Ah, the beauty of majestic mountains, rivers, lakes, and other natural wonders. Like any other photography niche, the success of landscape photography lies in the lens you use. Thus, you should put much thought into choosing the best lenses for landscape photography.
What are the Best Lenses for Landscape Photography?
Standard Lens
Ever tried shooting with a smartphone only to be surprised at how far away the scenery appears in the photo? How do DSLR photographers achieve shots that are close to how the human eye sees them? Easy—they use a standard lens.
Also known as a “normal lens,” a standard lens has a similar field of view to the human eye. Typically, standard lenses have a focal length of somewhere between 35mm and 55mm. Many kit lenses that come with cameras contain this standard lens focal length range.
If you’re interested in trying out a fixed-focal-length standard lens, a 50mm lens (often called the “nifty fifty”) is a sweet-spot option for a landscape lens with a generally affordable price tag. If you want a bit more flexibility, a zoom lens will work just fine as long as it includes focal lengths in the 35-55mm range.
Nikon 50mm f/1.8 G AF-S
Another great lens for landscape photos, this standard Nikon lens offers a 50mm focal length (75mm on DX-format cameras) and a fast f/1.8 aperture. Both features will help you take beautiful photos with shallow depth-of-field. The maximum aperture lets the lens shoot scenes with impressive brightness, even in low light. It also produces natural bokeh at wider apertures and helps you achieve natural perspectives for portrait work with its standard 50mm length.
The f/1.8 G AF-S integrates Nikon’s Super Integrated Coating (SIC) into its design to help it transmit light more efficiently. The coating will give you highly consistent color and less flare, too. The lens boasts an Aspherical Lens Element (AS) for virtually no coma and other types of aberrations in your images. Along with the Silent Wave Motor, the feature helps you ensure tack-sharp portraits and landscapes.
Nikon f/1.8 G AF-S Key Features:
- 50mm focal length for capturing portraits, landscapes, and other types of images
- f/1.8 aperture offers impressive brightness in different scenes, including low-light situations
- Stunning and natural bokeh at wider apertures
- Nikon’s patented lens technologies help deliver better light transmission, eliminate aberrations, and provide quick autofocus that’s both precise and silent
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM
The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM integrates a classic lens design, an improved auto-focus system, and a new physical design all in one compact package. It is perfect for capturing stills as it works fast and smooth. This medium telephoto lens gives full-frame users a standard 50mm focal length (equivalent to 80mm when it’s used on APS-C cameras). It also features a maximum aperture of f/1.8 that will work well in low light.
The EF 50mm f/1.8 STM ensures high contrast and color neutrality in your images with optimized lens coatings in its design. These coatings help achieve less flare and ghosting. The lens even comes with seven circular blades for better blur in certain areas of your image.
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Key Features:
- Compact and lightweight fixed focal length lens
- f/1.8 aperture makes it ideal for shooting landscapes in low light and producing creative background blur
- Gear-type STM with Movie Servo AF for smooth, silent continuous AF in capturing stills
- Optimized lens placement and coatings for great color balance, as well as less flare and ghosting
- Seven rounded blades for stunning and soft background blur
Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM ART Lens
Sigma’s 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM ART for Canon EOS systems boasts remarkable sharpness and the standard 35mm focal length, making it one of the best landscape lenses for photographers. It’s also versatile: Despite it being made for full-frame cameras, you can use it on APS-C models as well.
The lens features multiple technologies from Sigma. It has a Hypersonic Motor (HSM) for silent, fast, and precise autofocus while you shoot. This ART lens can even capture subjects well at close distances with its floating focusing system. SLD and FLD glass elements are also included for axial and chromatic aberration correction.
Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM ART’s Key Features:
- 35mm fixed focal length and Sigma’s trademark technologies help the lens enhance one’s creativity
- Hypersonic Motor enables quiet and accurate autofocus at high speed
- f/1.4 maximum aperture is ideal for low-light shooting
- FLD and SLD elements help produce less color fringing and chromatic aberrations, resulting in clearer images with more accurate colors.
Ultra-Wide and Wide-Angle Lens
Many people prefer the wide-angle lens for shooting landscapes. And how could they not? It allows fitting a larger part of the scene into a frame, so there’s no need to think of ways to strategically crop your photo when shooting a place that’s wider than the average, such as the Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia.
A wide-angle lens is traditionally considered a lens with a focal length of 24mm or shorter. For many landscape photographers, a wide-angle lens is often the best lens for landscape photography.
As you explore wide-angle lens options, keep in mind that the greater the field of view, the more distortion you’ll see in your images. At 24mm distortion is minimal, but with focal lengths like 18mm, 14mm, or even 10mm, the corners of your images will appear distorted.
Lenses with a focal length of 14mm and shorter are often called ultra-wide lenses and they feature the most distortion. Ultra-wide lenses can also be called fish-eye lenses when the distortion has a circular shape.
