extremely broad angles of view are often better stitched together using a panorama program using a series of images taken with a moderate angle lens on a camera supported by a tripod. The key to high quality landscapes is low ISO, solid support, and good lighting conditions.

ultra-wide-angle lenses, like the 11-16 and 10-20, are special purpose tools designed for close up work and playing with perspective. In certain close quarter situations they can get in all of the scene in a single exposure, and for that they're a valuable tool in your kit. I've used them for landscapes, but in situations like deep in narrow canyons or when I want to expand a scene with strong perspective possibilities. For example:















 

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I use the Sigma 17-50 f2.8 (new version) as a landscape lens. VERY sharp, and good corner-to-corner. Ultra-wide can get you into a lot of trouble unless you know exactly what you want. Having owned and used a Nikon 14-24 on a FX I would not recommend it. Flare problems, no filters - such as a ND filter, very big and heavy - and cumbersome to use (and very pricey). As it reaches 24mm its sharpness is no longer exceptional - very good but not exceptional.

FX - http://www.photozone.de/nikon_ff/447-nikkor_afs_1424_28_ff?start=1

DX- better http://www.photozone.de/nikon--nikk...4-24mm-f28-g-ed-n-test-report--review?start=1

DX- http://slrgear.com/reviews/zproducts/nikon14-24f28/tloader.htm

At f5.6, where I tend to shoot landscapes, the Sigma 17-50 f2.8 is rather exceptional from 17 to 50.

http://slrgear.com/reviews/zproducts/sigma17-50f28os/tloader.htm

If you want an ultra-wide the Nikon 10-24 will work just fine. Just be careful about your intent.
 
My Nikon 16/35 I picked up for a trip out West a couple summers ago did just fine for me. Others might have different favorites. :)

Sorry, image will not post??
 
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There are a lot of great Super Wide options out there for landscape photography. I am going to go out on a limb and figure you already have mid range zoom and maybe even long zoom handled.

Your strongest limitation on the lens is "night and capturing stars and night skys" portion of your post.

Budget lens....Tokina 11-16 would be my only choice. It is very well suited for this kind of work with f/2.8 for letting in light. F/2.8 and ISO 1600 for 30 seconds will be a very strong recipe for "dots of light" starry night shots.

If you want to spend some money...the 14-24 is a very nice lens....one of the best even if you look at primes...this competes. Its a spendy heavy piece of glass....but if your needs are critical...worth every penny.

This I no way means the Tokina is a slouch....just that the 14-24 is that much more than about any other lens you might consider.

Good luck either way.

Roman
 
Lots of good gear advice. I will add that you may want to try bracketing as well. The images can be automatically composited with something like Oloneo (which also micro aligns the images) or manually (layers and masks) or automatically within PS. Having a range of bracketed shots that you can combine as you wish gives you much more flexibility in creating your final composition. Especially useful for night work. At the simplest level, bracketing gives you a range of images to choose from which can be handy in tricky lighting conditions. Great advice from Mosswings above about creating those beautiful broad landscape sweeps using stitched panoramas.
 
RomanJohnston said:
There are a lot of great Super Wide options out there for landscape photography. I am going to go out on a limb and figure you already have mid range zoom and maybe even long zoom handled.

Your strongest limitation on the lens is "night and capturing stars and night skys" portion of your post.

Budget lens....Tokina 11-16 would be my only choice. It is very well suited for this kind of work with f/2.8 for letting in light. F/2.8 and ISO 1600 for 30 seconds will be a very strong recipe for "dots of light" starry night shots.

If you want to spend some money...the 14-24 is a very nice lens....one of the best even if you look at primes...this competes. Its a spendy heavy piece of glass....but if your needs are critical...worth every penny.

This I no way means the Tokina is a slouch....just that the 14-24 is that much more than about any other lens you might consider.

Good luck either way.

Roman
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