Landscape photography has unique requirements, and Chris Niccolls has strong opinions about what most compelling options are. He'll walks you through his picks for the best landscape photography cameras at three different budgets.
Bill Butler, what would you recommend for wildlife in the 400-600 equivalent range? I don’t think the takumar mf 645 600 f4 is that great. The 600 5.6 does seem to get good reviews though
Panther Fan, you obviously have never used the GFX system or seem to understand the benefits of a large sensor system. I own a GFX100s and use it for landscapes. Honestly, I don't miss the below 16mm range that I have with my Nikon 14-24/D850. If I need wider, I can always stitch. I rarely need it though. Also, greater than 200mm, I would argue that this is not the camera for that application. The 250mm is already large and heavy. Stick with FF if you need that. reach. All in all it comes down to horses for courses. The I use the GFX100s for landscapes and portraits, my Nikon system for the rest. I am very happy with my choices.
Wider than 16mm an issue worth mentioning !, so stitch if it ever occurs in landscape. GF lenses don't stop at 200mm, there is GF250/F4 and the TC1,4 makes it a 350mm, further all Nikon F lenses adapts with the Fringer AF adapter or a Fotodiox "dumb" adapter. Landscape lenses on the GFX is not an issue at all.
@panther fan: I believe Venus Laowa makes a 17mm prime for the Fuji GFX system (native mount) which means you get a 13mm FOV. I have used an adapted Sigma ART 14mm, changing the camera’s aspect ratio, which is of course even wider.
To each his own. Sports & wildlife: Canon R6 II. Landscape: Canon 5DSR. Street: Fujifilm X-E4. Did you know that the Fuji X-E2S now sells for - are you sitting down? - over $1000 on Ebay if you can find it. Little wonder - it was a top fun camera in my 56 yrs with photography. Second was Nikon F4. My 2 cents: humpless cameras make the best people cameras - the others raise a barrier between photographer and subject, too big, threatening, and self-serious.
People are paying crazy prices for Fuji cameras thanks to Tiktokers who created the hype. X100v for $2000... X-Pro1 bodies for $800... I rather buy a Canon or Nikon full-frame even if they are not going to make me look “cool”.
CaPi, I sold my XT3 to bought an RP which for my needs serves me very well. The 35mm 1.8 IS macro is awesome, loooking forward to get the 24 and 85mm soon. Saying that, my dream lens is the sweet RF 28-70mm f2 :)
A used Z7 is one of the best options. Going for around $1600 at MPB, excellent condition.
The G9 is excellent though. People blow it off but don't know what they are talking about. All of Brooks Jensen's landscape works are on the G9, and he could shoot anything. https://www.brooksjensenarts.com/
I like the R5, it’s an incredible all rounder and enjoyed the time I worked with it, but as a landscape only camera, the Nikon and Sony are better choices.
R5 far outsells the Z7 - buyers can see past the brand drivel and compare it to A1 and Z9 (not Z7 - a much cheaper option for a reason) which are both better on paper but very little in actual use. Nikon lenses on the other hand - killer…❗️
Well - the relative market shares give you a clue….by the way do you have any evidence it’s not correct? As for fb drivel you appear to striving to be world champion….😊
How does the marketshare of a company selling mostly aps-c dslrs and de facto discontinued M mount bodies tell U anything at all about the sales of a 4,000+ USD body?
Are U also under the impression that the iPhone marketshare correlates well with the Mac Pro commercial success?
This being said the R5 is an incredibly good performer compared to the long string of lukewarm Canon DSLR that came before it. It has triggered the move to mirrorless of many of the remaining Canon DSLR shooters who had not yet moved to Sony. The Z7/Z7II, albeit excellent for many applications such as landscape as seen in this article, have not yet been that body for D850 ysers. The D850 was just too close to perfection.
G9 is only good with multi shoot. Without it DR looks like old canons. This is a convenient and functional camera, but in normal mode it does not give good raw files. Both DSLRs and mirrorless with APS-C sensor will be better. Nikons with a 20MP sensor handle any exposure manipulation incredibly good.
@D135ima - You're comparing the G9 @ ISO 200 pushed 4 stops with a Z50 @ ISO 100 pushed 4 stops - in effect, your comparison is giving the Z50 a 1-stop advantage.
@TheRealYeats Well, the base ISO 200 is definitely not Nikon's fault. I don't know how Bill did the test, but everything below is not real values. And even if you spare the Panasonic by one Ev, you will still see more fine-grained noise and a strong color shift. This is not as unpleasant as the red-green colored noise spots on the old canons, but still...
