Question for landscapers

ahsanford

Particular Member
Aug 16, 2012
8,620
1,651
If you can always bring all your glass everywhere you go, get the 70-200 or even 70-300 (especially consider 70-300 if you are only shooting landscape narrow apertures).

The logic? With two lenses you have 16 / 35 / 70 / 'long' well covered. That's a pretty versatile spread for a landscaper.

However, if you can't always bring all your glass with you, a 24-70 / 24-105 is indispensable, IMHO. I often can only take one lens, that's it, and it gets the job done.

- A
 
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I have several lenses but often when I go on long hikes for serious landscape shooting I only take 2 lenses with me to keep my pack light, the:
Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM Lens
and the;
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II USM Lens.

These two lenses are actually both quite effective. I was hesitant about buying the 70-300mm over the 70-200mm, but glad I did, its quite light and a bit smaller compared to the 70-200 and is surprisingly sharp all through it's focal range. Some of the best landscape shots I ever got I captured with this cheaper 70-300 lens. This particular 70-300mm lens is an all around great lens for all types of photography.....and having the extra reach over the 70-200 is an added bonus.
....and of course, the 16-35 lens is in my opinion one of Canons best lenses they ever made for this wide angle range and sharpness, it's an awesome lens.

I've never really noticed the missing focal range of 36-69mm carrying just these two lenses only. One could always toss a cheap and tiny 50mm f/1.8 stm lens in their pack to fill the missing focal range void if they wanted but for me the missing gap is basically irrelevant.
 
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greger

7D
Jan 1, 2013
259
1
You didn’t say whether you shoot crop or full frame. When I bought my 40D it came with the 17-85 lens. My first lens purchase was the 50mm 1.8. I needed it when I went to Fort Langley, I needed the 1.8 aperature to shoot inside the buildings without flash. My next lens purchase was the 70-200 f4 IS USM I also purchased a 1.4 Extender at the same time. This was an excellent combination and I got many sharp shots of BIF. I blundered and bought a 2X Extender a couple of years later. I wasted my money. The pictures were too soft. Wanting the reach I bought the 100-400 vs 1 a few years before the vs 2 came out. I love my copy and am very happy. I like the push pull zoom feature and haven’t noticed any dust problem. Good luck in deciding which lens to purchase! As I now have 3 lens that have 67 mm Filter thread mount my next lens might be the 18-135 Nano to replace my aging 17-85 lens.
 
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