Lens for landscapes?

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Hi folks

I'm having a nightmare finding a really good lens for landscape use with my EOS DSLR.

I've tried a lot of cheap options and they all disappoint:

Vivitar/Komine 2.8/28 - have two copies, both are not great, flares too much and just overall isn't that good.
Ensinor/Clubman 2.8/28 - also have two copies, not too bad, fairly sharp but flares way too much, not good enough
Pentacon 2.8/28 - again, two copies, a decent lens but not stellar, has a nice vintage look but not what I'm seeking for landscapes.
Meyer Lydith 3.5/30 - another decent lens but seems to not be really sharp and needs a deep hood
Hoya HMC 2.8/28 - good lens, pretty sharp, good coatings give it good contrast and it handles flare very well, this is the best 28mm I have and the one I'm using for my landscpae work currently.

I have a host of 35mm lenses too, but again, no stellar ones and they aren't wide enough on my APS-C sensor camera.

So I want a really good, stellar performing wide angle for landscape work on my EOS.

I'm hoping there will be some other suggestions besides 'get a Flektogon' lol

Over to you guys...

Geoff C. Bassett · Expire: 2012-06-18

Nikon 28mm series E? Razor sharp @4 and above

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Cheers Geoff.

Doesn't have to be a 28mm lens, I'm open to all options, even a zoom lens.

Just don't want to accumulate any more dissappointing lenses, already have loads, now I want just a few really stellar ones.

David · Expire: 2013-01-25

I have a Focal lens in M42 that is also available in CF mount, and it's amazingly crisp. Here's an album with the lens and photos I took with it:

https://picasaweb.google.com/102333270936007447976/Focal28mm?authkey=Gv1sRgCJvmmY2d0Pa-5gE

Here are three photos I took with it:

IAZA · Joined: 16 Apr 2010 Posts: 2592 Location: Indonesia

You have good lenses in value/price. Demanding better than what you have now, you need to raise budget too,
I have Flektogon 25/4 which is sharp and the price is lower than flek 20mm, but I prefer to use Schneider Kreuznach Curtagon 28/4 'coz it's more compact.
I heard yashica ml 28mm is good but I never tried, yet.

Willem · Joined: 08 Jun 2011 Posts: 286 Location: Netherlands

maybe S-M-C Takumar 3.5/24 ?

these were all shot on Canon 500D

http://forum.mflenses.com/super-multi-coated-takumar-3-5-24-m42-t40919.html

Excalibur · Expire: 2014-04-21

You don't have to use a very WA lens for landscapes, so I suggest to include the Tak 35mm f3.5, or a handy zoom is a Vivitar 28-105, it's very good at the 28mm end for sharpness but probably more expensive for a M42 ver.
Other 28mm lens for a cheap price to add to your collection? Then my original Tamron 28mm f2.8 is showing promise, but haven't tried mine yet for landscapes, so it you see it going cheap it's worth a punt, same for the Makinon 28mm f2.8.
I can use Canon FD and Konica Hexanon lenses on a film camera so don't have your problem for quality Wink

walter g · Joined: 20 Feb 2010 Posts: 2464 Location: NC, USA

I've got the Vivitar, Kiron, 28 2.5, but I haven't tested it on landscapes yet. I think some of the other members have.

NikonD · Joined: 29 Jul 2008 Posts: 1916 Location: Slovenija

nikkor 28/2.8 and nikkor 28/3.5 are great

poilu · Expire: 2019-08-29

take any 50mm and make panorama

martinsmith99 · Expire: 2013-11-18

I tend to shoot landscapes with short to middle tele lenses on FF/film. i gues if you like wider lenses, depending on budget, I would go for a 24mm Takumar or 24mm Ensinor if the budget is tight. I think they're about equal on digital, but the Tak wins on film (no idea why).

I have to say that I have a good copy of the Lydith and it looks as sharp as my 35mm Flektogon, but the contrast is lower (maybe a contrast boost in PP would change your mind about it).

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

Yashica ML 28/2.8 is excellent. Nikons are also excellent, the 24/2.8 is stellar but will need at least �100.00. Flektogons have never really impressed me for landscape (corners never seem to be good).

Best choice? CZ Distagon 28/2.8.

trifox · Expire: 2014-05-29

Best choice in f=28mm?

Yes, Graham is right! Smile

Contax Distagon 2.8/28 razor sharp, perfect rendering .

Never disappointing lens.

tf

WolverineX · Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 12:50 pm Post subject:

try nikkor 20mm/4

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

fuzzywuzzy · Expire: 2013-11-30

I'll put in a vote for pano software, I found Hugin amazingly easy to use.

http://hugin.sourceforge.net

The SMC Takumar 28/3.5 has a good rep and seems relatively cheap. f/3.5 is pretty slow for a prime, but outside that's plenty fast.