The G9's ISO 100 is considered "Expanded range", I guess that's why DPR doesn't include it. But it does produce slightly less shadow noise than ISO 200.
IMO, the half-stop or so advantage the Z50 has does not completely offset the benefits of High Resolution Mode in the G9, for landscape shooters.
I've been shooting the G9 for about a year now, after shooting Pentax APS-C for years, and I find the low-to-mid ISO performance of the G9 pretty similar. Since I shoot RAW, the color-shift is not an issue.
The G9 still gives you 10 stops of photographic dynamic range - way more than any printer can reproduce, and about level with what the best monitors can reproduce. And then there is the HR mode, which puts it's IQ on par with cameras in the 2nd highest category at just shy of 12 stops of PDR and 80.5mp resolution where you'd need a reasonably modern medium format camera to significantly best it.
@TheRealYeats The reason the G9 (and any m43) has less shadow noise at ISO 100 is because it's ISO 200 with the exposure shifted. In exchange for cleaner shadows, you lose 1 stop of highlights, so there's zero gain in DR over ISO 200. It's more for JPG shooters, where the camera doesn't reproduce the full DR of the sensor to begin with.
2 stops for just the noise, and there's a magenta color cast that shows up as soon as you start lifting the shadows at all. And you can't fix the shadow color shift without affecting the mids, unless you spend lots of time tweaking curves, since there's no all-inclusive fix for every amount of shadow pulling.
"The G9 still gives you 10 stops of photographic dynamic range - way more than any printer can reproduce,"
That's not how printers work. People have been using cameras to reproduce 14-15 stop images on 10-stop screens (1000:1 contrast ratio), which print out looking exactly the same as on-screen, despite containing 14-15 stops of DR. DR in print is only linked to the brightness of the light used to view it and the finish of the media. But mapping the wide DR of a RAW isn't related to brightness at all, unless you're editing and outputting in 10-bit HDR, which is pretty rare for photos. Even today. It's mainly used for video, which is still very limited in use.
I fully agree and can’t believe that they put a crop medium format on top of the list, when there is an obviously better full frame medium format system out there…
I'd like to have heard a sentence or two about the S1R as an option. Since video AFc isn't a major landscape metric, it should score decently well here.
L-mount does NOT lack lens. In fact has a range of excellent high quality lens S1R also has pixel-shift feature so resolution can be outstanding. 187Mpix, without lens aliasing as it takes 8 47Mpix shots ( so the lens resolution performance is evaluate at 47Mb ) and combines them in camera for one RAW image.
Strictly for landscapes, for around $1000 I'd get a used a7RII AND a used Sony 28-60/4.0-5.6. Excellent IQ, and lots of other good, affordable lenses available. Pair this with a Tamron 70-300 and a Samyang 18/2.8 for a full-range high-rez kit under $2000. I have this kit with an a7RIII, which can be found used for only a few hundred dollars more.
For me, the battery upgrade alone is worth considering a newer A7R series - earlier A7 bodies just ate batteries for days. If you're doing car-based landscape, not bad. If you're out backpacking etc or up all night doing stars in the cold it can get really bulky
That's what I've done. I figure it's the best affordable sensor I can swing as a retiree. A few A-mount lenses with ea4 adapter, a few Pentax primes. Not ideal to bypass the great internal AF system, but I get BSI sensor, e-shutter and recharge from portable power - more features I'd use compared to the A7ii for a similar price.
Unless you don't like manual focus, I'd highly suggest getting the LA-EA3 instead. Not only is the AF of the 4 very bad (even requires DSLR focus tuning), you also lose a bit of light via the translucent mirror.
But yes, the A7R II is very superior to the regular A7 II. It's like a half-generation jump over the A7 II. Both in terms of AF and usability.
Since I went 61mpx I find I can make very large detailed semi panoramic landscapes with one shot, cropped top and bottom. (Only for friends though, as there is no spot in my house's architecture I could ever see a horizontal image fitting in!)
The Pentax 645Z is still on the market and the current price is stupid low for a digital medium format camera and the image quality it can deliver. Manual focus is, if anything, a plus shooting landscape and there is a huge back catalogue of terrific, manual focus Pentax 645 and 67 glass available at killer prices. The possible downside to the 645Z (or 645D) is its size and weight. Drop the gym membership and money.
At B&H, for even less that the 645Z you can buy a Fuji GFX 50S ii + 35-70mm lens.
And that back catalog of Pentax 645/67 glass will work wonderfully on the Fuji - as will many Canon EF lenses (thanks to the Fuji's short flange distance).
