What lens for Landscapes ?

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Overexposed

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Forgive what seems a silly question, but i'm on a steep learning curve and im looking for a recommendation for a good lens for general landscape work and maybe as a walkabout/travel lens too. I have a Canon 500d and would welcome some recommendations for a good partner for it. would at 17-85 is do the job or are there better things to consider?
 
The IS is possibly not going to be a lot of benefit, would you not use a tripod for landscapes?
Wider lenses such as the 10-22 Canon, or the 12-24 Sigma are more commonly used.
What was your kit lens? My kit lens 18-55 (non-IS) was enough for a while, you might find that you don't want anything wider.
 
Overexposed said:
Forgive what seems a silly question, but i'm on a steep learning curve and im looking for a recommendation for a good lens for general landscape work and maybe as a walkabout/travel lens too. I have a Canon 500d and would welcome some recommendations for a good partner for it. would at 17-85 is do the job or are there better things to consider?
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The Sigma 10-20mm & Canon 10-22mm are popular wide angle landscape lenses for crop cameras. I've got a Sigma 10-20mm for sale as well!! ;)
 
swag72 said:
Do you have a budget in mind? Have you noticed that your kit lens is limiting you at all with regards to focal length?
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Wider angle would certainly be nice -85mm doesnt seem to be an issue ( at the moment) It would be nice to have a lens that will suit landscapes and as a generally walkabout - id looked at a 17 -40l ( top of budget) but was put off a little by the fact it can be a little unflattering facially
 
How about a Canon 17-55 F2.8 IS or a Tamron 17-50 F2.8? If you bought the Tamron, you may also be able to afford a 11-16mm Tokina? That's getting some great reviews. That's UWA and general walkabout covered!
 
I just sold a Tamron 11-18mm and it was a fantastic lens. It was so sharp and perfect for landscapes but I changed to a full frame camera so it wouldn't fit. I think there are issues with sigma's quality control and it seems common to get a faulty one. The tammy would fit perfectly with the 500d kit lens. Thats just my opinion from experience with it, and it's cheaper than the sigma 10-20mm.
 
I'm going to go against the grain a little here...I recently purchased and then sold a Sigma 10-20, not because it's a bad lens - it's very good, more for the reason that I didn't find it as useful as expected for landscape shots.

The reason being that because scenery becomes distant you need to ensure you have a very strong foreground element, although this doesn't sound a bad thing I just found for my preferred "style" of landscapes the foreground element was becoming the main focus of the image, not really the type of shot I prefer. Hopefully this makes sense :shrug:

Most of my shots are between 17 - 25mm, anything wider I now shoot as a Pano

[edit] Just to add that UWA lenses tend to exhibit distortion - some find this "effect" adds to the shot, but personally I didn't like it

Simon
 
I had the same problem as simonkit when I hired the Canon 10-22. I took a few shots of the scenery around my home, and found that I was using 20mm most! I could have just used my kit lens.
I also found that as I was used to taking shots at head height, things looked kinda flat and dissapointing. See this, it is a massive mountain, but looks more like a hill.

To use the lens well, you either need something which is flat already, or really really good like a gorge. Otherwise, you will need to get up close and personal with the ground.
 
I'll second (third?) what simonkit and coldpenguin say. I love my Canon 10-22, but not for landscapes. There's just too much foreground, and big mountians look too small. On the other hand, if you want to photograph inside (for example) churches, or in narrow village streets, or big skies, then it's super. I'm not mad keen on lugging a tripod around and I'd say your 17-85 IS would be fine. I'd be happy with it!
 
Food for thought guys thank you! - I think its time to experiment a little more with what ive got!
 
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