When it comes to landscape photography, it’s a known fact that you don’t need the most expensive lenses out there. Instead, much of it is about your focusing methods. Still, photographers want some sort of decent image quality and sharpness to the lenses. Luckily, you can get all of that without breaking the bank.
We’ve gone through our database of lens reviews, and rounded up a number of great lenses from amost every manufacturer that are affordable or great prices for what the lenses are.
Looking for a high quality but cheap costing lens for your next landscape photo series? Then hit the jump!
Sony 28mm f2
In our review, we state:
“We were quite pleased with how sharp the Sony 28mm f2 lens fairs. This has to be one of Sonyâs sharper lenses and the companyâs primes are what impress us the most. Itâs about on par with the 35mm f2.8 if not a tad better, but both the 55mm f1.8 and 35mm f1.4 are sharper. This lens also seems sharper than the Zeiss 35mm f2, though not at all sharper than the Zeiss 50mm f2 Loxia lens.”
Olympus 14-150mm f4-56 II
In our review, we state:
“So ummmm, notice how the product shoot for this review was done in the snow?
And, you know, we put it straight up in the snow?
Well guess what, it took the abuse with no problems. Many lenses out there wouldnât be able to do this but this lens surely had no issue with the coldâunfortunately we canât say the same for most New Yorkers.
Indeed, the lens continued to work with no issues. We left it to air dry in the warmth of my apartment after the shoot and it only needed a bit of a wipedown afterward. So while the New York City subway system may fail you, the Olympus M.Zuiko ED 14-150mm f/4-5.6 II Lens surely wonât.”
Olympus M.Zuiko 9-18mm f4-5.6
In our review, we state:
“Itâs definitely not a lens that you use on a daily basis, unless youâre a landscape or architectural photographer. During my summer holidays in the Alps, this was my most used lens, as I frequently found myself in situations where I wanted to capture the full extent of a landscape. So I made frequent use of the 9mm setting. When promenading through towns and villages, the 18mm setting came in handy, as it is the ideal focal length for street photography. In that regard, the focal length range of the lens proved to be ideal.”
Rokinon 14mm f2.8
In our review, we state:
“The lens also seems to control flair very well. I was essentially shooting right up into the sun for the photo above. You see a bit of the rainbow effect and some very tiny flair, but overall it isnât terrible. It isnât the level of control that Zeiss has though. Thatâs probably the best Iâve seen.”
Fujifilm 35mm f1.4 X
This lens has to be the company’s most versatile. Despite having lots of Fujifilm lenses around for review and testing, this is the lens that I always come back to for its pure performance.
In our review we state:
“Something else that should be mentioned is the color rendering. As Iâve mentioned in my Fuji X-Pro1 review, the lens works together with the sensor to render images that look very close to Fujifilmâs line of films. For love sick photogs like myself, that means that the only way to shoot my beloved Astia is through this camera.”
Samsung 16mm f2.4
In our review, we state:
“Overall image quality of the Samsung 16mm f2.4 lens is really very good. It shows little distortion although sometimes it is apparent when panning the camera from left to right and vice versa. We didnât see very much in the way of anything bad to say about this lens overallâwhich is rare as many pancake lenses can be problematic.”
Sigma 17-70mm f2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM
In our review, we state:
“There isnât much bad to say about the Sigma 17-70mm f2.8-4 DG OC HSM. Itâs a wonderful lens and if I didnât own all full frame DSLRs, Iâd even consider purchasing it.
The ergonomics of the lens are just as sweet as their art lenses and the quality is right up there to match. Indeed, Sigmaâs quality is really, really astounding at this point and weâre floored by what they can do now.”
Nikon 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED AF-S VR
Yes, one of Nikon’s kit lenses is on this list–and it deserves to be here.
In our review, we state:
“Some people may like the Nikon 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED AF-S VR. It is the economy car of lenses. I may just be overly hard on it. It does cover a decent range and some folks may find it useful. If someone is buying the D600 because it was sold to them by a greedy salesman, not because itâs what they needed, they will probably only use this lens. Their camera will, most likely always, be set on auto and take a lot of snapshots and pictures of children. If someone is taking their photography a little more seriously, they will learn of other lens options available to them and eventually put this lens down.”
Rokinon Tilt-Shift 24mm f3.5 ED AS UMC
Though it’s a bit pricey, this is probably one of the most affordable tilt shift lenses that you’ll find on the market.
In our review, we state:
“Many of the staffers here at The Phoblographer are big fans of Rokinon lenses, and for good reason: they produce high quality manual focus optics for reasonable prices. Once again, Rokinon has managed to deliver a lens with impressive functionality and image quality for under $1k, and I was very, very eager to see what it could do in the short amount of time I had with it. Having previously owned some of Canonâs TS-E lenses in the past, I had high hopes but reasonable expectations of this lens. Did I expect it to surpass Canonâs $2200 24mm TS-E? No, of course not, but if it came even remotely close to the finest wide angle Canon has ever produced, then this is one heck of a bargain.”
Tamron 28-300mm f3.5-6.3 DI VC PZD
We had to include one superzoom in this list, and this lens is just about the most perfect one that you can get your hands on. It’s a bit pricey, but for what you’re getting you’ll have to agree that the price point is solid.
In our review we state:
“Though we werenât stupefied by image quality from this lens, it surely had us scratching our heads and saying âThis lens can do that?â Again, weâre not used to superzooms being able to render such sharp images. But for what itâs worth, weâre completely blown away.”
BONUS: Fujifilm WCL Wide Angle Adapter
The single adapter on this list is also one of our favorites for one of the best point and shoots ever made. The Fujifilm WCL gives the Fujifilm X100 series of cameras a 28mm field of view.
In our review, we state:
“…the Fujifilm WCL is a wonderful addition to the already very good Fujifilm X100 camera. Not only is the color rendering and image quality top notch, but it remains still very small while sporting great looks.”
