Cheap vs Expensive Lenses for Landscape Photography

Branch Brook Park, Newark, NJ. Beautiful Fall Colors. ⇑

Many novice photographers have been convinced by shrewd marketing that it is impossible to do good landscape photography with consumer grade kit lenses. “Kit” lenses are the standard zoom lenses that are typically bundled with modestly priced DSLR type digital cameras. The truth is, there is surprisingly little difference in sharpness when comparing professional lenses with high price tags to lower priced consumer grade lenses. In 2003, Popular Photography Magazine, in an article entitled “Zoom Lenses: Cheap vs Expensive” compared expensive professional lenses offered by Nikon, Canon and Minolta to their cheaper, consumer based equivalents. Note their observations after comparative testing: “Sharpness, usually considered the single most desirable quality in a lens, varied little between the $1,000–$1,500 pro and $100–$450 entry-level zooms. In fact, based on sharpness alone, we couldn’t determine whether 11×14 test prints were made with budget or pro glass. And that’s only half the story. . .” The conclusion? When it comes to sharpness, there is no clear advantage in buying pro grade lenses.

More expensive lenses usually have more durable construction needed by busy pros and wider / faster apertures (e.g. f:1.4 pro lens maximum aperture vs FL3.5 in consumer lenses). The heavier construction, larger glass elements (needed to let in more light for wider apertures), and fancier coatings add greatly to the cost of professional lenses. These are specialized features that are highly valued by pros who do portrait or wedding photography. Wider apertures produce the nicely blurred backgrounds and bokeh that are often seen in wedding photography. And, the sturdier construction is important to hard-working pros who use their equipment on a daily basis. A helpful article in this regard is “Why I Need Pro Lenses” by Steven Bedell in Shutterbug Magazine. A professional portrait photographer, he explains the key benefits of pro lenses. However, these special qualities do not matter much in landscape photography!

In landscape photography, the two key qualities needed from a lens are sharpness, and, sufficient depth of field to keep the entire landscape in sharp focus. Those two demands are easily met by most well designed kit or consumer grade lenses. Lack of sharpness is simply not an issue in modern lens design. Depth of field at the sharpest apertures (F:8 – F:11) of most modern lenses will render the entire landscape in sharp focus. Therefore, generally speaking, you are perfectly equipped to shoot beautiful landscapes with the Kit lens purchased with your camera. Use a sturdy tripod, cable release or remote, shoot at the sharpest aperture (F:8) and be amazed at the beautiful results. Take the money you save by not buying expensive glass, and visit some of the faraway places worth photographing!

Of course, I am not against professional lenses. I would love to own a few myself! The point is that you can do top quality landscape photography with affordable consumer quality lenses and digital cameras. That is great news for frugal photographers! Most modern lenses are so good that if you shoot them at their sharpest apertures (F:8 – F:11) you will get results that can be as visually satisfying as those shot with professional lenses.