[ramseybuckeye]

I use all of my lenses for landscapes, from the DA15Ltd to the DA*300 with DA rear converter. I probably use the DA20-40 and DA55-300PLM most often.

The composition is more important than the lens, choose the focal length for the composition. Equally important is taking your time, it's a landscape, probably not going anywhere, take your time but you still have to use the light, so taking your time includes planning. I prefer to shoot early morning or evening, when the light is good. I like to arrive early and scout out the shots that I want, of course this can change with the color and clouds in the sky. When you plan you will be able to work faster because you already have the compositions in mind, and you can get more images while the light is good. I prefer using a tripod, shooting in manual, and using manual focus. That doesn't mean I always do that, because there are times you can't plan or shoot when you want to.

[northcoastgreg]

Thanks for all the feedback! I appreciate all the suggestions. I have not tried to print yet a photo from the 28-105 lens. I just figure there are sharper lenses out there, and want to use the best glass possible if I'm going to make a large print.

Although the FA 31 is a little sharper than the DFA 28-105, the difference is to slight to make any difference in a large print. The main advantage of the FA 31 over the zoom is that the limited lens has a delicate beauty in the way in renders detail and color that gives it a bit of an edge over the DFA zoom. But it is a subtle difference and unless you have an eye for it you might miss it. In the last year, I've used the FA 31 quite a bit more than the DFA 28-105, but that's because I haven't traveled anywhere in the last year. I tend to use zooms for unfamiliar landscapes where I'm not sure what focal length I will need and primes for local landscapes where I just want to explore a given focal length.

Autumn colors with the FA 31:

[UncleVanya]

Like so many others I’d say whatever fits the subject works best. The lens I use depends on the kit I’m carrying. This weekend I carried a little Sony RX100 IV and got this shot:

Fire, Water, & Wind by -vanya_42nd-

This shot would be better potentially if I had used my KP and the HD DA 20-40, but that was more gear than I had room for on this trip.

The point is, you use what you have far better than you use what you left at home.

[swanlefitte]

With landscape I would think you want to close down the aperture for more DOF where all lenses are pretty good. By f/8 the newest dfa 50 1.4 is falling off. It seems depth vs sharpness is a much bigger problem.
More depth the less the lens matters and less depth, the less sharp the whole landscape matters.

[Ian Stuart Forsyth]

With Pentax I did like the sigma 24 1.8 and the older 16-50 sdm along with the sigma 10-20

Some of the lenses I would like to have to seen for pentax is the Tokina 16-28 2.8 for a lot of landscape that did not require shooting into the sun the lens performed well and, in some situations, better than the Tarmon 15-30'

Another that I like is the Sigma 35 1.4 and also the sigma 24 1.4 (it is a shame that the 24 is not available for pentax)
Most current 50 mm primes are another sure bet I like the Nikon 50 1.8 G as it is cheap and work well

[JensE]

When Pentax first demoed Piixelshift, they used the DFA28-105. Sharpness, slightly stopped down, is really nothing to worry about. The ability to frame a scene using a zoom, which has been mentioned, removes the need to crop - often needed for primes - for the final finished image and thus retains resolution and detail. The 28-105mm is also excellent in terms of flare and ghosts, able to handle very large contrasts, allowing to actually make use of the K-1's dynamic range. Add the compact size and it easily is my landscape lens of choice. It is however sometimes not wide enough. For my very compact setup, I just add the Voigtländer 20mm/3.5 to my bag (requiring a slight crop for critical images), otherwise the DFA 15-30mm.

[Lord Lucan]

Most used, best or favourite ... I don't have a favourite lens, I just pick the one that is appropriate for what I want to picture. I generally carry the FDA 24-70 mm, an FA 100-300 mm and an old manual focus 17 mm. They cover all I need but the 24-70 is the most used.

[Digitalis]

With my Pentax cameras I have been using the FA Limited lenses for years: and each one produces images with superb optical quality. For landscape work where you are typically stopped down to @ f/8~f11 at which point most lenses will perform well, but the FA limited lenses have that elusive pixie dust.


FA31:





FA77:




DFA21:






Leica Monochrom - Pentax SMCP 43mm f/1.9 Special

[Sandy Hancock]

The 28-105mm....is however sometimes not wide enough.

Indeed. The DA*11-18 on a crop body is a fine addition to the kit. I prefer it to the DFA15-30 on the K-1.



For the record, this was about 1200m above sea level, and about a 6km hike from a cruise ship parked in Skagway, Alaska.

[Henrico]

Well, landscapes can be shot with a lot of different focus lengths. But my favorite lens is the old K28 F3.5 with a decent lens hood. Stopping down to F8 this thing is tack sharp without aberrations. And it is much lighter than a DFA 15-30.

[EssJayEff]

With landscape I would think you want to close down the aperture for more DOF

My own personal style is typcially 180 degrees opposite of this approach. I much prefer to use out-of-focus areas to isolate my subjects, be it foreground, background, or both. I totally get (and love!) the Group f/64 approach to landscape photography. My mileage varies intentionally. I keep their "carefully framed" approach, but abandon the "sharply focused." Neither approach is right or wrong . . . it is just important to remember that landscapes do not need to have "more" depth of field.

[texandrews]

A lot goes into getting very sharp environmental images---camera settings for one! After that support, which can differ according to conditions. So it's not just the lens. Also, we need to better understand what FL best suits your conception of landscape.

[mattb123]

On my K-1ii the 15-30/2.8 gets the most use for landscapes and also for real estate.
Depending on the shot I sometimes focus stack to get sharp focus all the way through the scene.
But it is heavy to hike any significant distance with so I also have an Irix 15mm to go a little lighter when I need to but still want to shoot wide.

[MossyRocks]

For front to back sharpness, maybe also focus stacking? (Something I haven't tried yet.)

True but for landscapes that isn't as big of a concern than it would be with macro. Focus stacking is its own discussion but if one is looking for a tutorial this is the one I learned from.

Also, bracketing the aperture, say f5.6/f8/f11 can often help a little if the lens is not perfect at its extreme. Then can choose what is best, as a more extreme blurring can help disguise a not quite focussed blurring by a weak lens.

True but once one starts getting beyond about f/8 diffraction will start eating sharpness with modern pixel pitches so there may not be much to be gained unless the lens is still increasing substantially at f/11 from f/8.

[mikeSF]

Hi everyone,

I'm curious what would be your best/most-used lens for landscapes? I'm thinking of the 31mm Limited, but have seen some mixed reviews.

I have the 28-105, but thinking a prime would yield sharper results.

TIA!!

mixed reviews of the 31? it is one of the best Pentax lenses ever produced. Not lacking in sharpness at all and would outperform 28-105 in sharpness.
good luck

here are my FA31 shots:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeoria/albums/72157629063825729