Landscape lenses

Dangermouse

Dangermouse

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I have an ide that a nice wide f4 is ideal for landscapes, but what about a long lens for far away vista's, I have a Tamron 17-35f3.5 but as we are visiting Wales soon and Snowdonia I was wondering if my 70-210f4 would be fine or even my 150-500 from the top of Snowden.
 
Dangermouse1964 said:
what about a long lens…?
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From 14 mm to 600 mm, all my lenses have to do everything.
I never had to take BiF with a wide angle but I certainly took
landscapes with long lenses.

Their compression feature is unquestionable.
 
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Dangermouse1964 said:
I have an ide that a nice wide f4 is ideal for landscapes, but what about a long lens for far away vista's, I have a Tamron 17-35f3.5 but as we are visiting Wales soon and Snowdonia I was wondering if my 70-210f4 would be fine or even my 150-500 from the top of Snowden.
Click to expand...
Tom Heston did I piece on 70-210 f/4 for landscape recently...
 
Eloise said:
Tom Heston did I piece on 70-210 f/4 for landscape recently...
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Who? [emoji16]

Like Heaton, my most used lenses for landscapes are my 10-24mm and 55-200mm. In between is rarely needed.
 
I love a 70-200 for landscapes and even want more reach for more compression but I wouldn’t be lugging a 150-500 up a mountain. A 70-300 would be ideal.
 
70-200 and if you want longer a small TC might be the answer.

I have the 2.8 - yes it’s heavy but it’s completely sharp edge to edge unlike the f4 I once had. Front to back sharpness is talked about in landscape photography circles but not enough thought is given to how a lens performs across it’s frame. I prefer 2.8 zooms and 1.8/1.4 primes as they can be trusted to deliver proper edge to edge sharpness in a way an f4 zoom just doesn’t even stopped down.

I like the wide lengths a lot but also the 28mm to 60mm range a lot as it gives a very natural feeling perspective without compression on stretching.
 
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So my 70-210 sould be adequate then, what about filters to eliminate haze if the weather is kind
 
Nawty said:
Filters don’t really eliminate haze.
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OK make that enhance the landscape then, this will be my first real attempt at shooting landscapes around Wales so want to make the most of it...……….oh and I will be visiting Corris and the loop ;)
 
Dangermouse1964 said:
So my 70-210 sould be adequate then, what about filters to eliminate haze if the weather is kind
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Is it the old Nikkor one? I had one. Liked it but corner sharpness wasn’t its strong point. I’d often compose to crop edges off it. The 2.8e I have now is incredible edge to edge.

Embrace the haze. Beats the rain any day.
 
Dangermouse1964 said:
OK make that enhance the landscape then, this will be my first real attempt at shooting landscapes around Wales so want to make the most of it...……….oh and I will be visiting Corris and the loop ;)
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Well the only filters I ever use are a polariser and occasionally a 10 stop ND filter.

Buy them to fit whichever lens has the largest front and then get step down rings so the fit the other lenses.
 
A very long lens in Snowdonia, especially in summer, will likely run into issues with atmospheric haze dropping contrast. A westerly wind just after rain is the best option for distant clarity. An easterly can be awful as it brings particulate haze over from industrial England. The longest fl I tend to carry in the mountains is 150 mm ffe, though having said that I was using 270 mm ffe the other (non-hazy) day. Also if it's as windy as it often is, a long lens can be hard to hand-hold. On Snowdon itself, I'd say (but this is very subjective) going up from the north a long lens is less use than if you go up from the south or east. .
 
Dangermouse1964 said:
So my 70-210 sould be adequate then, what about filters to eliminate haze if the weather is kind
Click to expand...
Just use dehaze in Lightroom.... ;)

I think the soft haze adds a nice ethereal element to some landscapes so not always bad.
 
Kodiak Qc said:
From 14 mm to 600 mm, all my lenses have to do everything.
I never had to take BiF with a wide angle but I certainly took
landscapes with long lenses.

Their compression feature is unquestionable.
Click to expand...

I have to agree with this.

400mm prime is quite useful and has produced the goods in the landscape scene. So is every other lens in the bag.

I had 600mm but that nearly killed me and got sold.
 
You'll find you can put any lens to good use around North wales, so much to photograph.... castles, slate quarries, steam locomotives, coastlines and of course mountains and lakes. As John mentions haze can be a bit of an issue with longer lenses but weather conditions usually change daily, although this summer has been an exception so far with the long period of warm/dry weather.

Simon
 
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