Best Nikon Lenses for Landscape Photography

What are the best Nikon lenses for landscape photography? After I posted my last article on “Best Nikon Lenses for Wedding Photography“, I have been getting many requests from our readers to also talk about lenses for photographing landscapes, nature and wildlife (another post on best Nikon wildlife lenses will be published soon). In this post I will not only talk about which Nikon lenses I believe are the best for photographing landscapes, but also when I use a particular lens, along with plenty of image samples from each lens. Please keep in mind that the information I present below is a personal opinion based on my experience so far, which is subject to change. No third party lenses are presented either, although some Zeiss, Sigma, Tamron and Samyang lenses are phenomenal for landscapes. If you have a favorite lens of yours for landscape photography that is not listed below, please feel free to add a comment on the bottom of the page with some information and links to pictures (if you have any that you would like to share).

1) Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G

I want to start out with a lens that I have a love and hate relationship with. On one side, the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G is one of the sharpest lenses ever produced by Nikon. It has phenomenal optics (center to corner, throughout the frame and aperture range), beautiful colors, super fast autofocus and an extremely useful focal range for wide-angle photography. On the other hand, it is a heavy, bulky and expensive lens that cannot accommodate filters. Sadly, not just circular filters and filter holders but pretty much any kind of hand-holdable filter. Its round front element shape and the built-in lens hood just make it impossible to use filters. Sure, you can buy a filter holder system from Lee and other manufacturers for this lens to accommodate filters, but it is not cheap and you would have to purchase a set of large 150mm filters, so forget about using your existing filters. I really wish Nikon allowed us to use small replaceable filters close to the lens mount, just like on telephoto lenses and this lens would have been irreplaceable.

Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED

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Nikon 24mm PC-E Review

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This is an in-depth review of Nikon 24mm f/3.5D PC-E, a special purpose wide-angle “Perspective Control” lens designed for architectural, commercial and nature photography, also known as PC-E Nikkor 24mm f/3.5D ED. The lens was kindly provided by B&H – the largest photo reseller in the world that I use more than any other to buy my photography gear.

Nikon 24mm f/3.5D PC-E

PC-E Nikon 24mm f/3.5D ED

The Nikon 24mm f/3.5D PC-E is a very specialized wide-angle lens specifically targeted at three groups of photographers – architecture photographers, landscape photographers and macro/product photographers. Architectural photographers often work with a lot of straight, often converging lines both indoors and outdoors and the “Perspective Control” or “Tilt-Shift” lenses (from this point on I will refer to them only as “tilt-shift”) give the ability to avoid the convergence of parallel lines by shifting the lens upwards or downwards. Landscape photographers need to be able to get everything in focus – from the closest foreground object to distant landscapes. While proper lens and camera techniques, along with good post-processing skills can help in getting sharp images for both foreground and background objects, normal lenses have certain limits landscape photographers have to work around with. For example, stopping down lenses beyond f/11 results in diffraction, which can impact the sharpness and overall quality of an image. With perspective control/tilt-shift lenses, landscape photographers can change the angle of the focus plane without having to increase aperture, putting both closest and furthest objects in focus. The same goes for commercial/product photographers that photograph jewelry and other items for product showcases – everything from the front to the rear of the object must often be in perfect focus. Again, stopping down does not always work and unless angles are changed and subject is on the same plane, there is no easy way to get everything sharp without focus-stacking images in post-processing software like Photoshop. By using tilt-shift lenses, photographers do not have to worry about lens aperture limitations and can achieve the desired effect with minimum effort. One other use that has been gaining popularity lately is to use tilt-shift lenses for portrait photography. Due to the ability to apply selective focus on a particular part of the image via lens tilting (also known as “anti-Scheimpflug“), portraits can appear more interesting and creative. Distant subjects can even appear “miniaturized”, although the effect can be easily reproduced in Photoshop through various plugins.

Sample #10

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Zeiss Distagon T* 35mm f/2.0 ZF.2 Review

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This is an in-depth review of the manual focus Zeiss Distagon T* 35mm f/2.0 ZF.2, a second generation 35mm f/2 prime lens from Zeiss for Nikon and Canon mounts. The lens was kindly provided by B&H – the largest photo reseller in the world that I and many other photographers use to buy photography gear. The lens sample I tested was for the Nikon F mount, although you can get the same lens for the Canon EF mount.

