Best Lenses for Landscape Photography When Traveling

The Landscape Lenses I Trust Most When I Travel

Landscape photography can feel like an open invitation to chase whatever scene pulls at you—distant mountains, rolling coastlines, desert canyons, quiet forests, or some unexpected burst of light while you're standing in a place you've never been before. Over the years, as I've wandered through more than 45 countries, I've learned that the lens you choose plays a huge role in how you interpret a landscape. It's not just a technical choice; it's part of how you tell the story.

These days, I keep things simple. When I'm travelling—especially by plane—I pack light and carry only three lenses in a small travel backpack:

• Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM
• Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II
• Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II

That's it. Those three lenses cover almost everything I need for landscape and urban travel work. The 24-70mm is my go-to lens for most landscape situations, and ninety percent of my images now come from it, but I lean on the ultra-wide and telephoto when the scene calls for something more specialised.

When choosing a new lens for landscape photography, I always consider focal length, sharpness, and the creative advantages each option brings to my workflow. I own a whole lineup of breathtaking primes from Sony and Zeiss—including the Zeiss Batis 25mm, which was a favourite for years—but this new generation of zooms has freed me up creatively in a way I didn't expect.

Introduction to Landscape Photography

Landscape photography is an enormous genre—everything from wide-open vistas to heavily compressed scenes captured with telephoto lenses. I've stood on ridgelines in Norway, along windswept coastlines in Newfoundland, and on desert plateaus in Arizona, and watched scenes unfold that required completely different focal lengths to make sense of them.

Understanding how focal length affects the look and feel of your image is a fundamental skill you can develop. Wide angles let you pull viewers right into the scene, as if they were standing beside you. Telephoto lenses help you compress space, simplify complex areas, and reveal relationships between elements that aren't obvious to the naked eye. Using both wide-angle and telephoto lenses is essential for capturing the full diversity of landscape scenes, from expansive vistas to heavily compressed scenes.

When you start seeing landscapes through these layers, everything changes.

Understanding Focal Length

Focal length shapes everything: perspective, composition, depth of field, and even the emotional feel of the final image.

• Wide-angle lenses expand the scene. They exaggerate foreground elements and pull the environment around you into the frame. Exploring other focal lengths, such as ultra-wide (like my 12-24mm) or super-telephoto options, can further expand your creative options in landscape photography.
• Mid-range focal lengths like my 24-70mm give you a natural, balanced perspective—great for travel photography, where you want depth without distortion.
• Telephoto lenses like my 70-200mm compress distant subjects, stack layers of hills, mountains, or buildings, and create a sense of intimacy even in wide, open places.

Many landscape photographers, including myself, stitch multiple frames together to create ultra-wide scenes with telephoto compression. Others use wide lenses to create that immersive, close-to-the-ground feel. Both are valid. It all depends on what story you want the viewer to find.

For me, understanding focal length lets me react quickly in the field. When the light shifts or a scene changes, I know precisely which lens will shape the moment the way I want.

Choosing the Best Lens for Landscape

There's no single "best" lens for landscapes. What you choose depends on your scene, style, and camera. But when travelling, convenience matters as much as quality. After switching to Sony's latest GM zooms, I realised I could shoot almost every scene I wanted without digging through my bag.

Wide-angle zoom lenses

Perfect for sweeping landscapes, dramatic skies, and scenes that call for foreground interest. My 12-24mm lives in the bag for locations where space and scale collide—cliffs, canyons, big coastal views.

Telephoto zoom lenses

A 70-200mm lens is an entirely different way of seeing the world. It lets you isolate details, compress scenes, and create simple, powerful compositions out of chaotic environments.

Mid-range zoom lenses

The 24-70mm is the workhorse. Mine stays on my A7R V almost all the time. It's perfect for travel because it handles everything—from expansive views to tighter urban frames. Many photographers prefer to travel with just one lens, such as a versatile 24-70mm zoom, to cover a wide range of scenes without having to swap gear.

Prime lenses

I love primes. The Zeiss Batis 25mm was one of the sharpest lenses I've ever used and a go-to for street photography. But once I moved to the new 24-70mm GM II, the difference in flexibility was night and day. I still use primes back home or when shooting deliberate fine-art compositions, but when travelling, the zooms win. Relying on the same lens for every shot can limit your creative options, so varying focal lengths within a shoot can help you capture a broader range of images.

