Your fall landscapes will truly sing if you use any of these lenses to capture the scene.
The magic of Fall is right around the corner, and photographers are gearing up to get out into nature to enjoy the crisp air, and the gorgeous colors that this time of the year brings to the world around us. If you’re serious about capturing beautiful fall landscapes, you’re going to need lenses that are up to the task of capturing the splendor you see. In this roundup, we will take a quick look at nine lenses on various platforms that will make your fall landscapes come to life in your camera.
Fall is the perfect time for landscape photography. The world changes before our very eyes, and the palette of colors that present themselves to us is awe-inspiring. If you want to be able to capture all of this natural beauty you’re going to need lenses sharp enough to capture the intricate details of your scene, and that produce colors that jump out of the image. All of the lenses we have included in this round up are exceptional in just about every way. If you want to create the best Fall landscapes of your life this year, consider picking up one of the lenses we have listed below.
Rokinon 14mm F2.8 AF
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Sharp output
- Accurate autofocus in most situations
- The clear, crisp color that weâve come to expect from Rokinon
- Bokeh when needed
- Weather sealing
Cons
- We still really are wondering why Rokinon chose to make this lens for DSLRs
- A few inconsistencies with the focus
Buy now Canon EF ($599): Adorama
Buy now Nikon F ($599): Adorama
Buy now Sony E ($579): Adorama
IRIX 15mm F2.4 FireFly
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Weather sealing
- Fairly lightweight
- Accurate focusing depth of field markers
- Sharp optics
- Innovative features like the ability to lock the focus with a separate ring
Cons
- Focusing communication with a Sony FE camera via a Metabones adapter wasnât the absolute best
Buy now Canon EF ($475): Adorama
Buy now Nikon F ($475): Adorama
Buy now Pentax K ($449): Adorama
Sigma 16mm F1.4 DC DN Contemporary
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Fast aperture
- Weather sealing to a point
- Fast autofocus performance for the most part
- Nice bokeh
- Sharp, surprisingly sharp
Cons
- To be honest, nothing
Buy now Sony ($399): Adorama
Pro Tip: Many people assume landscape photography is an easy genre to master, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. A lot of hard work and effort goes into finding great locations, and knowing how to compose a scene is vitally important. If you’re new to this genre, but would like to try your hand at creating Fall landscapes, you should check out this guide. Here you will learn everything there is to know about how to produce jaw-dropping images. Don’t go into this blind: arm yourself with knowledge, and make the most of this great time of the year.
Fujifilm 8-16mm F2.8 R LM WR
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Solid image quality
- Fast autofocus, which is expected
- Lets you handhold it to very low shutter speeds due to the reciprocal rule of shutter speeds
- Weather sealed
Cons
- This lens is pretty darned expensive
Buy now ($1,999): Adorama
Tamron SP 15-30mm F2.8 Di VC USD G2
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Fast maximum aperture of f2.8
- Durable construction
- Ultra-wide focal length range suitable for everything from Architecture, Real Estate, Landscape, Street, and Travel Photography
- Includes vibration compensation, Tamronâs name for their optical stabilization tech
- Moisture-resistant construction
- Canon version includes an integrated filter holder on the lens mount side
Cons
- Considerably heavy
- Chunky in size
- Noticeable distortion (although correctible)
- Traditional filters arenât supported, the front of the lens lacks filter threads, and the front element is also convex and protrudes significantly
Buy now Canon EF ($1,199): Adorama
Buy now Nikon F ($1,199): Adorama
Pentax 15-30mm F2.8 ED SDM WR
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Fantastic colors
- Great image quality overall
- Great weather sealing
- Feels great in the hand
- The fairly affordable price point
- When connected to the camera, it can still fit into most messenger-style camera bags
- Fast-focusing, but itâs also a wide-angle lens, so you have to expect that
Cons
- Shows a bit more distortion than weâre used to seeing with wide-angle zooms these days (Canon and Sony especially!)
- Focusing and zoom ring are a bit too small for my liking
Buy now ($1,296.95): Adorama
Pro Tip: One of the best tools for landscape photography is a stable tripod. Landscape photography is all about capturing the details, and to do that your camera needs to be held firmly in place to enable the sensor to resolve as much detail as possible. Did you know that you don’t have to spend a fortune to get a great tripod? Take this one, for example. It’s as sturdy as a mountain goat, and will keep your camera and lens still and secure while you work on your Fall landscapes. It’s priced nicely too.
Sigma 14-24mm F2.8 Art DG
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Weather sealing
- Solid overall image quality
- Autofocus works pretty damned well
- Versatile range
- Price is right
Cons
- We wish that it had lens flare, that would be epic!
Buy now Canon EF ($1,199): Adorama
Buy now Nikon F ($1,199): Adorama
Tokina 16-28mm F2.8 OPERA
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Great image quality
- Feels nice in the hands
- In most situations, itâs got fast autofocus
- Itâs dirt cheap for a constant aperture zoom lens
Cons
- We really wish it was weather sealed
- It feels like Tokina was holding back. The OPERA system is supposed to take on the new Tamron SP and Sigma Global Vision lineup, but theyâre not marketed in the same way or built to spec
- Sometimes there are autofocus problems with the Tokina 16-28mm f2.8 OPERA and the Canon EOS R using Canonâs adapter
Buy now Canon EF ($699): Adorama
Buy now Nikon F ($699): Adorama
Sony 16-35mm F2.8 G Master FE
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Sharp image quality
- f2.8 is nice for low light situations
- Good autofocus, as expected from a wide-angle lens
- Weather resistance
- Feels good in the hand
Cons
- Pretty darned expensive
Buy now ($2,198): Adorama
