GROUP TEST: WIDE-ANGLE LANDSCAPE LENSES
For all of us reacquainting ourselves with the great outdoors, these landscape lenses will help to get everything into perspective
We compare four optics on specs, tech and price. Which is the best buy for landscapes?
The majesty of a sweeping landscape can feel a little overwhelming, especially if you’ve been stuck indoors for a while. From open fields and rolling hills to massive skies, an ultra wideangle lens will help to pull everything into the camera, giving an epic sense of scale and perspective.
The most obvious choice is a wide-angle zoom lens, and there are plenty of camera manufacturers’ own-brand optics to choose from. The Canon EF 1635mm f/4L IS USM (£829/$999) and Nikon AF-S 1635mm f/4G ED VR (£979/$997) are popular choices, to name but a couple. They’re reasonably priced and come complete with accessory attachment threads, enabling easy fitment of landscape-friendly filters like ND grads (graduated neutral-density).
But we’ve gone for Sigma and Tamron autofocus zooms for this group test, as they go a little wider and have a faster f/2.8 aperture rating, although they have integral hoods and require a more specialist filter system like the Lee Filters SW150 Mark II.
Autofocus zooms certainly aren’t the only way to go. Given that many of us only tend to use ultra wide-angle zooms at or near their shortest focal length, a prime lens can be a good alternative. Also, with the huge depth of field delivered by an ultrawide lens, pinpoint focusing is unnecessary in landscape photography, so manual-focus lenses can be equally viable, while offering a considerable reduction in size, weight and purchase price. We’ve therefore included a couple of prime candidates from Irix and Samyang to compete with the Sigma and
Tamron zooms.