Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Are these expansive enough for you?

First image was done with a 100mm lens, 6 frame pano stitch - 11868x6000 px after cropping.
Second image is a single shot, 24mm uncropped.
Third image is with a 100mm, 7 frames, 19445x7359 pixels

The fourth image is a crop from the single 24mm image. To get approximately the same angle of view I had to crop down to roughly 4956x1637 pixels.

When I want to show more width, I usually go to single row pano, or double row if I need more height. If I want to emphasize something large in the foreground or if I don't have the shooting distance, I will go really wide.

Last image taken with a 14-24 at 14mm.

100mm

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24mm

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100mm

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24mm cropped

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14mm

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SteveLew Loc: Sugar Land, TX

I use Nikon's 16 to 35mm/f4 for most of my landscape shooting. However, if you are looking for a prime my Nikon 20mm/f1.8G is a super little lens with wonderful results.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Thanks! I just wished I had internet, forums and experienced people eager to share their knowledge and experience when I started in photography 50 yrs ago. Could have been famous by now . . .

John Howard Loc: SW Florida and Blue Ridge Mountains of NC.

John Howard Loc: SW Florida and Blue Ridge Mountains of NC.

Thanks SteveLew.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Mary Kate, you are 100% correct - the third and fourth were in the North Woods. The first was over a creek on the way to Windham Mt. and the second was Woodland Creek at Woodland St Pk, near Phoenicia, NY.

stevebein

Figure out what you usually use. As can be seen, the choices of some others run the range from ultra wide to wide to normal to tele. All will produce outstanding results. You will zoom with your legs instead of lens. YOu can stitch to make a longer lens capture a wide view. Whatever you will chose, it will affect your techniques. I have seen stunning landscapes shot with a 12mm n full frame and also stunning landscapes with longer. All work if you compose based on the capabilities of the lens you chose, and its limitations.

John Howard Loc: SW Florida and Blue Ridge Mountains of NC.

Thanks Gene51 for the great reply. It really got me thinking. When I look at my collection of glass I see I have the good zooms and some fine wide and ultra wide primes. My longest prime is 90mm and I have done some panos with that. Rather than the 28 maybe I should be looking at a prime in the 100 to maybe 135 range. I don't even know what exists in primes at that range because I have always used my 70-200, which is a pretty sharp lens. But a prime might be sharper and smaller/lighter.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

John, Nikon has two nice lenses, 105 and 135 F2 DC - where you can control the out of focus field in front of and behind the plane of focus. But you don't need a prime lens to do landscapes and panos. In fact, unless you are using the PC-E lenses, you are likely to encounter less than optimal image quality at the edges and corners with faster primes, with one amazing exception - the 105 F1.4 which is completely off the charts, even wide open. I understand the Sigma 85mm 1.4 Art shares the same stratosphere as far as lens performance is concerned.

http://www.photozone.de/nikon_ff/998-nikkorafs10514ff?start=1

Another very nice, but older lens is NIkon's 180 F2.8.

But if you are looking for a quantum leap in image quality over the 70-200 F2.8 VR II, I don't think you are going to find it. That lens is really excellent as well. A prime will be smaller and lighter.

HeatherM

Wow! :)

HeatherM

Holy shite! These are amazing.

HeatherM

Zeiss doesn't have AF, though...

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

It's a big if - if you only carried one prime lens for landscapes. I'd say it depends more on whether or not you backpacked 40 miles into the wilderness to take that one-of-kind shot of a specific piece of landscape. Life is more varied than that. We did an auto tour of Utah's canyons and I exclusively used my Sigma 10-20 on my D7000 with no regrets. A short walk to the car gave me access to my other lenses if I needed them but I forced myself to frame and compose within the limits of the wide zoom. Got some great pictures.

TheDman Loc: USA

Can't exactly pano stitch night skies / star trails though, so if you're going for only one lens, you have to consider if that's something you'll be shooting.

John Howard Loc: SW Florida and Blue Ridge Mountains of NC.

Thanks again Gene51. Size and weight were a major consideration starting 18 months ago after a bad fall accident injured my left arm. I started to transition to the Sony A7 camera and have three Batis lenses. I was able to get them with the insurance proceeds from the gear I lost in the fall. I love working with that gear especially because of the manual focus scale. I hear they are about to release a 135mm so that might be a consideration. I expect this month to get the brace off of my arm and that has me thinking of dusting off my D810. I don't think I will be strong or flexible enough to handle the holy trinity and the heavy tripod they require. That is why I was looking for a single prime to use on a smaller tripod. I have a leveling / pano head for my tripod with the slide rail to get the lens rotating around the correct spot (forget the tech terms) but wonder if the lens is too long physically that will work. I did some testing with the Batis 85 and got pretty flawless stitching results. I have been thinking also about the response from the guy who posted the 4 images (that was you). In thinking about the best prime lens for landscape it really comes down to composition. If I try to be self-critical, many of my shots have a horizontal center with great detail which is sharp but very small, and the top and bottom thirds are less interesting. Maybe I should view this as a chance to use a longer lens and to pull that interesting detail closer and forget the top and bottom. Alternatively I stay with a wider lens and get closer. Cheers.