When it comes to landscape photography, you can certainly use prime lenses, but most professionals prefer the versatility and convenience of a zoom lens. So, what are the essential zoom lenses for a landscape photographer? This excellent video tutorial features an experienced landscape shooter discussing the three essential zoom lenses for the genre.
Coming to you from Mark Denney, this awesome video discusses three essential zoom lenses for landscape photography. While advocates of prime lenses will say you can always "zoom with your feet," the effect is not the same with a zoom, and furthermore, physically moving to a new location is not always reasonable or even feasible in landscape work. Beyond that, landscape photographers often work in a way that minimizes some of the advantages of prime lenses. For example, most landscape images are shot at apertures of around f/8 or f/11, which is where most lenses are at their sharpest, so issues like wide-open sharpness are usually not a problem. On top of that, weight is often a consideration, and it's great to be able to carry one lens instead of two or three. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Denney.
And if you really want to dive into landscape photography, check out "Photographing The World 1: Landscape Photography and Post-Processing with Elia Locardi."
I wasn't aware you could get zoom lenses for large format cameras. Equally, there's a bunch of amazing cinematographers who shoot exclusively on primes.
I have issues with the word "essential". I'll take it on good faith that's actually what he says, and move on without viewing.
I love it, thank you
Yes words/phrases like 'essential', 'must have', 'will change your life' come across as just marketing jargon but are often used by vloggers looking for views and new subscribers. It's like they are telling us our photography will be magically transformed by owning this 'essential' bit of equipment. I own one camera and one lens. The only thing that will change my life is spending as much time as I can taking photos and trying to improve and learn along the way.