Mine is the non-multicoated super tak version and it is sharp, but of course will flare if you're not careful.

I'd love to show you my excellent landscape shots with the lens, but it's been a crazy summer so far and I've only got boring shots of the kids Rolling Eyes

My other 28mm is a Rikenon EE 28/2.8, and it's nicely sharp indoors or close up, but falters somewhat at infinity. I've only even seen this lens listed on Ebay once, i.e. the time I bought it, and googling rikennon EE returns very little, I don't think this is a common lens at all. samples here.

The google power of this site is amazing, my test shots are the #1 hit for this lens Shocked

Attila · Expire: 2021-11-18

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I already have the 24mm Ensinor suggested, but mine is branded 'Exaktar' not tried it yet cos it's in FD mount, might pass it on to an FD user. I also have a 24mm lens in Fuji AX mount, not tried that either, but it's another Jap cheapie.

I have been using photoshop to combine images to make panoramas, it works well, but I'm now doing HDR panoramas and shooting 9 shots per image than combining the lot is a real ballache, I would prefer to use a wide angle for the HDR work for this reason.

I think what I need to do is save my pennies until I have enough for a really stellar lens like a Distagon. in the meantime I will soldier on with my Hoya 2.8/28 and Meyer Lydith.

I have three 35mm lenses that deserve more use - Meyer Primagon which is very good, Petri 2.8/35 which I need to finish converting to EOS and hopefully is superb like the 55mm Petris I have, and a Canon FL 2.5/35 I need to get Stan to repair after I botched the conversion.

I do have a few 50mm lenses that are pretty good - Tessar 1Q 2.8/50, Meyer Oreston 1.8/50, Olympus Zuiko 1.8/50, Helios 44M-4, Petri 1.8/55 all spring to mind.

Here are some examples of my panoramas to date, these all use the Meyer Lydith 3.5/30:

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

I keep going back to my Vivitar S1 24-48 3.8 zoom, I like the range, and I love the performance of the lens.

My Takumar 28 is very good as well, as is the Pentacon 30 I have. The Takumar is probably the sharpest, but I like the zoom of the Vivitar.

Those are nice pano's Ian, I like those a lot.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Cheers mate. I haven't tested the Lydith properly, just used it for landscapes so it might be sharper and better than I think.

I tried the Ensinor 2.8/28 out yesterday and the big problem is the flare, I forgot to use a lens hood which didn't help, but I had to do a lot of PP on this pano to reduce the flare artifacts, if you look at the left hand side it's all fuzzy due to flare. I have tested this Ensinor and it's not a bad lens, but I think it's weak at infinity and has crappy coatings. It's alright for other subjects but I would call it merely decent to good rather than really good.

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

Nice panos, the last one in particularly is really vibrant.

rbelyell · Expire: 2014-01-31

L i dont know how much you want to spend, but the yashica ml 24/2.8 is a real gem, sharp, fast (if needed) and low distortion. it has gotten good reviews on this forum from others as well.

if you want cheaper but still good, i agree with graham about the yashica ml 28/2.8. i dont think you can do much better for the price.

i also really like the mir 35/2.0 for landscapes. i am personally not a fan of 50mm panos.

if you find yourself interested in either yashica, i have one of each i would consider selling, as i have 2 copies of the 24mm and because i use the 24 so much, i dont use the 28mm.

visualopsins · Expire: 2021-06-22

+1 M42 Takumar 3.5/24 is my favorite wide on APS-C

Tamron SP 3.5/17

Lower cost options (for sale if interest):

Spiratone 18mm Rectilinear -- Three Versions

Spiratone YS 1:3.5 f=18mm

Spiratone YS 1:3.2 f=18mm

Spiratone examples:

No name super-wide lens

Arninetyes · Expire: 2013-03-26

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Thanks guys. The Yashica MLs or Nikkors would probably satisfy my needs. As someone stated earlier I need to increase my budget to get a stellar lens as I've pretty much explored the cheaper options.

I need to rationalise my existing lens collection before adding to it, I have too many cheap lenses and need to sell all but the keepers to finance purchasing some better pieces.

I also need to thoroughly test some of the lenses I already have so I can decide what to keep and what to get rid of.

I shot some panos with my Hoya HMC 2.8/28 today, I used an extremely deep lens hood I cunningly fashioned from a 1ukp rubber sink plunger. I think this lens does pretty well at this type of work so whatever I buy to replace it needs to be better than this, obviously!

P.S. Before you ask, yes I did wade 100m down that river with my camera/tripod over my shoulder to take the bridge shots. It was only knee deep, usually it's several feet deeper so I took the opportunity while it was shallow. Sadly I accidentally deleted half of the shots I took in the river so I'll have to go get wet again...