Zeiss Distagon T* 35mm f/2.0 ZF.2

Zeiss Distagon T* 35mm f/2.0 ZF.2

The Zeiss 35mm f/2.0 ZF.2 is a professional-grade fixed wide-angle lens targeted at enthusiasts and professionals that need high quality optics for different types of photography, including landscape, architecture, portrait and astrophotography. Similar to other Zeiss prime lenses, the lens is designed to work on both FX and DX sensor cameras (equivalent of approx 52.5mm on DX) and yields amazing clarity and contrast throughout the frame. The all-metal Zeiss 35mm has a very tough and high quality build and is sealed against dust and tough weather conditions. When compared to the latest generation Nikon AF-S lenses like Nikon 35mm f/1.4G with plastic exterior, it feels much more solid in hands – even the lens hood is made of metal. The focal length of 35mm is a good compromise between ultra-wide angle lenses and standard lenses. Thanks to the 9-blade diaphragm, the Zeiss Distagon 35mm f/2.0 ZF.2 renders background highlights in round, circular shapes, making it a good candidate for portraiture and street photography.

Zeiss 35mm Sample #10

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Nikon 35mm f/1.4 Review

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This is an in-depth review of the new professional Nikon 35mm f/1.4G prime lens that was announced in September of 2010. The lens was kindly provided by B&H – the largest photo reseller in the world that I use more than any other to buy my photography gear.

Nikon 35mm f/1.4G

Nikon 35mm f/1.4G

The Nikon 35mm f/1.4G is a professional-grade lens for enthusiasts and professionals that need the highest quality optics of a fixed wide-angle lens with a large aperture of f/1.4 for low-light situations and shallow depth of field to isolate subjects from the background, making it an ideal candidate for many types of photography, including portrait, wedding, landscape and astrophotography. The lens incorporates the latest optical technology destined for both FX and DX sensors (equivalent of approx 52.5mm on DX), yielding amazing clarity and contrast in most challenging lighting conditions. The Nikon 35mm f/1.4G follows the release of the excellent Nikon 24mm f/1.4G lens, having similar lens characteristics. Although the lens exterior and construction seem to be almost identical, the Nikon 35mm f/1.4G has a simpler optical design when compared to the Nikon 24mm f/1.4G (more on this below). The focal length of 35mm is a good compromise between ultra-wide angle lenses and standard lenses – it is not too wide or too long. As for the lens interior and optics, Nikon integrated the latest technology into this lens, including AF-S silent-wave focus motor and Rear Focus (to eliminate front barrel rotation and lens length changes) and enhanced the optical formula of the lens by incorporating Nano crystal coating and Super Integrated Coating (SIC) to reduce ghosting and flares. The lens is of high quality build, similar to other AF-S Nikon primes and is sealed against dust and tough weather conditions. Thanks to the 9-blade diaphragm, the Nikon 35mm f/1.4G renders background highlights in a round, circular shape and the maximum aperture of f/1.4 makes this lens a great portrait lens for both images and video, especially in low-light conditions.

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Nikon 35mm f/1.4G Image Samples

Lola and I just got back from a trip to Utah, where I had a chance to test the Nikon 35mm f/1.4G lens, along with other 35mm lenses from Zeiss and Nikon. The last 3-4 weeks have been super busy for both of us and on top of that, our whole family has been sick for the last two weeks. Out of everyone in the family, I got a special present – a really nasty virus that put me to bed for two weeks! I don’t remember the last time I had anything like this. High fever with a really bad back pain. If it wasn’t for Lola, who kept on making me eat and drink plenty of fluids (including hot tea/milk with honey), I would have been in bed for a month!

Due to the above, I have not been able to post much on the blog lately. And the number of comments that I need to respond to have been piling up, don’t even know how I will be able manage several hundred comments. My apologies to all those who are waiting for my response!

Anyway, back to Nikkor 35mm f/1.4G – I loved this lens! And darn, I loved the Zeiss f/2.0, too. Never thought I would fall in love with a manual focus lens, but more on that later – in the upcoming Nikon 35mm f/1.4G lens review. I have a pretty good feel for the Nikon 35mm and I am glad that I was able to test it for portraits/weddings (see images below) and also for landscape photography (our trip to Utah), so the review should be fairly detailed and complete (a Zeiss 35mm f/2.0 review will follow).

Here are two image samples from the wedding that Lola and I shot a couple of weeks ago. Please note that the images are simply extracted out of Lightroom without any post-processing (except sharpening). Other image samples at different apertures with some bokeh will be provided in the upcoming review.

Sample #1

Click here to download the full size version of the above image.

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Nikon 35mm f/1.4G Testing

The Nikon 35mm f/1.4G has been tough to obtain due to high demand and low supply – I finally got my hands on one today! I was hoping for an ultimate 35mm f/1.4 lens comparison, but the darn Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 is not available yet, so I had to resort to Zeiss f/2 instead:

Nikon 35mm Testing

What am I missing here besides the Zeiss f/1.4? I can only think of Tokina f/2.8, but then it would be the slowest lens of the bunch, plus it is a DX/macro lens. The Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX is also not in the picture, but will probably be included in the tests, if I perform some tests on a DX body.

