Landscape photographers, these are lenses and accessories that will help you capture your best images yet while on a budget.
Can you believe Summer is already drawing to a close? Pretty soon, the sun will set earlier, and the landscapes around us will undergo a beautiful transformation. It’s this time of year that excites me more than any other simply due to how gorgeous the world becomes. Trees are filled with vibrant colors, sunsets and sunrises take on another life, and of course, the lower temperature make it a joy to be outside. If you want to capture the beauty of Fall though, you need to have the right gear. After the break, we will take a quick look at some lenses and accessories that will help all landscape photographers create their best landscape images yet.
We have said it a thousand times, and we will say it a thousand more; you don’t have to spend a fortune to acquire quality lenses and accessories. There are plenty of lenses, bags, tripods, and filter systems that can do a top job for low prices. For landscape photographers, the choices are vast when it comes to these items. Here, we have rounded up eight of our favorite affordable items that will help you excel at this genre.
Table of Contents
Rokinon 12mm f2
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Great colors
- Small build
- Lightweight
- Nice aperture clicks
- Sharp
Cons
- There are lenses with better bokeh for sure
Buy now Canon EF-M: $299
Buy now Fujifilm: $329
Buy now M4/3: $329
Buy now Sony: $349
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 wasn’t the absolute best
Buy now Canon EF: $424.95
Buy now Pentax K: $424.95
Sigma 14-24mm f2.8 DG DN ART
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Weather sealed
- Fast to focus
- Sharp image quality: some of the best we’ve seen in a wide-angle zoom actually
- Solid build quality
Cons
- Sigma proves to us that they still have yet to figure out how to make a small zoom lens for mirrorless cameras
- It’s big
Buy now L Mount: $1,397.60
Buy now Sony: $1,390.43
Pro Tip: Landscape photography may look easy, but a fair amount of skill and patience is required to get the perfect shot. You need to be able to find the perfect composition, wait for the right light, shoot manual so that your exposure is perfect, and you have to know how to edit the image to make it look its best. If you’re new to landscape photography, and you want to learn all the ins and outs of the genre, this guide will walk you through every step of the process and help you create images that stun viewers. The best part is it’s only $29—what a bargain.
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, Tamron’s 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 during post)
- Traditional filters aren’t supported, the front of the lens lacks filter threads and the front element is also convex and protrudes significantly
Buy now Canon EF: $1,299
Buy now Nikon F: $1,299
Haida Red-Diamond 10 Stop ND 100x100mm Filter
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Cuts down a lot of light, making daytime long exposure photography possible
- No discernible color cast
- Industry standard filter size – can be used with most filter holders on the market
- Nano-coating on both sides keeps the filter waterproofs and minimizes reflections and scratches.
Cons
- Honestly none with the filter itself: the storage case could be more robust though (it scuffs pretty easily)
Buy now: $152
Buy now – M10 filter holder: $195
Breakthrough X4 Circular Polarizer
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- High build quality
- Nano Coating for dust resistance, water repellency, and therefore ease of cleaning
- Weather resistance, said to be designed specifically to resist salt water
- 25 year guarantee
- Greater light transmission is beneficial for stopping motion (in sports or wildlife photography, for example)
Cons
- Difficult to remove
- Greater light transmission is detrimental for blurring motion
Buy now from: $69
Pro Tip: The lenses listed here are great, but not all of them are weather sealed. If you would like to take these lenses out when the weather gets rough, we highly recommend this affordable yet incredibly protective weatherproof camera and lens cover. Slip one of these over your gear and you will be good to go. They are a must-have for all landscape photographers.
Promaster Jasper Halfpack
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Very comfortable
- Durable feeling
- The laptop section is towards the front of the bag, and so it’s better on your back
- Lots of pockets
- Good gear padding
- Tripod straps on the bottom
- Holds a lot of gear
Cons
- Access to your equipment only through the back
- No waist straps or chest strap
- Not a roll-top
Buy now: $149.95
Vanguard VEO2 235CB Tripod
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Solid build quality
- The rubber sections for the legs feel really good
- If you’re on the sand, they will keep dust and dirt from getting into the legs
- Pretty much all the versatility that most photographers will need providing they adjust carefully
- Lightweight
- Fits onto the side of most backpacks
Cons
- We wish there was a hook at the bottom to weigh the tripod down
Buy now: $149.95