Lenses for Landscape Photographers

Every landscape photographer develops a personal rhythm with focal lengths. Some stick to wide-angle. Some live in the telephoto world. I constantly switch depending on where I am.

• Wide angles create drama and depth.
• Telephotos simplify and isolate.
• Zooms offer flexibility, letting you work quickly as light changes rapidly.
• Primes offer outstanding sharpness but demand more movement and lens changes.

Many landscape photographers rely on two lenses—a wide-angle zoom and a telephoto zoom—to cover most scenarios, providing versatility from sweeping vistas to distant details. They also rarely shoot at wide apertures like f/2.8, preferring narrower apertures for greater depth of field and sharpness across the frame.

What I've learned is this: landscapes aren't always about going wide. Some of my favourite landscape prints—images collectors have purchased and hung in their homes—were taken at 200mm.

Focal Lengths in Landscape Photography

Here's how I think about the main ranges when I'm travelling:

Understanding a lens's focal range is essential for landscape photographers, as it helps determine which lens is best suited for capturing expansive vistas, distant mountains, or intricate details in a scene.

• 12-24mm: Ultra-wide zooms are perfect for dramatic foregrounds and sweeping landscapes.
• 24-70mm: 24-70mm: This standard zoom covers a versatile focal range, making it ideal for a variety of compositions from wide scenes to tighter crops. Lenses in this range with wider apertures, such as F2.8, often deliver sharper performance in low light or challenging conditions compared to F4 versions. And I will shoot wide open when walking around urban centers where I want a faster shutter speed to capture in focus fast-moving scenes, but in general I never shoot at f2.8 or f4.0 - I choose the f8 or f11, which is the sharpest focal length, or I go f16+ for greater depth of field. So my point is that having a more expensive lens that can open up to f2.8 is unnecessary for most landscape photographers.
• 70-200mm: Telephoto zooms let you isolate distant subjects or compress perspective. Choosing a lens with a wider aperture in this focal range can also yield sharper results, especially when shooting in dim light or aiming for enhanced image quality.

To dig deeper into the foundations that shape every great landscape image, explore Rules of Composition in Photography

Ultra-wide (10–24mm)

The 12-24mm is one of the best ultra-wide lenses for landscape photography. This is where the 12-24mm shines. Great for tight spaces, dramatic skies, and scenes where the foreground tells the story. If I want the viewer to feel like they're stepping into the frame, I reach for this lens.

Mid-range (24–70mm)

This is the heart of landscape travel photography—balanced, versatile, and natural-looking. Ninety percent of the landscapes I shoot on the road come from the 24-70mm GM II. It gives me everything I need without compromise.

Telephoto (70–200mm)

This focal length reveals landscapes most people never notice. You can pull mountain ridges together, highlight patterns in distant terrain, or isolate a single sliver of light hitting a valley.

Using a telephoto lens at a wide aperture creates a blurred background, helping isolate subjects such as flowers or distant trees in the landscape. Telephoto lenses with larger apertures can also produce a shallower depth of field, which is helpful for artistic shots or when you want to emphasize your subject against a soft, out-of-focus background.

Super-telephoto (200mm+)

Super-telephoto lenses are rarely essential for landscape photography when travelling, but they can become invaluable in very specific situations. I only bring one on trips where wildlife is part of the plan—Tanzania and the Serengeti were perfect examples, where the Sony FE 200–600mm f/5.6–6.3 G OSS became my primary tool. For regular travel, especially international flights, that lens stays at home.

But when I’m travelling by road here in Canada and have the space to bring it, I’ll sometimes throw it into the kit. And every so often, it earns its place. On a recent trip through British Columbia, there was a distant meadow with farm animals moving through pockets of evening light—far too distant for a 70–200mm to do the scene justice, and impossible to get closer without disturbing the moment entirely. That’s the kind of situation where the 200–600mm shines.

I still use it rarely, but when a landscape calls for that kind of reach—when the subject is simply too far away, or when compression becomes the entire creative idea—it gives me an option no other lens can.

Best Lenses by Type

Wide Angle Zoom

Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM

Sharp, fast, and built for expansive landscapes. Great for dramatic leading lines and close foregrounds.

Mid-Range Zoom

Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II

This is the one lens I always recommend for travel. Light, unbelievably sharp, and more versatile than any prime.

