What hobbyist landscape lens should I get to go with my Nikon D90?

Question

I am not a professional photographer but only enjoy it as a hobby. I have a particular interest in macro photography.

I travel a lot to explore new places and most of my photography work happens to be during such trips. I am planning to buy a new lens which can primarily help me to get good landscape pictures although other uses would be a bonus.

Currently I only have the 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens.

Answer 1

If with landscape photography you mean a wider angle lens, then I have bought a used Sigma 10-20 f/4-5.6 lens to use with my D90 and am very happy with its results.

Now, I read that wide angle is not for letting more in (usually) so only consider this option if you feel the 18mm end if not wide enough for you. Luckily you will be able to rent some lens.

OTOH you mention macro photography. If that's a more important priority for you then you maybe should invest in the Nikon 105mm Micro lens. I don't have any macro lenses but I read that one with a shorter focal length will mean that you will have to be really close to your subject. Also, this 105mm lens costs quite a bit so you may need to choose between a macro lens and a wide angle.

Answer 2

What I use most of all for landscapes and macro are a 20mm f/2.8 AF-D Nikkor, 35mm f/2 AF-D Nikkor, and Sigma 70mm f/2.8 EX Macro.
If 20 is too long (it rarely is), a Tokina ATX-Pro 10-17 fisheye comes in handy, but fisheyes can be tricky to use.
That said, I've made landscape shots with anything ranging from 10 to 500mm, and indeed one of my favourite landscapes ever was made shot at 500mm.

Answer 3

I shoot with a D90 and a D700. I use a Tokina 12-24 on the D90 and a Nikon 16-35 VR on the D700 when shooting wide landscapes. I use a 70-300 VR II for compressing landscapes.

Which type of landscape shots would you prefer? Wide or compressed?

You have to remember the crop factor of the D90. So the 16-35 and 14-24 are both great lenses - they are only super wide on a full frame. 16x1.5 = 24mm and 14x1.5 = 21mm for the DX focal length equivalents.

Do you ever have any plans on going to FX (full frame)? If you do, DX lenses will vignette so the 16-35, 17-35 or 14-24 would be better choices. If you plan on staying with a DX, look at the following:

• Tokina 11-16mm
• Tokina 12-24mm
• Nikon 10-24mm
• Nikon 12-24mm
• Tamron 10-24mm
• Sigma 10-20mm
• Sigma 8-16mm

Answer 4

The info you have given so far makes me think that the current kit lens you own is great for the hobbyist landscape use you are looking for. It has a nice broad focal range from wide to telephoto to suit various types of landscape photograph. The quality may not be as good as more expensive lenses, but the versatility is just right for the traveling landscape use you are after.

If it's a better quality lens you are after then you are starting to move away from hobby photographs and getting more picky about things like chromatic aberration, flare, sharpness etc. I am unsure about the software that comes with Nikon cameras for converting RAW files, but with Canon the DPP software is very very good at removing and correcting things like chromatic aberration which makes even the lower end kit lens essentially 'better quality' than the online review tests show them to be.

If you want to get into Macro photography then another lens would be a good idea, but any prime macro lenses are likely to fall in your current focal range so won't add anything to your landscape repertoire other than possibly quality of the glass.

I would personally recommend getting used to using your current kit lens and cameras manual controls to their fullest so that you can start to get to know any limitations you feel the kit lens might have, which will give you a better idea of what lens you will be wanting next.

Answer 5

As you're interested in landscape photography you should buy AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED which is a very good landscape lens. The 16-35 F4 is very good as well.

For macro go for the 105mm f2.8 macro which will be very useful.

Answer 6

As you have said that you are not the photo-freak, you only take pictures when you are touring, and the kit lens you got with your Nikon D-90 must be an “18-55” lens. Your should go for an "18-135" lens this is appropriate for you and will allow you to click a nice landscape picture even in zoom mode!

Answer 7

There is no need to invest too much for your interested in photography.

Get a 18-270 Tamron lens, its affordable, its compact, it do wide angle landscape and telephoto zoom, and also macro photography.