Last Updated on 05/28/2017 by Chris Gampat
In today’s world many photographers struggle with manual focusing (or at the very least greatly prefer to use autofocus). That said, one niche by and large still embraces the legacy of manually focusing in much larger numbers than other photography niches – Landscape Photographers. The reason should be pretty obvious, the subjects they are shooting are not moving, generally there is time to set up a shot and spend time to nail focus just right manually without stressing about missing a moment.
To that end, manual focus lenses are pretty popular in the Landscape field, especially among the budget crowd thanks to their usual price savings over their OEM AF counterparts. But there really are options all over the place and it can be hard to know where to send those hard earned dollars. So today we are bringing you a roundup of some of our favorite manual focus lenses for landscape photography that ring in under $800.
Another side benefit? Since these lenses don’t need to communicate with the camera for AF purposes, many of these are available in mounts across several systems.
Ready? Great, let’s jump on in. (Also this list is in no particular order.)
Rokinon 20mm F1.8
Solid image quality and well under our target cutoff of $800. Rokinon is known almost exclusively for their good (but not great) budget manual focus lenses, and this 20mm F1.8 is no exception. We tested it with the Sony A7, but it is available in virtually every other mount as well.
[amazon_textlink asin=’B01M014LST’ text=’Rokinon 20mm F1.8′ template=’ProductLink’ store=’thephobl-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’c57a4e14-4177-11e7-9b43-f1c2ab22de75′] on Amazon: [amazon_textlink asin=’B01M014LST’ text=’Rokinon 20mm F1.8′ template=’PriceLink’ store=’thephobl-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’be6122d2-4177-11e7-8317-a5c657ebb3cb’] (Our Review)
Irix 15mm f2.4 Blackstone
Another lens well under our $800 budget, the Irix line of lenses not only offer a wonderful manual focus experience, they also have some features designed specifically for landscape and night sky shooters like luminescent lens markings to make reading your lens in the dark easier.
[amazon_textlink asin=’B01GEBLPDY’ text=’Irix 15mm F2.4′ template=’ProductLink’ store=’thephobl-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’df21bd0b-4187-11e7-bc8d-f1820e2c20aa’] on Amazon: [amazon_textlink asin=’B01GEBLPDY’ text=’Irix 15mm F2.4′ template=’PriceLink’ store=’thephobl-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’d80b2a3a-4187-11e7-aa67-d1d22aa674dd’]
Laowa 15mm F4
Despite being a relatively new player in the lens market, Laowa’s lens offerings have mostly impressed us with their unique features and capabilities. This 15mm F4 macro lens is no exception. Not only does this lens give you an incredibly wide field of view, but you also get 1:1 macro capability giving you an incredibly versatile lens out in the field.
[amazon_textlink asin=’B019C3J88K’ text=’Laowa 15mm F4 Macro’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’thephobl-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’1f925cfc-4189-11e7-bbb5-8f869a1f8f8a’] on Amazon: [amazon_textlink asin=’B019C3J88K’ text=’Laowa 15mm F4′ template=’PriceLink’ store=’thephobl-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’180f24d8-4189-11e7-a674-75dec6542152′] (Our Review)
Rokinon 24mm F1.4
This lens used to rub right up against our $800 price limit, but due to its age you can now find it in that $500 realm. In terms of versatility, build quality, and image quality this is probably the best manual focus landscape lens on this list. Our only real complaint was no AF chip for focus confirmation – but that isn’t something the other lenses on this list have either, so in relation to this list it’s a non issue.
[amazon_textlink asin=’B006YM9L26′ text=’Rokinon 24mm F1.4′ template=’ProductLink’ store=’thephobl-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’2b508953-418a-11e7-b03d-dd354ec94547′] on Amazon: [amazon_textlink asin=’B006YM9L26′ text=’Rokinon 24mm F1.4′ template=’PriceLink’ store=’thephobl-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’21709ca3-418a-11e7-a35b-bf372b84c6b6′] (Our Review)
So there you have it, four manual focus landscape photography lens options under $800. There are other great manual focus landscape lenses out there as well if you don’t mind spending more money, or buying old film lenses and adapting them to your current camera. Point is, if you want to get into landscapes, finding a lens to fit your needs shouldn’t be a problem.