Need advice on lens for landscapes

[Inge Schepers]

Hi everyone,

So far, I have mainly been photographing birds and macro. I would like to try landscapes as well, but I have no idea what kind of lens to use. I have a Canon EOS30D camera with kit lens, Canon 100mm F2.8 macro lens, Canon 70-200mm F2.8 lens, Canon 400mm F5.6 lens, Sigma 50-500 lens. The kit lens can be used for landscapes, but it's not that good.

I really like landscape images that have an object pretty close to the camera in the foreground, where you can still so much of the surroundings. I can't get the same effect with the kit lens, so which lens would you use for these kinds of images?

Inge

[Steve Foss]

Inge, I use a Canon 17-40L, which of course because of the 1.6 crop sensor on the 30D isn't really a 17mm at its widest but about at 27mm. The IQ is excellent, and it's wide enough for me at most times. However, Canon's 10-22, designed specifically for the crop sensor cameras, will give you a true 16mm, and there are times I'd really like to have that wider angle. The two lenses cost about the same, and though the 10-22 isn't an L series, IQ is quite good, much better than the kit lens.

[David Kennedy]

I agree with Steve that you should consider the 10-22 for your purposes. I would avoid the 17-40 if you can. I own one and have an intense love/hate relationship with it because I use it on a full-frame camera. But for a 1.6x crop camera, it's a no-brainer to go with the 10-22. The image quality is good and it will give you a truly wide perspective.

[Hillebrand Breuker]

Hi Inge

What you can use is a matter of choice and budget. Actually, your 70-200 is an excellent landscape lens! For the "big and wide" landscape I have the 17-40/4 which I use on my 5D and used pre 5d on my 30D. There seem to be good and bad copies of the lens. Mine is good on the 5D and also on the 30D. For versatilityI bought an 24-105, which is an excellent lens. It is on my 5D 70% of the time.

I do not know your level of photography, but getting a good lens is the first step. For landscape photography you'll need a tripod. For great DOF (foreground/ background sharp) you need to use small apertures and it easy when you manual focus with hyperfocal scale. In that way you'll know that everything will be sharp.

Hope it helps, but feel free to ask more