Best Nikon Lens for Landscape Photography for Elegant Photos

best-nikon-lens-for-landscape-photography

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Landscape photography is different from others as here you do not want the bokeh effect. Instead, you want both background and foreground clear in the image, so you shoot using a narrow aperture. However, like portrait photos, you do not need a wider aperture in the daytime for stunning landscape photos.

The ideal focal length for landscape is 10-18mm, and the ideal aperture is f/4. A wide range of lenses are available with these features among those, we have shortlisted some of the best here on this post. Hopefully, the best Nikon lens for landscape photography guide will help you find the best lens for your use.

Contents

Do you really need a special lens for landscape photography?

You can shoot all your landscape photos using just one camera, but it is tricky to capture different types of landscape images using a single lens. So you might need several lenses for different kinds of situations. For example, you may shoot in low light, and you’ll need a lens with a lower aperture.

For a panoramic view, you need a wide-angle lens. Also, a telephoto lens to zoom in on and to keep the subject in focus. So in different situations, you’ll need different lenses that are compatible with the situations. But if you are on a tight budget, you need to select the lens carefully so that it can play the best in most situations.

Must-have Features of Landscape Photography Lens

Without a set of features, it is not possible to capture the highest quality landscape photos. So you need these features so that you can capture the best quality photos.

Low Light Performance

While capturing landscape photographs, you have to work in various lighting conditions, and surely all of these different lighting conditions will not be optimal for capturing an image. In such a situation, a lens with a wider aperture can pull you out. For example, if you use a lens with an F1.8 aperture in low light, you’ll get sharp and well-detailed images than if you shoot with an F5 lens. So wider aperture is a must-have feature.

Focal Length

The focal length of a lens refers to the field of view. You can use both zoom lens or prime lens to capture landscape photos. In the case of image quality, the prime lens produces more sharp images than the zoom lens as there is no chance of error for not having a glass movement inside the lens. Also, the zoom lens can cover most of the viewing angle, and you do not separate the lens for each angle. Therefore, it is best to have a 10 to 45mm focal length lens, which is ideal for landscape photography.

Lens distortion

Lens distortion is pervasive, and it causes the straight lines in photos to bend. We mostly see lens distortion in wide-angle lenses, and it makes the image look odd sometimes. If you are going to capture images of architecture and sculpture and the lens causes distortion, the image will not look good. So, find a lens that has less image distortion for capturing the best quality landscape image possible.

A prime lens has more minor image distortions, and a wide-angle lens is rigid to avoid natural distortion in images. So, if you do not want any sort of lens distortion images, it would be wise to go with a prime or telephoto lens rather than a wide-angle lens.

7 Nikon Lens for Landscape Photography

Here are some best offerings from Nikon for landscape photography.

1. NIKON NIKKOR Z 14-30mm

NIKON NIKKOR Z 14-30mm

Focal length

The focal length of this Nikon lens is 14-40mm. So it can cover many focal lengths for landscape photography, and in most cases, the focal length for landscape photography is within the focal length of this lens.

Without the need of changing lenses from time to time, you can use this lens, and as this has a variable focal length, you can capture most of the landscape images using this single lens. The focal length is optimal for landscape images, and you’ll get some stunning shots with the help of a Nikon 14-30mm lens.

Aperture

Most lenses that feature a variable focal length mostly come with a variable aperture. But this Nikon has a continuous f/4 aperture, so you’ll get high-quality images with the exact details and sharpness in every focal length.

The aperture is quite ideal for capturing landscape images, and the image quality will be outstanding. When it comes to low light performance, the lens is quite good. But it performs nothing special in lowlight. However, in daylight, the quality you’ll get is top-class.

Lens distortion

Mostly we see lens distortion in wide-angle lenses. But this Nikon lens comes with a nanocrystal coating, which minimizes the lens distortion effect and gets images with less lens distortion. So even if you are using a wide-angle lens, you’ll get pictures like a prime lens.

Design

The lens design is very compact, so you can easily store the lens as it is a zoom lens, so you do not have to carry several lenses with you. This lens can do the work of several lenses alone. That makes the lens best for travel and adventure landscape photography.

Pros

  • Suitable focal length 
  • f/4 aperture 
  • Performs well as low light condition 
  • Compact design
  • Lens destruction is minimal 

Cons

  • Low light performance need improvement

2. Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 10-24mm

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 10-24mm

Focal length

We want to capture as much area as possible in a landscape photograph and utilize that lens with a lower focal length. This Nikon lens has a focal length of 10 to 14mm. The focal length is just perfect for landscape photography.