Samyang 14mm Ultra Wide-Angle f/2.8 IF ED UMC Manual Focus Lens
As soon as you try this lens out with your Nikon, you’ll immediately notice the difference. The Samyang 14mm f/2.8 can capture an impressive 115-degree view when used in conjunction with a full-frame digital camera or a 35mm film camera. It also features a high-tech Focus Confirm Chip that allows you to optimize the lens with the auto white balance, auto exposure, and auto metering functions.
Image distortion and chromatic aberrations will become things of the past with the lens’s hybrid aspherical design. It can also focus as close as 0.9’ (0.274 m) from the lens. Its built-in petal type camera lens hood prevents glare when shooting in harsh lighting conditions.
Samyang 14mm f/2.8 Key Features:
- Ultra-wide-angle 14mm lens with an approximately 90-degree angle of view for ultra-dramatic shots
- Hybrid aspherical lens and glass aspherical lens built in the body for exceptionally sharp and high-definition images
- Conforms to APS-C (1:1.5x) size digital imaging format
- Super multi-layer coating to reduce lens flare and ghosting
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM
This wide-angle zoom lens from Canon lets you capture a wide range of landscapes—from panoramic hill and sea views to city landmarks and urban landscapes. Its 16-35mm zoom length includes a range of wide-angle focal lengths, making it a versatile landscape photography lens. The lens comes with a large f/2.8 aperture so you can use as much light as possible, and a nine-blade circular aperture for beautiful depth of field.
The EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM integrates a ring-type Ultrasonic Motor (USM) and a high-performance CPU in its design. Both components guarantee faster focusing while you shoot. The lens also features a sturdy, weather-sealed construction that helps it stand up to the rigors of professional use. It even incorporates Subwavelength and Air Sphere coatings for less flare and ghosting in your images.
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM’s Key Features:
- A zoom lens that offers various focal lengths for wide-angle shots in its 16-35mm focal range
- Constant f/2.8 maximum aperture gives you consistent performance and great light transmission throughout the zoom range
- Nine-blade circular aperture helps create stunning depth of field in your images
- Ring-type USM, internal focusing, a high-speed CPU, and optimized AF algorithms help achieve quick, accurate, and near-silent autofocus
Tamron SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 (Nikon F Mount)
Deemed as a worthy addition to Tamron’s Super Performance (SP) line of lenses, this 15-30mm ultra-wide-angle lens has aspherical and low dispersion glass elements for less spherical and chromatic aberrations. It also features AX, eBAND, and BBAR coatings that control flare and ghosting within the lens. This gives you better contrast and color rendering in bright and backlit shooting conditions.
If you’re capturing landscapes in challenging light, the lens comes with an f/2.8 maximum aperture. It keeps your images bright throughout the zoom range. You can even make your background or foreground softer with the feature for dramatic emphasis on your subject. This Tamron lens boasts a Vibration Compensation (VC) function that uses up to 4.5 stops to achieve less camera shake.
The SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 will work on Nikon F-mount cameras. But if you’re a Canon user, don’t fret: Tamron offers one for EF-mount models as well.
Tamron SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2’s Key Features:
- Ultra-wide-angle zoom lens for FX and DX-format Nikon F-mount cameras
- AX, eBAND, and BBAR coatings control ghosting and flare to help the lens deliver better contrast and color rendering
- f/2.8 maximum aperture offers constant brightness and helps you soften your background or foreground
- Vibration Compensation (VC) for clear shots without camera shake and a smooth viewfinder image
Telephoto Lens
More commonly used in sports photography, the telephoto lens is great for zooming in on a certain element in your landscape shot (like maybe a house upon a hill) while still bringing out all the details.
You may not immediately consider using a telephoto lens for landscape photos. But telephoto lenses make great additions to any landscape photographer’s kit.
Telephoto lenses have a longer focal length than standard lenses. They generally fall in the range of 70-200mm. Telephoto lenses can be zoom lenses or prime lenses as long as they fall within that focal range. Lenses with a focal length beyond 300mm are considered super telephoto lenses.
When you’re out shooting landscape photos and looking for a bit more impact in your images of distant vistas, a telephoto lens can make all the difference.
Tamron 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III RXD Lens for Nikon Z
This is the world’s smallest and lightest telephoto zoom lens for Nikon full-frame Z-mount mirrorless cameras to date. At just 19.2 oz., this lens is perfect for photographing landscapes, wildlife, sports, and more. To reduce ghosting and flare, you’ll also love Tamron’s BBAR (Broad-Brand Anti-Reflection) Coating for anti-reflection performance.
Tamron 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III RXD Lens:
- In-camera lens correction (shading, chromatic aberration, distortion)
- Fast Hybrid AF and Eye AF
- Weighs only 19.2 oz.