TheRealYeats Wow, I will have a look! However, Canon EF 35mm format lenses are unlikely to cover a sensor that large. ...Off to B&H right now!... And I'm back... The current price on the Pentax 645Z is a fraction of what it was at introduction but Fuji has eaten Pentax's lunch with the price on that GFX 50s and lens combination. Hmmm.... 'All I'd need is a couple Pentax to Fuji adapters.' :|
Yeah, I'm disappointed Pentax didn't continue with the momentum they built with the 645Z.
WRT Canon EF lenses on GFX, a Fuji rep recommended using the Canon lenses in an interview with Dave Etchells a couple years ago. Of course, this is a transitionary or fill-in-the-lineup mode, until the proper Fuji lenses are available.
Last year I sold my Takumar 200/3.5 to a Fuji GFX user, because in his experience some of the M42 lenses work well.
Pentax lost this segment to fuji, as well as aps-c. I think it would be logical for them to go for 53х40mm. In this way, the pentax could move a little further from fuji. Their legacy lenses will be more justified on this format. It will also be easier to justify the size and weight of the camera. And no matter how much Sony asks for this sensor, I have no doubt that Pentax could make the camera much cheaper than Hasselblad and Phase One. But in general I don't think the problem with the pentax is strategy, they really lack vigor.
Agreed - the EF 40mm STM pancake, once Canon’s second-cheapest lens, works brilliantly adapted to GFX (I use a Fringer adapter, which allows both IBIS and phase/detect AF when used with the GFX100S). I have two other EF mount primes that work without a hint of vignetting - Sigma’s ART 40mm F1.4 and 105mm F1.4. These are probably around F1.1 equivalent on the GFX body, perfect for those ‘one eyelash in focus’ portraits!
"[if] money is no object" has always struck me as peculiar expression so I just did some reading on the derivation. It was first used in a newspaper in 1782, when "object" also commonly meant "a cause for attention or concern". That definition of "object" is no longer in the vernacular; someone learning English today might perceive "[if] money is no object" literally as "[if] money didn't exist", which initially makes no sense but upon reflection has its own interesting ramifications, some of which match the expression's original intent.
Yeah, I have the same doubts with that expression; glad you cleared it up! Anyway, why is it that "better landscape photography" equates to "more megapixels"? Because "better" means "more detail"? I didn't watch the video because I'm not into SM.
To me "if money was no object" has always ment that you are rich enough to buy whatever you want and not think of the cost, as in the polar opposite of "If you have to ask for the price, you can't afford it".
The meaning of the idiom is universally known and understood. It's the relationship to the modern literal definition of the individual words which drew my interest.
I agree that the GFX100S is the obvious best with the A7RV not far behind, and it is worthwhile pointing-out that many FF lenses can cover the GFX100S sensor giving a correspondingly wider view angle than on FF.
However, for $3000 or less, I think any of the >=42MP FF bodies makes a great choice. I still use a couple of Sony A7RII (several years ago, I bought a new one for $1200!) and mostly manual lenses, including many old used ones that are very cheap. The Sony A7R* and Nikon Z7* are all great for landscapes, and for the under $1000 choice, something like an A7RII bought used is probably the best answer...
Money no object: use the phone you already have. Or did anybody say it had to be expensive? Some phones have IQ even professional photographers dreamed about not very many years ago.
@phouphou - I will take that challenge any day, shooting in a variety of landscape conditions typical of landscape photography, including after sunset, with long exposure, and in Raw with tone curve manipulation. I am sure even on a 1080P monitor, the G9 will destroy the iPhone. (I've seen the latest iPhone shots, nice but not impressive away from tinty screens.)
@JasonThe Birder When I was starting out doing landscapes I had a similar attitude as you. But even Ansel Adams used a wide variety of camera formats including Polaroid (albeit I've never seen a landscape made by him using that camera).
I have two beautiful monochrome nude in nature images that would not exist if I hadn't happen to have an iPhone 3S with me. (The main reason we were there was to go skinny dipping at a small flooded quarry in a gorgeous remote location.) Over 40 years making photos but I've never been the type to always carry a camera with me. . . I appreciate the photographic convenience that smartphones provide.
@lightandprayer -- that is very interesting...and I started out with a similar attitude as yours when I was younger. But as time goes on, I appreciate that it's better to not have some things than to have a world that is hyper-automated.
@JasonTheBirder you may be very surprised with how competent the new iPhone can handle landscape. Long Exposure especially when Using frame averaging in an app like Even Longer the results are staggering in Raw, and have great latitude in post.
