Outdoor Photography How To

The 3 Best Zoom Lenses for Landscape Photography (VIDEO)

Henry Anderson  |  Sep 20, 2022

Gear isn’t the most important thing when shooting landscape photos, but it does matter. In particular, choosing the right lens can make your job easier as a photographer.

In the below video, pro photographer Mark Denney shares what he says are the three most essential zoom lenses for landscape photography. And believe it or not, Denny argues “focal length doesn’t matter.”

He does say, however, that you shouldn’t limit yourself to just one or two lenses to make your camera bag lighter.

“It took me a long time to figure this one out as I decided to use a two lens setup years ago and now that I look back, I feel that decision hurt my progression,” Denney admits. “In this video, I discuss why I was wrong with my previous thought track with regards to zoom lenses for landscape photography and what I think is the best option now. So, if you're struggling with which lenses to purchase or use for your photography, I hope that my experience helps you in deciding which route to go.”

So, what are the three essential zoom lenses for landscape photography? Here are his top three, which he calls “the holy trinity of lenses.” While Denney shares the specific lenses he uses, they really just need to fit into the following categories and you will be good to go.

#1 Wide-Angle Zoom: 16-35mm Lens

“That was really the lens that I was most excited about when I was shooting Sony,” Denney explains. “Wide angle lenses are fantastic for creating these kind of sweeping vistas where it’s just a very immersive look.”

#2 Telephoto Zoom: 100-400mm Lens

“One of my favorite aspects of a telephoto lens is that you can just isolate a subject. You can find a very small vignette, something just very tiny in your scene that you really enjoy and zoom all the way in and isolate that and create a very focused image.”

#3 Mid-Range Zoom: 32-64mm Lens

“What I love about it, not only is it very versatile, you can go wide, you can go long-ish or you can go a little bit closer in. The versatility that a mid-range zoom offers is absolutely huge.”

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