Tag Archives: focal length

Equipment, Reader Questions

Reader Questions: Landscape Lenses

Leave a comment

From time to time I get questions from readers, and I usually like to share the answers so that other might learn something, too.

Recently “Gregory” wrote:

I just read one of your articles on appropriate lenses to use for landscape photography. I’m a hobbyist photographer in California that has a passion for landscape photography. I sold my Canon equipment and will be purchasing some Nikon lenses and camera body. I wanted to get your input as to what the majority of landscape photographers use – prime lenses or zoom lenses? Based on my limited budget, here is what I am thinking of:

Option A — Primes: 20mm, 28mm, 50mm, 85mm
Option B — Zooms: 24-70mm, 70-200mm
Option C — Zooms: 16-35mm, 24-70mm

I don’t have the budget to purchase both a super wide zoom AND a telephoto. I’ll have to settle for one of these and then acquire an additional zoom later on. I’m thinking the primes maybe slightly sharper in the borders and lighter to carry, but what about the hassle of constantly switching lenses back and forth? Not sure I want to do this. I would appreciate any recommendations/suggestion you might have.

Before I reply here, let me share a couple of articles that I wrote about more or less this topic:

By the end of this article… I probably will not tell you which lenses to select! But perhaps I’ll help you consider factors that will assist in making a good personal decision that is right for your photography.

To a great extent, many of these decisions are personal and they come down to your own personal preferences and the ways in which you approach your subjects. Some people have reasons for preferring prime lenses, some have reasons for preferring zooms, and others have good reasons for wanting both. Some are comfortable working with a relatively narrow range of focal lengths, while other feel the need for a wider range. Some have a predilection for wide-angle lenses, while others are drawn to longer focal lengths. And this doesn’t even get into the questions about tilt/shift lenses and other variables.

I mention this for a couple of reasons. First, there are going to be people who disagree with my preferences — listen to their perspectives, too, and then use your own judgment. Second, consider your own preferences at least as much. Continue reading Reader Questions: Landscape Lenses →

Technique

Camera Stability and Long Lenses

5 Comments

I responded to a question somewhere else and thought that it might be useful to share the response here, too. A photographer asked some questions about using long focal length telephoto lenses for landscape photography and how to deal with the issue of camera/lens stability, bringing up related questions about things like live view modes, mirror lockup, image-stabilization, and so forth. Here is what I wrote in response…

Rocky Creek Bridge, Surf and Fog
Black and white photograph of Rocky Creek Bridge with winter storm surf and fog. Big Sur coastline, California.

If you are shooting landscapes from the tripod…

  • Do use live view – it is the mode that introduces the least amount of shutter vibration.
  • Either mode 1 or 2 will perform essentially equally well when it comes to shutter vibration. (In both cases, there really isn’t any shutter motion vibration before the exposure since it is initiated electronically.
  • If you use a remote release (and you do, right?!) then there is no reason to use any delay setting on the camera to avoid vibration. (Many cameras have settings for 2 second or 10 second delays – mostly there so you can run and get in the photo, too!)
  • Mirror lockup is irrelevant in live view. The mirror is up by default in live view.  To be even more explicit, live view and MLU are mutually exclusive modes – they cannot be used at the same time.
  • After touching the camera, moving the tripod, etc., wait a few seconds for vibrations to dissipate before making your exposure. I  think that 2-3 seconds is sufficient, though some folks will claim that even longer might help.
  • Speaking of this, I would tend to avoid using either auto-focus (AF) mode when making landscape photographs with such a long lens. Either can introduce some amount of vibration to the system, but especially the mode that momentarily flips the mirror down, auto-focuses in the usual manner, then flips the mirror up to make the shot in live view. I prefer to manually focus at 10x magnification. If you must autofocus, do so before switching to live view mode, and then turn AF off before making the exposure.
  • Realize that the large area of these big lenses, combined with their very long focal lengths and great magnification, make the system far more susceptible to vibration from air movement. Even relatively weak breezes can create enough vibration to create a bit of blur and soften the image. Continue reading Camera Stability and Long Lenses →