This photo was taken with a Nikon 14mm f/2.8 prime lens on a full-frame camera. To illustrate what each focal length means in practice, below are sample photos with descriptions of the scene and composition: 14mm (Ultra Wide but Fun) Shot at 14mm with the Nikon 14mm f/2.8 | Tim Rains/NPS As we mentioned above, the heart of the landscape focal length range is 14mm to 35mm. Those buying a point-and-shoot camera for landscape photography also should keep an eye on focal length equivalent to make sure their camera can go wide enough.įocal length(s) is perhaps the most important factor in choosing a landscape lens. In addition, these lenses often aren’t at their best optically at 27mm or 28.8mm (more on this below), so serious landscape photographers will want to add a specific wide-angle zoom or prime lens. This means that the 18-55mm kit lenses that come standard with Nikon and Canon DSLRs actually are 27mm and 28.8mm at the wide end and not as useful for landscapes as many people assume. Nobody in the camera store told me about crop factor and it wasn’t until I started shooting that it all came together and I learned my lesson. Years ago, the first real lens I purchased was the Nikon 18-200mm-I had read about landscape photography and thought that I was getting a true 18mm at the wide end. We would love to survey crop sensor camera users about focal length equivalent, and would bet that a significant percentage do not understand the concept. The good news is that this focal length range is terrific for landscape photography and actually much better than 10-18mm on a 35mm camera. This means that a Nikon 18-200mm lens is equivalent to 27-350mm on a 35mm camera, which has much less landscape usefulness than if it were 18mm at the wide end, for example. The same goes for Canon: the popular 10-18mm wide-angle lens for APS-C cameras is equivalent to 16-28.8mm. Below are common crop factors on both DSLRs and mirrorless cameras: Because the image sensors on non-full-frame cameras are smaller, you have to multiply the listed focal length to find the equivalent. The history behind crop factor is long, but what you need to know is that focal length is described using 35mm film as the reference point. This is critical: the listed focal length of a lens when used on a non-full-frame camera needs to be multiplied by the camera’s crop factor to find the 35mm equivalent. The heart of the wide-angle zone for landscape professionals is more like 14mm to 24mm, but we will address 27mm focal lengths and narrower because that’s where many popular APS-C lenses start. Anything less is getting into fisheye territory, and anything more is pretty normal and doesn’t have a wide-angle feel. It’s generally accepted that the human eye sees at a 50mm equivalent, so anything less than that technically is wide angle.įor landscape purposes, we think of the wide-angle focal length range as 14mm to 35mm on a 35mm camera.

There isn’t, however, a universal definition of wide angle ( Wikipedia, for example, offers the not-so-helpful, “a lens whose focal length is substantially smaller than the focal length of a normal lens”). The majority of landscape photos are of the wide-angle variety, which dictates the lenses and focal lengths that we discuss below. The truth is that there isn’t one correct focal length for landscapes, but it’s well worth investigating before making a big purchase. We’ve also picked and described the top wide-angle lenses for both crop sensor and full-frame cameras from Canon, Nikon, and Sony. Accordingly, below is detailed information on ideal focal lengths for landscapes with example photographs and our take on each. Choosing lenses and focal lengths for landscape photography has a lot of layers, and it’s a topic I wish I researched more before jumping in.

Fuji 27mm vs 35mm