rcfees

Looking for a lens for landscapes that won't break the bank for a D7000 and D7200, any recs? Thanks.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Nikons 10-20mm may be a great choice under $300 new.

par4fore Loc: Bay Shore N.Y.

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

I picked up a Sigma 10-20mm f3.5 DX after they dropped the price (from $600 to $400) that I really like. Use it on both a D500 and D7200.

mikee

I have a nikon 12-24 DX I really like. Bought used for around $350. Check out it's reviews.

whwiden

A Nikon 40mm 2.8 macro if you will stich when needed. Sharp with minimal distortion. Decent as a walk around lens. Able to use on DX for portraits. Very flexible as iso gets better for DX cameras. For more money, a 24mm f1.8 Nikon. Acts like a 35mm focal length on DX. Both give very solid edge to edge sharpness in my view.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Take your pick:

- Nikkor AF-P 10-20mm f/4.5-5.6G DX VR.... about $300. Compact, lightweight, good image quality, cheap, stabilized, uses 72mm filters... plasticky, slow (i.e., smaller max apertures) & AF-P has limited functionality on some Nikon (such as D7000, D7100... should be fine on D7200 and D7500, though you might need to update firmware... check the Nikon website for info).

- Tokina AT-X Pro 11-16mm f/2.8 DX "II"... about $370 (see link above for a cheaper used one). Well built and very sharp, f/2.8 aperture makes it popular for night photography (brighter viewfinder). Rather large and heavy (77mm filters), quite prone to flare issues, has been discontinued and superseded by 11-20mm f/2.8. Tokina lenses use a "focus clutch" mechanism. Works fine, but to manual focus you have to shift it to MF mode. Cannot override AF without doing that first. NOTE 1: The "II" version for Nikon has built-in focusing motor and will autofocus on all Nikon cameras. Earlier version did not have that motor and can only autofocus on Nikon with in-camera focus drive motor (D7000-series and higher presently). NOTE 2: If considering the used one at above link, I'd ask if the matched lens hood is included. It's not shown in the photos. If missing, plan on replacing it because this lens needs the hood to help with the flare. Even with the hood, there still can be flare issues. Some people work around that, don't mind it and really enjoy the lens. Others I've known returned the lens because they found the flare too much of a problem.

- Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 EX DC HSM... about $400 (used to be one of the most expensive ultrawides.... Sigma had to reduce the price when Canon and Nikon introduced their "budget" ultrawides for around $300). Decent build and image quality. One of the biggest and heaviest. Uses more expensive 82mm filters.

- Sigma 10-20mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM... no longer available new (Sigma discontinued when Canon & Nikon intro'd their budget ultrawides), used prices vary. Decent build and image quality. Much smaller and lighter than the f/3.5 version. Uses 77mm filters.

- Tokina ATX-Pro 12-28mm f/4.0 DX... about $430 on sale. Current model with quite good image quality and build. Fairly large and heavy, uses 77mm filters. NOTE: This model superseded an earlier 12-24mm f/4 from Tokina... which is also a good lens and might be found used. Very similar besides the slight change in focal length range, but the older lens has more chromatic aberration than the newer model. I used a 12-24mm for quite a while (after comparing with Sigma and Tamron). If I needed an ultrawide I would seriously consider this 12-28mm now, but Canon's EF-S 10-22mm is serving me well now.

- Tokina ATX-Pro 11-20mm f/2.8 DX.... about $450 on sale. Current model that's improved over the 11-16mm above. Still sharp, but less prone to flare than the earlier lens. Better range of focal lengths, too. It's one of the bigger and heavier ultrawides, though. Uses 82mm filters.

- Tokina AT-X 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 DX fisheye... $470 on sale. Has very strong fisheye distortion at the wider settings, but acts more like a standard ultrawide at the 17mm end of the range. Built in lens hood. Cannot be used with standard filters. Special filter holder and oversize filters required.

- Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di II VC HLD... $500. An updated and improved version of a lens that's been in production for quite awhile. Image stabilization was one of the features added to this newer version.

- Tokina AT-X Pro 14-20mm f/2 DX... $600. The fastest ultrawide DX zoom anyone makes, with it's f/2 aperture (Note: Large apertures are not commonly needed for landscape photography). Rather big and heavy.

- Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM... $700. The widest non-fisheye ultrawide available for DX cameras. Still has a lot of wide angle distortion at the wide end of the range, though it's not as strong as fisheye.

- AF-S Nikkor 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5G ED DX... $897. A fine lens in all respects, though not especially better than some of the above... just a whole lot more expensive.

- AF-S Nikkor 12-24mm f/4G IF-ED DX... $1147. Another fine lens that's even more massively over-priced. (If you can find a nice one used for $350, as mentioned above, grab it!)

There are some ultrawide FX lenses too... but they are bigger, heavier and more expensive.... yet not as wide as many of the above. Sort of a waste of money to buy for use on DX cameras.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

If purchasing a wide angle for a crop sensor camera, my experience has been that I ended up using the 24mm end of my 10-24mm lens more often than not when shooting landscapes, including the Grand Canyon.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Sigma 18-35 f/1.8 ART

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Not wide enough on a dx.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

If you ask me I am going to say that many photographers using lenses that start at 18mm are very satisfied using those lenses for landscape photography. 18mm is about 27mm with a cropped sensor and for many photographers that is all the wide angle they need. Other focal lengths in the zoom range are also very useful for landscape photography. Teles have a place in landscape photography to isolate an area of the subject. In my case I do that often.
As an example I could mention the 18-140 DX lens but there are others. Wide angle zooms offer a different perspective but they have to be used with care since they expand the background making objects smaller than they actually are. Experience using those lenses is necessary for the best results.
Primes are also available in case you want to go that way.

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

You probably have what you need already - if you have an 18mm lens or longer, that is.

Ultra wide lenses are strange birds - very specialized, lots of volume anamorphosis, barrel distortion, vignetting (the latter two easily corrected in post processing), and often a lot of coma and astigmatism. Generally speaking as you spend more many of these aberrations are minimized.

Many digital landscape photographers will shoot multiple overlapping exposures and stitch them together in post processing. And you don't need a very wide lens or a tripod to do it.

https://petapixel.com/2016/10/27/stitching-panorama-forget-wide-angle-lens-home/

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Another vote for the Tokina 12-28 f4 - great range and decent constant speed.....also covers full frame from 18-28mm.

..

billt1970 Loc: Gambrills, Maryland

I have and highly recommend the Sigma 10-20mm. I use it both with the D5600 and D7100.

Good luck, whatever you choose.

Best Regards,

Bill Taylor
Gambrills, MD