Adam Gibbs on selecting the right lenses for your landscape photography

 

 

When doing landscape photography, it's typical that you must carry your gear over extended distances. For photographer Adam Gibbs, this means that he must consider the weight of his kit when preparing for a trip. A decision which can have a massive impact not only on the weight of your kit, but also on the types of images you can shoot, is which lenses to bring. In a new video, Gibbs discusses how you can choose the right lens for different scenarios.

For example, a back-country backpacking trip places different demands on the non-photo gear Gibbs must bring, so he focuses on minimizing the weight of his camera gear. This means that he opts for slower lenses instead of his faster lenses, as slower lenses almost always weigh less than their fast counterparts. Gibbs owns two wide-angle zoom lenses, the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 and the Nikon 16-35mm f/4. Of the 14-24mm f/2.8, Gibbs says that it's a fantastic lens, but he doesn't use it often primarily because it is extremely heavy and because it requires additional accessories to be able to use filters. By choosing the 14-24mm f/2.8 lens, his kit gets considerably heavier.

While some lenses, such as the 24-120mm f/4 zoom that Gibbs often uses, are considered less sharp than the faster f/2.8 zooms, such as a 24-70mm f/2.8, Gibbs doesn't consider this an issue for his work. He often shares his images online and with prints. Even with a large print, customers don't stand right up against them and analyze the sharpness, they stand at least a few feet back and enjoy the work. To this end, he considers the 24-120mm f/4 zoom plenty sharp. Plus, it's more versatile than the 24-70mm f/2.8 with respect to focal length.

To learn more about landscape lens selection and to hear Adam's thoughts on all of his lenses, including Nikon 70-200mm f/4, 200mm f/4 Micro and 200-500mm f/5.6 lenses, check out the full video below. To view more of his work, be sure to visit his website.

(Via Adam Gibbs)