As the lens comes with variable focal length, you do not have to change the lens now and then. Therefore, you can cover many fields of view using just this Nikon lens. Moreover, for having optimal focal length, you’ll get stunning-looking portraits without losing any detail.

Aperture

If you are primarily a daytime photographer, the aperture of the lens is optimum for you. It has a variable 3.5 to 4.5 aperture which helps to produce sharp quality images. Its aperture lets in low light, which [provides you with well-detailed and sharp photos.

In the low light, the image quality is good but nothing special. You may notice noise in the picture in low light. However, if you skip that part, the lens is one of the best lenses available in the market right now. For daytime shooting, this lens is a beast.

Autofocus

In capturing fast-moving objects, autofocus helps a lot. The lens comes with fast, silent, and accurate autofocusing technology that enables you to capture outstanding quality portraits without losing focus. It is also easier to focus on the subject using autofocus than manual focus.

Wide-angle Zoom Lens

In different situations, we need lenses of different focal lengths to capture the situation perfectly as the lens is a zoom lens so that it can cover most of the situation’s needs alone. Moreover, the wide-angle viewing capacity of the lens allows it to capture more field of view.

Pros

  • Ideal focal length 
  • 109 degrees’ field of view 
  • Fast and quiet autofocus 
  • Low light performance is good 
  • Zoom lens 

Cons

  • Not suitable for primary nighttime photographers

3. Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm

Focal length

This Nikon lens has a fixed 35mm focal length. Though the focal length is not perfect, it is capable of capturing stunning quality landscape photos. The image you get will be sharp and bright. Its nearly perfect focal length is capable of capturing high-quality landscape images in most situations.

You may have to change the lens depending on various situations as the focal length is not variable. But its fixed focal length will provide a much sharper image than any other lens for not having any glass movement inside the lens.

Aperture

The lens comes with an extensive f/1.8 aperture that lets in a lot of light, which helps produce bright and sharp images. For this wider aperture, the image quality is better than any other lens.

Even in low light, this lens shows impressive improvement. The images you get are less noisy, and the quality of the pictures is up-to-mark. Most of the lenses can even compete with this lens when it comes to low-light photography. So your money will be well worth it.

Lens distortion

This is a prime telephoto lens. So the lens distortion you get on this lens is very minimal as this is not a wide-angle lens, so there will be no fish eye effect as well. So without any disturbance, you can capture architect and sculpture images.

Prime lens

For being a prime lens, it has a wider aperture which gives you sharp and bright images. In addition, you get lens distortion very minimal for h=not having any glass movement. So overall, the image quality is at its best, and the lens is nearly perfect for landscape photography.

Pros

  • Outstanding low light performance 
  • Quite ideal focal length 
  • Reliable autofocus 
  • No lens distortion 
  • Lightweight 

Cons

  • No zooming capability

4. Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 20mm

Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 20mm

Focal length

In this part of the best Nikon lens for landscape photography review, we have a 20mm lens, and the focal length of this lens perfectly suits landscape photography. In addition, this lens can capture a wider field of view, and every shot taken with this lens will look stunning.

You can use this lens to capture most of the landscape images. But as this is a prime lens, you may have to change the lens from time to time. But for being a prime lens, the size is very compact and lightweight, so it is effortless to carry it around.

Aperture

It has an aperture of f/1.8, which is quite wide and allows more light to let in. It will enable more light to enter through the sensor, so the images you get are bright and sharp. You can easily notice the better image quality than other lenses.

As the aperture is wide, so in low light, it performs superior. You get images with less noise distortion. As a result, the picture looks eye-catchy and vivid. It is hard to beat this lens, even in low light. So, the aperture of the lens is optimum for both daytime and nighttime landscape.

Lens distortion

It is a wide-angle lens, so you may think the image it takes comes with lens distortion, but that is not the case. It comes with a nanocrystal coating, making the lens distortion effect minimal and making the image look good. So, you can capture images of architecture without any lens distortion using this lens.

Wide-angle Lens

For being a wide-angle lens, the field of view of this lens is more than a telephoto lens. It comes with a fixed focal length, so there is no glass movement inside the lens, which allows the lens to produce sharp and bright images without noise. Also, it is easy to carry around for being lightweight and compact.

Pros

  • Lightweight 
  • Ideal landscape focal length 
  • Impressive low light performance 
  • Less lens distortion 
  • Fast and quiet autofocus 

Cons

  • Cannot zoom

5. Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm

Focal length

According to most professional photographers, the ideal focal length for landscape photography is 10 to 18mm, and the focal length of this Nikon lens is 14-24mm. So you can see how close the focal length is to be perfect. So you can capture outstanding-looking. Moreover, for landscape images using this lens.

