Thursday 15 June 2017

Canon lenses for landscape photography



To capture stunning landscape shots it is necessary to as much in the frame as you can, and this requires a lens with a wide field of view and a short focal length. Okay, there are times when a slightly longer focal length will result in a pleasing landscape but more often than not you need a wide angle lens.

Focal lengths 35mm (full frame equivalent) or 22mm (on a crop sensor camera) and shorter are considered ‘wide’ however many landscape photographers will use lenses of much shorter focal lengths. Landscape photographers using full frame cameras often use 16mm – 35mm zoom lenses, whereas landscape photographers using crop sensor cameras will often use 10mm – 22mm zoom lenses (which are effective 16mm – 35mm full frame equivalent).

There are lenses with shorter focal lengths than 16mm but when using these lenses distortion starts to rear its head, and this can ruin a landscape photo. Distortion doesn’t affect lenses with focal lengths of 16mm and above, so the 16mm – 35mm zoom lens (for full frame cameras) or 10mm – 22mm zoom lens (for crop sensor cameras) are perfect.


The 16mm – 35mm lens I use for my full frame camera (a Canon 6d) is the 16mm – 35mm f4L IS lens (full review here):-


Focal Length – Full frame/APS-C:- 16mm - 35mm/ 25.6mm - 42mm/ Aperture:- 4 - 22/ Min focus:- 11"/ Dimensions:- 3.25" x 4.44"/ Weight:- 21.7oz/ Image stabilization:- Yes/ Price (approx.) $USD/£ GBP:- $1,000.00/£820.00 


Being an L series lens just like the flagship 16mm – 35mm f2.8L lens, means this lens is made using the best quality materials, components and optics.

This lens is tough, durable and very robust. Being weather sealed not only keeps the elements out but also dirt and dust too, making it the ideal ‘outdoor’ lens. The image quality of this lens is awesome, and many photographers comment it is better than the image quality of the 16mm – 355mm f2.8L. I have to say I am not overly convinced about this, but then I am not prepared to go pixel peeping or get the magnifying glass out to compare the image quality of each of the lenses. All I will say is that the 16mm – 35mm f4L IS lens is damn sharp, has good colors and contrast and little distortion and I guarantee you will not be disappointed with it.

If you want to see the type of image quality you can expect from the Canon 16mm – 35mm f4L IS lens you may want to head on over to Flickr and check out the photos in the group pool. 

The 10mm – 22mm lens I use on my crop sensor camera (a Canon 7d) is the Canon 10mm – 22mm f3.5-4.5 (full review here):-


Focal Length – Full frame/APS-C:- N/A/16mm – 35.2mm/ Aperture:- 3.5 22/4.5 - 29/ Min focus:- 9.4”/ Dimensions:- 3.31” x 3.54”/ Weight:- 13.6oz/ Image stabilization:- No/ Price (approx.) $USD/£ GBP:- $600.00/£420.00

The Canon 10mm-22mm will only work on cameras with a crop sensor, so it is not full frame owners. This lens is a mid-priced lens and doesn’t have all the L series add-ons, i.e. the superior build quality or optics. This doesn’t mean you won’t be able to get awesome photos with this lens though.

The image quality of this lens is very good, and whilst it is not as good as the image quality of the Canon 16mm – 35mm f4L IS lens (but this is to be expected) it’s not that far off. All things considered (mainly the price) the image quality of this lens is very good, and I don’t think you’ll have any complaints. If you want to see what this lens can do you may want to check out the Flickr photo group pool.


There are other wide angle lenses out there you can use for landscape photography however, in my opinion, the Canon 16mm – 35mm f4L IS and the Canon EFS10mm – 22mm f3.5-4.5 above are the lenses to go for. Both of these lenses are well made, have great image quality and give great value for money, and I guarantee you won’t be disappointed with either of them. 

Related reading

Below are links to other landscape photography articles, posts and tutorials that may be of interest:-


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