My 3 Favorite Camera Lenses for Landscape Photography
As a passionate landscape photographer, choosing the right camera lens can make all the difference in capturing stunning images. Over the years, I have experimented with various lenses, but three stand out as my go-to camera lenses for versatility, image quality, and practicality. My favorite lenses are the Canon 24-70mm f/4L IS, Canon 11-24mm f/4L, and Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS. Each of these lenses serves a unique purpose in my photography, allowing me to adapt to different compositions, lighting conditions, and creative visions. In this article, I will discuss why these lenses are essential in my kit and how they enhance my photographic experience.
Canon 24-70mm f/4L IS: The Versatile All-Rounder
When my wide-angle lens captures too much of the scene, I turn to the Canon 24-70mm f/4L IS. This lens is the perfect balance between wide-angle and telephoto, making it incredibly versatile for a variety of shooting situations. It’s lightweight, easy to carry, and packed with features that make it a joy to use.
Captured with Canon 24-70mm f/4L IS, Death Valley National Park, California
Key Features and Benefits:
- Perfect Focal Range: Covering a focal length from 24mm to 70mm, this lens offers both wide-angle and short telephoto capabilities. It’s great for capturing landscapes, street photography, and even portraits.
- Lightweight and Compact: Unlike bulkier alternatives, this lens is easy to carry, making it ideal for travel and on-the-go shooting.
- Image Stabilization (IS): Initially, I didn’t think IS was necessary for landscape photography. However, I frequently use this lens handheld, and the IS feature helps reduce camera shake, resulting in sharp images.
- True-to-Life Perspective: At 50mm, this lens replicates what the human eye naturally sees, making it an excellent choice for capturing natural-looking compositions.
Why I Love It:
The Canon 24-70mm f/4L IS is my “desert island” lens—if I could only carry one lens, this would be it. Its versatility and image quality make it suitable for almost any situation, from capturing sweeping landscapes to isolating specific elements within a scene. It’s a reliable workhorse that consistently delivers excellent results.
Canon 11-24mm f/4L: The Ultimate Wide-Angle Lens
The Canon 11-24mm f/4L is the first lens I reach for when I want to capture the grandeur of a landscape. This lens is a game-changer for wide-angle photography, offering an incredibly large field of view that allows me to exaggerate leading lines, emphasize dramatic skies, and highlight interesting foregrounds. It’s the lens I use for 90% of my photography, and for good reason.
Captured with Canon 11-24 f/4L, Crepuscular rays and spring wildflowers in the Palouse Region, Washington State
Key Features and Benefits:
- Expansive Field of View: With a focal range from 11mm to 24mm, this lens enables me to capture vast landscapes, immersive architectural shots, and dynamic perspectives.
- Exaggerated Leading Lines: I love using this lens to emphasize depth in an image, drawing the viewer’s eye into the scene with strong foreground elements.
- Creative Foregrounds: Thanks to its extremely close minimum focusing distance, I can get up close to objects while still including a sweeping background, adding artistic depth to my images.
- Careful Composition: With such a wide angle of view, it’s essential to be mindful of unwanted elements creeping into the frame. Proper framing ensures a balanced and compelling shot.
Why I Love It:
The Canon 11-24mm f/4L is my go-to lens for capturing the essence of a landscape. Its ability to exaggerate perspectives and create depth makes it an invaluable tool for storytelling through photography. Whether I’m shooting a sunrise over a canyon or a stormy sky above the ocean, this lens never fails to deliver stunning results.
Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS: The Telephoto Powerhouse
Last but certainly not least is the Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS, my favorite telephoto lens for landscape photography. This lens allows me to change the perspective of a scene, compressing distant elements and creating a sense of intimacy in vast landscapes.
Key Features and Benefits:
- Compression Effect: This lens alters perspective by bringing background and foreground elements closer together, creating a stunning layered effect in landscape shots. This lens proved especially useful when capturing the undulating landscapes of The Palouse, allowing me to highlight intricate details in the scenery.
Captured with Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS by Chip Phillips
- Lightweight and Portable: Unlike its heavier f/2.8 counterpart, the f/4 version is easier to carry without sacrificing too much on quality.
- Image Stabilization for Handheld Shooting: I’ve found the IS feature invaluable when shooting without a tripod, ensuring sharp images even at longer focal lengths.
- Extended Range with Tele-Extender: By pairing this lens with a 1.4x tele-extender, I can achieve a longer focal length of 280mm, providing even more reach for distant subjects.
- Aperture Trade-Off for Cost and Weight: While some photographers prefer f/2.8 lenses for better low-light performance, I find that f/4 suffices for my needs. Since I rarely shoot below f/4, I don’t see the need to carry the extra weight and cost of the f/2.8 version.
Why I Love It:
The Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS is my secret weapon for capturing unique perspectives in landscape photography. Its ability to compress scenes and bring distant elements closer together adds a new dimension to my work. Whether I’m shooting a distant mountain range or a lone tree in a field, this lens helps me create images that stand out.
Conclusion: My Go To Camera Lenses
Photography is all about storytelling, and having the right tools makes all the difference. My Canon 24-70mm f/4L IS, Canon 11-24mm f/4L, and Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS allow me to adapt to any landscape, capture breathtaking compositions, and express my artistic vision. Whether I need versatility, an expansive field of view, or powerful telephoto compression, these three lenses have proven to be indispensable in my photography journey. Together, they cover virtually every shooting scenario I encounter in the field.
Whether you’re a seasoned landscape photographer or just starting out, I highly recommend considering these lenses for your kit. They offer a perfect balance of performance, portability, and affordability, making them ideal for capturing the beauty of the natural world. With these lenses by my side, I feel confident and inspired to explore new landscapes and push the boundaries of my creativity.
Original Article Published in May 2016.
About Author Chip Phillips
Spokane, Washington based photographer Chip Phillips began his relationship with photography in 2006 when his father gave him his old Pentax Spotmatic film SLR camera. Chip was immediately hooked, and soon made the transition to digital. Given his lifelong love of the outdoors, he naturally made the progression to focusing on landscape photography. A professionally trained classical musician, Chip performs as Principal Clarinet with the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, and is Professor of Clarinet at Gonzaga University. Chip’s images have been published in various books and magazines, including Outdoor Photographer, National Geographic, Popular Photography and Imaging, Digital Photography, Digital Photo, and Digital Camera Magazine. In 2009, Chip won first and second place in the landscapes category of Digital Camera magazine's Photographer of the Year contest. Chip is proud to be a founding member of PhotoCascadia, a group consisting of some of the top landscape photographers in the Pacific Northwest.