- 15 elements in 10 groups with an appropriate arrangement of LD lens elements
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS II USM Lens
A true workhorse, the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L II USM lens combines portability and adequate aperture (f/4 maximum) for the landscape photographer who’s constantly on the move. It also has a detachable polarizing filter that allows you to shoot in extreme lighting conditions without the glare.
Known as one of Canon’s professional lenses, it can withstand moisture, dust, and regular use. It also has an ultrasonic motor that allows the lens to focus fast for capturing fleeting moments like a beautiful sunset or that elusive full view of the mountain peeking through the clouds in the sky.
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L II USM Lens Key Features:
- Super spectra coating that reduces flare and prevents ghosting; also enhances contrast and keeps color balance in check
- Ultrasonic focusing allows you to focus fast, but with almost zero noise
- Excellent holding torque prevents overshooting
- Full-time manual override
Nikon NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S Lens
The Nikon Nikkor Z 24-70mm f/2.8G S lens is a great new addition to the full-frame mirrorless Z system. With impressive aberration correction, minimal ghosting, and no visible flare in any portion of the frame, this lens will capture the landscape exactly as you see it.
Landscape photographers will love the lens’ dirt, dust, and water-repelling safeguards that protect it from the elements in any environment. Add in the maximum f/2.8 aperture at any focal length, and you have a well-designed lens that creates beautiful bokeh. It also shoots at faster shutter speeds no matter how much you zoom.
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 S NIKKOR Z Lens Key Features:
- Wide-angle to medium telephoto zoom flexibility for use as a landscape lens
- Advanced optics for outstanding photo integrity
- f/2.8 fixed aperture for consistent exposure across the entire zoom range
- Rugged construction for high-grade protection against dust and moisture
- Dual Detect 5 Axis VR image stabilization
- Customizable control ring
Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX NIKKOR Lens
This budget-friendly Nikon lens has a 35 mm focal length for a natural-looking perspective. Because it weighs only 7oz, it’s easy to bring and whip out when you need to shoot a beautiful scene on a whim. Lastly, the Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX has an outstanding low-light performance, making it perfect for shooting landscapes at night.
Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX NIKKOR Lens Key Features:
- f/1.8 aperture for blurring the background and setting the focus sharply on the subject
- 35 mm focal length for achieving a natural-looking shot
- Silent Wave Motor (SWM) technology for fast focus without noise
- Aspherical lens elements to prevent lens aberration
- User-friendly focusing mode allows switching from automatic to manual just by turning the focusing ring
What Makes a Great Landscape Photography Lens?
Choosing the best lenses for landscape photography doesn’t have to be difficult. With this list as your guide, assess your shooting needs and pick a lens that best fits your criteria. Soon, you’ll enjoy staring at and admiring your awesome landscape shots.
Focal Length
How important is focal length for landscape photographers? The short answer is: very.
Imagine viewing a massive vista and only having a 300mm telephoto lens to capture it. Unless you plan to stitch together a panorama, a 300mm lens isn’t a great landscape lens. Now imagine that same vista, captured with a 10mm ultra-wide lens. You can include the whole scene when you’re working with such a broad wide-angle lens, but you’ll also have plenty of distortion.
Because no two landscapes offer the same visual features and challenges, landscape photographers need the flexibility that comes from working with multiple focal lengths.
Aperture
When the goal is taking great landscape photos, fast, wide apertures are far less important than in other photography genres. Because most landscape photographers value a large depth of field, landscape photos are often best shot in the aperture range of f/11-f/22.
Fortunately, all lenses — from kit standard lenses to ultra-wide lenses to telephoto lenses — can shoot in that narrower aperture range. Whichever type of lens you select for your landscape photos, you can easily capture the full depth of the scene in beautiful detail.
Zoom vs Prime
In landscape photography, the question of zoom lenses vs. prime lenses comes down to preference. Many landscape photographers prefer the flexibility and reduced kit size of zoom landscape lenses. Zoom lenses can shoot at a variety of focal lengths without swapping them out or carrying extra gear. Other landscape photographers value the visual quality of a fixed focal length lens.
While a prime lens is a versatile choice for experienced landscape photographers who know exactly what they want when they approach a scene, zoom lenses are helpful for beginner landscape photographers. For them, the extra flexibility of zoom lenses makes them a must-have piece of gear in your arsenal of camera lenses.
Weather Resistance
When searching for the best lens for landscape photography, weather resistance is one of the most important factors. Serious landscape photographers know sunny days are rarely photogenic. So — if you plan to shoot in rain, snow, wind, or any other condition mother nature sends your way, a weather-resistant lens is worth the added cost.
When the skies cloud over and the conditions are tumultuous and beautiful, you’ll find that weatherproof lenses are your favorite camera lenses. They take the worry out of your shoot and let you focus instead on composition and technique.