My phone is for 1. Communication 2. Navigation / GPS. It stays in a safe location where I can't drop it, fall on it, or otherwise risk breaking it.
My camera is for photos, If I drop it and it breaks, my ability to course correct if I go off trail is not affected. I cannot change the lenses on my cellphone. Due to the pixel density and size of lens my cellphone's camera is basically a pinhole camera with two different focal lengths.
@JTB of course the iphone cannot cover the whole spectrum of landscape photography (which includes tele FL), but knowing that the best m43 kitlens on 20MP is probably worse than the iphone 14 pro raw at 24mm is kind of a bummer...
@phouphou ... That might be true purely based on resolution but it won't be true for a LOT of landscape scenarios, especially when you are using a tripod. I still have not seen an iPhone vs large camera comparison that actually applies in a real-world photographic situation for which the purpose is to create a great photograph. In all such tests it's usually about -- which can easily capture a better memory snapshot in challenging lighting to be displayed on a small screen, in which case the iPhone often does a better job. But in the end pretty much all those photographs are mediocre.
@JasonTheBirder With the right photo software and a compatible smartphone it is possible to create RAW image files using manual camera settings. That removes the hyper-automation with the added bonus of making it possible to create better images with a phone that has a lesser camera/lens.
@MediumFormatLover "All three cameras mentioned will far, far, outperform any phone on the market." I think you missed that I wanted to say that to my opinion IQ is overrated now. Who thinks he really does need a new 2022 camera should try consider how people did their photography in the past, with their noisy CCD sensors. They did.
When Pentax can't even place in the "Best Landscape Category", it's doomed, I tell ya.
I would pick the GFX 100s, too.
However, I want to plug the value proposition of the Pentax K-1 ($1800) for those unswervingly devoted to landscape photography. The focus on MILC here is completely understandable, but the main benefits of MILCs - AF goodies, and EVF are arguably inessential in this context. *Even Pentax* AF is more than enough for landscape, and I'll bet lots of landscape types are out walking around expressly to get away from staring at screens all day.
The K-1 is more rugged than any of these, which points to a small drawback for those long hikes: weight. But, it gives you 36 MP of resolution, which you are not easily going to distinguish from 45, pixel-shift resolution, and Astrotracer for the starry-eyed. In the DFA 15-30, Pentax still has one of the best wide-angle zooms available any price, and the Star-series primes at longer FLs are spectacular. A heavy bag, though!
I agree, the K-1 in many ways is the definitive landscape DSLR. My one quibble with it would be that some of the big-name image processing programs can't handle the Pixel Shift RAW files all that well.
Other cool K-1 features: the "lunar lander" LCD, which will extend, turn and pivot while remaining behind the body (as opposed to deploying alongside the body, which is typical of articulating LCDs) which ameliorates the "sun on the LCD" issue. Also, LED lights near the controls and lens mount for night time shooting, and Horizon Correction, which uses the sensor's IBIS functionality to compensate for slightly off-level compositions.
@TheRealYeats You can pre-process the PixelShift files with dcrawps, or RawTherapee and then process them in your favourite big-name image processing program.
Pentax is not "doomed", it is just not on DPReview's radar. They prefer hybrid cameras that do video well and have a strong priority on fast continuous AF. They regard DSLRs as "outdated", which is a non-defensible viewpoint since mirrorless cameras do not supersede DSLRs in all aspects. There are a number of aspects in which DSLRs will always beat mirrorless cameras. However, DPReview is not interested in acknowledging that there is a subset of photographers for whom a DSLR is a better choice; even when the genre -- landscape photography -- is especially suited to let DSLRs shine.
I miss the Pentax system a lot.. but sadly the e-finder ability to nail my preferences for exposure and WB is really useful to me. Now that their KAF4 mount is ready for mirrorless cameras to control focus and aperture, the K-mount (and DSLR mounts generally) has been abandoned by third parties.
I think for landscapes, where you don't need really need fast AF, Pentax K-70, currently going for $576 at one famous retailer, will surely give G9 a run for the money. You can sneak in a 21mm f/3.2 or 15mm f/4 prime and still have money left for a bag, all for the same price as G9 body alone.
"The Pentax K-70 is a mid-level DSLR". (The release price in 2016 was $649.95)
"The Panasonic Lumix DC-G9 is the brand's highest-end stills-oriented camera". (MSRP in 2017 was $1700.) (G9 has received several significant firmware upgrades over the years.)
If the main concern is image quality, there are many cameras cheaper and better than G9, but G9 excels in everything else (except maybe AF). This is also not the best bang for buck competition. IMHO "The best deal (at MSRP) between $500 and $1000" would be a more valuable listing.