It is a wide-angle zoom lens so that you can cover a wide field of view and various focal lengths using this single lens. You do not have to change the lens for various focal lengths depending on the situation. Using its variable focal length, you can cover most of the landscape image capturing problems.

Aperture

Its aperture is f/2.8, and even after having a variable focal length, the aperture of this lens is consistent. For landscape photography, the aperture is more than good enough. Using your skill, you’ll get eye-catchy landscape images.

For having a wider aperture, its lowlight performance is very impressive. It can outperform many wide-angle lenses in low light thanks to f/2.8 aperture. So in a low light shot, you’ll see less noise and sharper and clear images.

Autofocus

For capturing fast-moving objects, the lens features a very reliable, fast, and quiet autofocusing technology. So you can capture any type of moving object without losing focus along with still things. So the images will always be well focused and sharp.

Lens distortion

The lens handles distortion quite well, but you may see distortion on the edges in some cases, which is a bit problematic. Other than that, the lens creates menial distortion and makes it look beautiful.

Pros

  • Consistent aperture
  • Ideal focal length
  • Low Light performance is good
  • Less lens distortion
  • Fast and quiet autofocus

Cons 

  • Lack of sharpness at edges

6. Nikon AF-S DX Nkr 18-200mm

Nikon AF-S DX Nkr 18-200mm

Focal length

The focal length of this Nikon telephoto lens can adapt to most situations, including landscape photography. You can zoom all the way up to 200mm from 18mm, so you can take landscape still photos quite easily on this lens. 

This lens comes with variable focal lengths, so you do not have to swipe the lens now and then. You can use this single lens to capture most of your landscape photo, and the lens performs outstandingly in every scenario.

Aperture

With variable focal length, the lens has a variable aperture. The aperture varies between 3.5 to 5.6, and it is pretty optimum for landscape photography except for low light. In the daytime, the aperture will allow an adequate amount of light to reach the sensor, which will help produce bright and vivid images.

If you are someone who captures most night landscapes, the performance of the lowlight of this lens may not be able to satisfy you. I mean, the lens performs okay in low light, for this is not delicate for low light landscapes. But, moreover, at night images turn out to be noisy.

Autofocus

The autofocus of this lens is top-class, and invariably you’ll get fast autofocus which helps a lot while shooting a fast-moving subject. It is also quiet, so it will not terrify the wildlife and shoot quietly without disturbing others in the wildlife landscape.

Lens distortion

For being a telephoto lens, the lens destruction is minimal. So without any sort of distortion in your images, you’ll get the highest quality landscape possible. All your landscape images will be sharp, bright, and full of details.

Pros

  • Can adept in a wide variety of situations
  • Telephoto lens 
  • Fast and accurate autofocus 
  • Less lens distortion 
  • Produce stable images 

Cons

  • Low light performance is not good

7. Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 28-300mm

Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 28-300mm

Focal length

On the last of our list, we have a Nikon 28-300mm lens. The focal length of the lens is variable, and it is ideal for most situations. So whether you want to take portraits of landscapes, this lens can work perfectly in every situation.

Its variable focus allows it to cover most of the situations. For that reason, you do not have to swipe the lens anymore. Just carry this one lens with you, and you can capture any type of photo you want. The quality will also be superior.

Aperture

Along with variable focal length, it has a variable aperture. The aperture varies between 3.5 to 5.6, and it is pretty optimum for landscape photography except for low light. In the daytime, the aperture will allow an adequate amount of light to reach the sensor, which will help produce bright and vivid images.

The aperture is quite ideal for capturing landscape images, and the image quality will be outstanding. When it comes to low light performance, the lens is quite good. But it performs nothing special in lowlight. However, in daylight, the quality you’ll get is top-class.

Lens distortion

For being a telephoto lens, you see nearly zero distortion in images. As a result, the photos look super eye-catching and full of details without any distortion. It also makes post-processing easy, and you get high-quality photos every time.

Autofocus

In capturing fast-moving objects, autofocus helps a lot. The lens comes with fast, silent, and accurate autofocusing technology that enables you to capture outstanding quality portraits without losing focus. It is also easier to focus on the subject using autofocus than manual focus.