Lenses in the above picture (from left to right):

  1. Nikon 35mm f/1.4G
  2. Nikon 35mm f/2.0D AF
  3. Nikon 35mm f/1.4 AIS
  4. Zeiss Distagon 35mm f/2.0 ZF.2

My next few weeks are going to be very interesting and busy! ;-)

Nikon 24-120mm VR Review

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This is an in-depth review of the new Nikon 24-120mm f/4G ED VR lens that was released earlier this year along with the Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G VR, Nikon 85mm f/1.4G and Nikon 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G VR DX lenses. The lens was kindly provided by B&H – the largest photo reseller in the world that I use more than any other to buy my photography gear.

The constant maximum aperture, mid-range Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR zoom lens is a major update to the Nikon 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6G VR that was released back in 2003. The older, variable-aperture 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 had some optical problems that did not make it a popular lens among photographers, so Nikon decided to address those problems by releasing this highly-anticipated Nikon 24-120mm f/4.0 lens. Why highly-anticipated? Because the 24-120mm focal range is very useful for photographers who use full-frame cameras like Nikon D700/D3s/D3x and who find the 24-70mm f/2.8 either too short on the long focal end, or too heavy for everyday use. In addition, having VR on a mid-range lens like the 24-120mm is crucial for low-light photography, even on the wide end.

Nikon 24-120mm f/4 ED VR

Nikon 24-120mm f/4 ED VR

Did Nikon address all problems the Nikon 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6G had in this new f/4 update? How does it compare to the legendary Nikon 24-70mm and the new 28-300mm lenses? Is it really on par with the 28-300mm when it comes to performance, making it a worse buy than the 28-300mm like some of the reviewers stated? In this review, I will do my best to provide a detailed analysis of the lens’ performance, including sharpness tests and comparisons against other mid-range lenses and answer the above questions.

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Nikon 35mm f/1.4G AF-S Lens

NOTE: A full review of this lens can be found in my Nikon 35mm f/1.4G Review article.

Along with the Nikon D7000, Nikon today released two more lenses – Nikon 35mm f/1.4G AF-S and Nikon 200mm f/2G ED VR II AF-S, both pro-level upgrades to the existing 35mm f/1.4 and 200mm f/2 lenses. The Nikon 35mm f/1.4G has been long overdue, since the last f/1.4 version of the lens was released back in 1982 with no autofocus. The 35mm line of lenses was later changed to f/2.0 and the last “D” version of the lens, known as “Nikon 35mm f/2.0D” has been the only 35mm lens that can autofocus on current Nikon DSLRs. The Nikon 35mm f/1.4G re-establishes the 35mm line with an ultra-fast aperture of f/1.4 and sets new standards with the latest optical technologies from Nikon. It is the third professional prime lens Nikon has updated this year (Nikon 24mm f/1.4G and Nikon 85mm f/1.4G were released earlier), which shows Nikon’s commitment to upgrade the entire line of popular prime lenses that have not been touched for years.

Nikon 35mm f/1.4G AF-S

Nikon 35mm f/1.4G AF-S

The Nikon 35mm f/1.4G is an ultra-fast, FX wide-angle lens that is suitable for many kinds of photography such as landscape, architectural, wedding, photojournalism and astrophotography.

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Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 Review

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This is an in-depth, long overdue review of the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED lens that was released back in August of 2007 together with the 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lens. I have owned the Nikon 24-70mm ever since it came out and I have written a lot about it in my articles, but never got the chance to sit down and provide some detailed feedback about what I like or don’t like about this lens. After I got my hands on other FX wide-angle lenses such as Nikon 16-35mm f/4.0 VR, Nikon 24mm f/1.4G and Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G, I knew it was time to put them all up to a real test and compare each one with the 24-70mm.

Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

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Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 Review

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This is an in-depth review of the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lens that was released back in August of 2007 together with the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED lens. I have been planning to write a review of this lens for quite some time now and I wanted to make the review as thorough as possible, comparing it to other Nikon FX wide angle lenses that are out in the market today. My plan finally came to reality, when I got a hold of Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G, Nikon 16-35mm f/4.0 VR, Nikon 17-35mm f/2.8D, Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G and finally Nikon 24mm f/1.4G lenses all at the same time!

Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED

Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED

1) Lens Overview

Let me start by saying that the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G is a work of art. Marketed as Nikon’s flagship ultra wide-angle lens, the Nikon 14-24mm is a beautiful craftsmanship that one can only appreciate after holding it in hands and trying it out. When Nikon introduced it to the world of photography back in 2007 as a full-frame lens to be used with the back-then newly released, Nikon’s first-ever full-frame DSLR D3, the lens set a new standard in zoom lens performance in terms of sharpness and contrast. It was the world’s first 14mm ultra wide-angle zoom lens with a constant f/2.8 aperture and Nikon was proud to state that it rivals prime lenses when it comes to optical design and performance. As you will see from image samples that I posted in this review, the lens is truly very sharp, easily outperforming any other Nikon ultra wide-angle zoom lenses at all focal lengths, coming very close to the exceptional performance of the Nikon 24mm f/1.4G lens.

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