P.S. If I wanted a DSLR, my first option would be Pentax.
In this week's episode, Chris compares the Nikon Z7 II and Sony a7R IV for landscape photography, with a close look at their displays, image quality, lens lineups and more.
Fourteen months ago, DPReview editor Jeff Keller was supposed to be visiting the Galapagos Islands, but covid quickly changed his plans. In preparation for the trip, he had already planned on upgrading his camera system. Find out what Jeff settled on, and how he reached that decision.
Or: why scoring cameras is so challenging. In this article, Technical Editor Richard Butler muses on why it makes sense to compare both the Fujifilm GFX 100S and the Sony a1 to the Canon EOS R5, yet not to one another.
The GFX 100S fits most of the capabilities of the GFX 100 into a smaller and more affordable body. We've tested what the camera offers to see who it might make sense for.
Fujifilm's X-H2 is a high-resolution stills and video camera, that sits alongside the high-speed X-H2S at the pinnacle of the company's range of X-mount APS-C mirrorless cameras. We dug into what it does and what it means.
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Above $2500 cameras tend to become increasingly specialized, making it difficult to select a 'best' option. We case our eye over the options costing more than $2500 but less than $4000, to find the best all-rounder.
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Family moments are precious and sometimes you want to capture that time spent with loved ones or friends in better quality than your phone can manage. We've selected a group of cameras that are easy to keep with you, and that can adapt to take photos wherever and whenever something memorable happens.
What's the best camera for shooting sports and action? Fast continuous shooting, reliable autofocus and great battery life are just three of the most important factors. In this buying guide we've rounded-up several great cameras for shooting sports and action, and recommended the best.
Fujifilm's X-H2 is a high-resolution stills and video camera, that sits alongside the high-speed X-H2S at the pinnacle of the company's range of X-mount APS-C mirrorless cameras. We dug into what it does and what it means.
A blog post from Panasonic touts the ways its organic film CMOS sensor can control color spill between pixels, giving more accurate color in challenging lighting, but doesn't propose photography as something the sensor is suited for.
Digital sensors are at the heart of digital photography, but their development sometimes gets obscured by the marketing claims made along the way. We take a look at how sensors have developed since the early days of CCD, to better understand the milestones of the past and what's really going on today.
Who doesn't love a compact prime? This full frame 26mm F2.8 Nikkor lens has a sweet price, good features...but does it take a sharp photo? See for yourself in this new sample gallery shot with a production lens.
We met up with OM Digital Solutions' senior management at CP+ in Yokohama to find out what the transition from Olympus was like and to gain insight into its focus going forward.
If you're new to the drone world, there's much more you need to know than how to unbox and launch a drone. We break down the 5 mandatory steps you need to follow to fly safely and legally.
Camera and lens rental company Lensrentals has published a list of its most popular 'point-and-shoot' cameras, only to reveal that the very concept might now be obsolete.
Holy Stone produces dozens of low-cost drone models aimed at consumers. We look at the HS710 and HS175D to see if they stack up to other sub-250g offerings. Are these secretly great or more like toys?
Leica has announced the Vario-Elmar-SL 100-400mm F5-6.3, a telephoto zoom lens for L-mount. It's also announced a 1.4x extender teleconverter to work with it.
Round One voting results are in and we're now down to 8 matches. Jump in to see who won and sneak a look at how the DPReview team debated the choices, then get ready for Round Two – voting starts now!
Mathematical correction of lens distortion is commonplace. We explain why we don't think it makes sense to ignore it or to assume it's always a bad thing.
How well do Fujifilm's film simulations match up to their film counterparts? We revisit a classic DPReviewTV episode in which Chris Niccolls and Jordan Drake shoot a few rolls of Fujifilm's Acros 100 II, and a few frames on the X-T3 in Acros film simulation, to find out.
It's March, and in America that means it's time to start arguing over which college athletics team is the best at basketball. For DPReview, it's also an opportunity for a good old-fashioned camera fight.
We take OM System's new 90mm prime F3.5 macro lens out and about around Seattle, in search of sunlight, people and very tiny things to get up close and personal with. Flip on through what we found, and see how the lens performs in the real world in our sample gallery.
After a three-year hiatus, we've been at the return of the CP+ camera show in Yokohama, Japan. In between interviews with executives of the major companies, Dale Baskin took to the show floor to bring you this report.
OM System's latest lens is a whopper of a macro, featuring optical stabilization, full weather sealing, up to 2x magnification and a whole lot more. What's it got and what's it like to use? Let's dig in.
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