Pros

  • Variable focal length 
  • Fast and quiet autofocusing 
  • Lens distortion is minimal 
  • Ideal aperture for landscape photography 
  • Vibration reduction technology 

Cons

  • Not suitable for night landscape

Read next: Best lens for vlogging

Things to Consider While Buying the Best Nikon Lens for Landscape Photography

The best landscape photography lens must come with features that can help you get the best image possible. So keep these in mind while choosing the lens.

Lens Weight

As a landscape photographer, you will most likely have to carry more than one lens to get the best image possible. Different lenses will also help you in different situations. But if the lens is heavy, it will be tough for you to carry it around. So choose lenses that are lightweight to make it easy to carry around.

You can also go for a telephoto lens instead of a prime lens that will omit the need of carrying different lenses for different situations, as a telephoto lens can have variable fields of view.

Aperture

The aperture of a lens decides the light-entering factor in a lens, so it is crucial to consider while buying a lens for landscape photography. Aperture lets in light inside the camera sensor, so a wider aperture means a bright and sharp image than a narrow aperture. A lower f-number means wider aperture, and higher means narrower.

The ideal aperture for daylight landscape shooting is between f/8 to f/11. Here, f/8 allows more light to let in than f/11. In low light conditions, you’ll need a wider aperture like f/1.8. However, you do not need bokeh in landscape photos, so a narrower aperture is the most suitable option here.

Focus

You can capture all types of landscape images using autofocus. But it is not possible to capture fast-moving objects using manual focus and low shutter speed. So if you capture fast-moving objects like birds or cars, you must choose a lens that comes with fast focusing capabilities. Without this scenario, you can also use the manual focusing mode to capture landscape images.

Image Stabilization

If you are someone who captures travel-oriented images primarily, image stabilization is a needy feature for you. But if you use a tripod for capturing landscape images, you may not need image stabilization that much. Having image stabilization is good, and when required, it can help you get image images even in tricky situations. But if you turn on image stabilization in a situation where it is not needed, you may get a worse result than expected.

You can also read: Best lens for portraits

Prime Vs. Telephoto Vs. Wide-angle

A prime lens is capable of producing a sharper image than a telephoto lens. But the quality of telephoto lenses is also up to mark, and due to modern technology, it is getting hard to tell the difference between these lenses. Moreover, a telephoto lens can cover many different fields of view where the focal length of the prime lens is fixed. So, if you are on a tight budget, you should go for a telephoto lens.

Wide-angle lenses cover more fields than any other lens and that most photographers want for landscape photography. But if you are not careful enough, the lens could create severe distortion on the edge area. So it has both upsides and downsides. Using your skills, you can get the most out of a wide-angle lens than any other in the case of landscape photographs. But, on the other hand, if. If you go too wide, it may cause a fish eye effect.

Frequently Asked Question (FAQ)

Is a Nikon 18-55mm lens useful for landscape photography?

Nikon 18-55 lens is a primary kit lens. So if you want, you can start capturing images using this lens, but eventually, you may need to upgrade for better quality. You may also have to rely on your skills quite a lot more than you may have to on other lenses. The lens is affordable and captures the okay quality landscape, but the lens is not ideal for night shooting.

Can I use a prime lens for landscape photography?

Prime lenses are those that come with a fixed focal length. So for having a fixed focal length, you cannot zoom using a prime lens. You have to move forth and back to get the proper field of view. This is the only downside of a prime lens. The good sides are it has a wider aperture, better optics, and lightweight. As the prime lens is capable of capturing sharp images so using a prime lens, you can capture some stunning landscape photos.

What is the ideal focal length for landscape photography?

The lens market is filled with lenses of various focal lengths, and different focal lengths are ideal for different situations. For example, a lens that has a focal length of more than 50mm is ideal for portraits. For landscape images, the ideal focal length is 10to 18mm. It is also possible to capture stunning landscape photos using a 24mm lens.

Is an 85mm lens good for landscape photography?

Lenses with more than 50mm focal length are more suitable for portrait photography. But it is also possible to get some quality landscape shots using an 85mm lens. To get the best result, you may have to move quite a lot to get the desired field of view. Though it is possible to capture portraits using this lens, our suggestion is to go with a wider lens for better results. The field of view is narrow on this lens which is not ideal for landscape photography.

Final words

The best Nikon lens for landscape photography must have image stabilization, less lens distortion, fast autofocusing, and an ideal focal length. If you click a lot of night landscapes, go for a lens with a broader aperture for better results.

In this article, we have reviewed some of the best lenses from Nikon, and all of these lenses are ideal for landscape photography. You can choose any from the above list, and you’ll get top-class quality landscapes without any doubt.

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