Landscape lens

[Ruffy]

Could someone point me in the direction of a suitable lens or any good online shopping places, having said that...if anyone is looking to upgrade and off load then all the better.

Many thanks

Paul

[Donald]

Paul

Others may well come in with various suggestions, but I would suggest that, in the first instance, you go click 'Advanced search' near the top right of the page. Under 'Tags' put in 'lenses'. Lots of threads will come up that you can read.

I would suggest that you need to form some ideas about what it is you're wanting to do. A lot of people automatically think about 'wide angle' when they think about landscape. I do as much landscape with my Canon 70-200 f4L IS as I do with the Tokina 11-16 f2.6 or the 17-85 f4-5.6 IS (kit). So, the question 'point me to a suitable lens?' has no single answer.

What have you got at the moment? Can you say some more about what it is you want to do? What's your vision for the images you're going to produce?

[inkista]

And what camera body you're using. No good telling you to get a certain Canon lens if you shoot Nikon, Sony, or Pentax. And no point telling you to get a crop body lens if you shoot full frame.

Also budget and what other lenses you have would be useful information for lens recommenders to have. But most importantly what you want this new lens to do that your current gear doesn't. Sometimes, it may not actually be a lens issue.

[Ruffy]

First off, silly me !!! I am using Canon 550d, I have a canon EFS 18-55 mm and a Tamron SP 70-300mm f/4-5.6 ! I want to get some city landscape shots !

[Dave Humphries]

Could someone point me in the direction of a suitable lens or any good online shopping places, having said that...if anyone is looking to upgrade and off load then all the better.

Many thanks

Paul

Hi Paul,

Regarding UK shopping places, I tend to buy from Amazon, my last three lenses have come from there, some via resellers, which I have never had a problem with. Latest one was ordered in early hours of 22nd Dec. lens and filter, coming from two different places, and arrived on 23rd, with e-mails confirming dispatch on 22nd. Of course, to cover themselves (avoiding unhappy customers pre-christmas), they said it wouldn't reach me until 29th - cost of delivery? - free.

For the lens - it would certainly help to give us a bit more of a clue on your needs; for example, what is the point in Donald listing Canon lenses, me doing Nikon, and then we find out you have say, a Sony, Pentax or Panasonic?
Also, is the camera body crop factor 1.5/1.6, full frame or 4/3?

UPDATE
hah, by the time I had posted, you had answered these two minutes ahead of me

Donald has covered focal lengths pretty well for now, hopefully you can tell us a bit more about the camera it is for and what lenses you already have.

Cheers,

[Donald]

First off, silly me !!! I am using Canon 550d, I have a canon EFS 18-55 mm and a Tamron SP 70-300mm f/4-5.6 ! I want to get some city landscape shots !

Have you done lots of cityscape shots with the gear you've got? What problems do you think you have that either of those lenses can't deal with?

[Dave Humphries]

First off, silly me !!! I am using Canon 550d, I have a canon EFS 18-55 mm and a Tamron SP 70-300mm f/4-5.6 ! I want to get some city landscape shots !

Knowing your budget is now important; "city" makes me think of tall buildings and perspective correction lenses (PC lenses).

Are you 'made of money'?

[Ruffy]

Have you done lots of cityscape shots with the gear you've got? What problems do you think you have that either of those lenses can't deal with?

Tough one that, Dont think the gear is the problem...think it may well be me, I am a complete novice but keen to learn. My downfull is that before learning I spend spend spend thinking that will make me better even though i know it wont, strange eh !!

[Colin Southern]

Tough one that, Dont think the gear is the problem...think it may well be me, I am a complete novice but keen to learn. My downfull is that before learning I spend spend spend thinking that will make me better even though i know it wont, strange eh !!

Hi Paul,

It's often said that "it's the photographer that makes all the difference, not the equipment", but that's only true to a point. Initially the limiting factor will be the photographer, but as their knowledge and skill increase it's definately possible that they'll start to become limited by their equipment. Michael Schumacher is the most successful Formula 1 driver in history - and yet if you pop him into an F1 race driving a mini, he's going to finish last (actually, he's not doing much better driving for Mercedes, but I digress!)

Having just said that though, how about posting some of your efforts so far, and we'll see what we can do to help sus out the problem?

[Donald]

strange eh !!

No. Normal! We've all been there.

But, this is the time to acknowledge the realisation of the point.

It may well be that a new lens would push you up a couple of rungs on the cityscape photographer ladder. However ...............

You don't know that. And, what's more important, you haven't pushed yourself and the lenses you've already got, to get the best out of both (you and the lenses).

So, I would suggest, that you get out there and shoot, shoot, shoot. And then shoot some more. Become as good as you can possibly be with those lenses. And then when you can tell yourself that you KNOW you could have got a better image with Lens X than with what you've already got, that's the time to think about a new one.

I haven't told this story for a while on here, but this is the perfect time for a re-run ..........

Lee Trevino, champion golfer, used to practice with one golf club. He would get that club to do everything that it could possibly do, before putting it back in the bag and moving on to the next club. As he knew, it wasn't the club that was the problem, it was about how well he knew how to use it.

Practice, Practice, Practice. Then practice some more.