Chris Hall Loc: Burgess Hill, West Sussex, UK

I have recently bought a Nikon D850. Please could I have recommendations for a good landscape lens. I’ve been looking on Amazon UK and other sites and there appear to be several options. Many thanks.

cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

This is a little like asking "What is a good breakfast food?" Do you lean toward eggs and "bangers" or something light like fruit and a croissant? Something sweet like French toast or Belgian waffles?
As a "fellow" landscape shooter, I prefer to try for "The grand landscape." I mostly use wide-angle lenses. I say "mostly" because now and then I put on my 200mm eyes and like to pick parts of what I see. Maybe you could provide us with just a tad more info as to what your preferences for a landscape are.

Chris Hall Loc: Burgess Hill, West Sussex, UK

I do prefer what you call the ‘grand landscape’ look. I’ve been considering the Nikon AF‑S NIKKOR 14‑24mm f/2.8G and the Nikon AF-S 16-35mm f/4G VR.

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

On the other hand - consider the 28-300. It will give you a span from wide to distant. May not be the greatest lens but it likely good for a starter.

Jamers Loc: Michigan

With the 16-35 you can add filters more easily, and the VR will be handy for slow shutter speeds.

cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

I just got back from a visit to the American Southwest (http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-521532-1.html ) and chose my Sigma 17-35mm over my Nikkor 18-35mm mostly because of its wider aperture. It did me pretty well, but I complimented it with my 28-200mm Nikkor. I'm guessing that a similar combo would do well for you.

Chris Hall Loc: Burgess Hill, West Sussex, UK

Thanks all! 🙂

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

Since no one else mentioned this; Use something like a 50mm or 85mm and learn to stitch the images using Photoshop/Lightroom or Microsoft's "ICE" program (Free).
Stitching is A) Easy to learn and do, B)Far more detail rich, C) Not time consuming, D) One less lens to carry, E)Relatively distortion free, F) One lens can be used for any angle of view. G) Can save you BUCKS

Although this is usually not a concern for landscape photos, a prime lens will be faster than a zoom.

Chris Hall Loc: Burgess Hill, West Sussex, UK

I’ll certainly look into that. Thanks so much! 🙂

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

There is a Panorama section right here in River City, er UHH ,that can help you get started with the technique.

Chris Hall Loc: Burgess Hill, West Sussex, UK

Thank you.

ken_stern Loc: Yorba Linda, Ca

I shoot with a Canon 5Ds (50.6mp) my favorite landscape lenses are the 24mm 1.4 & the 35mm 1.4 -- Assume Nikon makes similar ultra high-quality prime lenses that I would recommend if I shot with the 850 -- I also own & use Canon's 50mm 1.4, 85mm 1.8 & 135mm 2.0 all for landscape -- Assume Nikon also produces similar lenses -- All would be in my opinion high-quality glass recommendations for a high-quality camera such as the 850

Chris Hall Loc: Burgess Hill, West Sussex, UK

Definitely something to think about. Many thanks!

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

Look into a 45mm PC-E and an 85mm PC-E. Wide and ultra wide lenses can't compare to longer lenses especially if you do stitched panoramas, which is a very common practice for many digital photographers who shoot landscape.

Here are some examples of panos taken with longer lenses:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gene_lugo/albums/72157687713807602

You don't need a wide angle lens and all the negatives associated with using a wide lens (keystoning, perspective extension distortion, volume deformation, having to crop out lots of sky and foreground, etc. You can pick your angle of view, and make it as wide or narrow as you like. Many of my mutli row panos exceed 150mp - or more than three times the resolution of your camera.


Or you can just follow what all the others do and use an ultrawide lens to "get it all in" which usually means lots of width and lots of sky and lots of foreground and lots of perspective correction and cropping - good thing you have 45 mp to work with.

Wide and ultra-wide lenses are specialized, suitable for just a few kinds of images, and ought to be used with discretion. Otherwise you will end up with stuff than looks like everyone else's wide angle shots. A good landscape should show things in proper perspective, and without the all-to-common effect of huge foreground elements and teeny tiny everything else. I have a 14-24, which is an excellent lens, but it really only gets used for about 5% of my images. And I do a lot of landscape.

Chris Hall Loc: Burgess Hill, West Sussex, UK

Many thanks for your advice. Much appreciated. 🙂