Telephoto Zoom

Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II

Perfect for picking out scenes that are hiding in plain sight. Great for mountains, cliffs, distant textures, and compressed perspectives.

Prime Lenses

Sony and Zeiss primes are world-class. If you value low-light performance or shoot more deliberately, primes offer exceptional results. But for plane travel and fast-moving days, Zooms win for me every time.

Best Lenses for Different Scenes

Landscape photography is a vast genre, and the best lenses for each scene can vary dramatically depending on what you're trying to capture. Over the years, I've found that matching the right lens to the right environment is key to creating amazing landscape images—sometimes it's about going ultra-wide to pull in both a foreground and a dramatic sky, other times it's about reaching for a telephoto lens to compress a distant mountain range or isolate a single tree in a field of gold.

Expansive Vistas and Open Landscapes: For those classic, sweeping views—think rolling hills, vast deserts, or panoramic coastlines—awide-anglee zoom lens is almost always my first choice. Lenses in the 12-24mm or 16-35mm range let you capture the full scale of a scene, especially when you want to include both a strong foreground and an expansive sky. These wide focal lengths suit scenes that call for immersion and depth.

Mountain Peaks and Distant Details: When I'm shooting majestic mountain peaks or trying to pick out patterns in a distant landscape, a telephoto zoom lens (like a 70-200mm) becomes invaluable. Longer focal lengths help compress the scene, making distant subjects appear closer together and more dramatic. This is also the best lens for landscape shots where you want to isolate a specific element or create multiple stitched shots for a heavily compressed, panoramic effect.

Forests, Waterfalls, and Intimate Nature Scene: For tighter, more intimate scenes—like forest interiors, waterfalls, or close-up nature images—a mid-range zoom lens (24-70mm) or a wide-angle prime lens (24mm or 35mm) offers the flexibility to frame both wide and relatively deep crop compositions. These landscape photography lenses are great for working in tight spaces where you want to control perspective and avoid distortion.

Seascapes and Reflections: When I'm after sky and beach reflections or want to play with leading lines along a shoreline, I often reach for a wide-angle lens. The ability to get close to the water and exaggerate foreground textures is what makes these lenses shine. A wide-angle zoom also helps when you need to adjust your composition as the light changes quickly.

Low Light and Blue Hour: In very low-light situations—like sunrise, sunset, or blue hour—a lens with better low-light performance and a wide maximum aperture (f/2.8 or faster) is a huge advantage. Prime lenses often excel here, but many modern zoom lenses now offer sharp image quality and fast apertures, making them a solid choice for shooting landscapes as light fades.

Macro and Close-Up Landscapes: For times when you want to capture the intricate details of flowers, leaves, oandtextures a dedicated macro lens can open u whole new world. While not always in my travel kit when travelling, macro lenses are the best lenses for landscape photographers who love to explore the smaller stories within a scene.

Ultimately, the best lens for landscape photography is the one that helps you interpret the scene in front of you—whether that's a wide-angle zoom for immersive vistas, a telephoto lens for distant mountain-range drama, or a macro lens for intimate details. Matching your lens choice to the landscape is what allows you to create amazing landscape images, no matter where your photography journey takes you. Happy lens hunting!

Camera Considerations

I shoot with the Sony A7R V for its dynamic range, resolution, and ability to pull detail from harsh lighting conditions. Full-frame sensors give you more flexibility—especially in landscapes with deep shadows and bright highlights.

Key considerations include:

Full frame vs crop

The camera's sensor size plays a crucial role in digital photography, affecting how lenses perform in terms of depth-of-field control, low-light performance, and image sharpness. Full-frame cameras offer advantages for landscape photography, providing actual wide-angle performance, greater dynamic range, and improved image quality, especially in challenging lighting conditions. Crop sensors, on the other hand, effectively extend your telephoto reach and can be more versatile for specific focal lengths, though they limit your wide-angle capabilities.

Image stabilization

Image stabilization helps in low light or when shooting handheld at slower shutter speeds, and honestly, I think it’s one of the most underrated features in modern lenses and camera bodies. I travel with a tripod and use it often—long exposures, blue-hour scenes, and intentional compositions all benefit from the stability. But I’m continually amazed at how far stabilization has come and what it lets me get away with when I’m moving quickly.

There have been moments on the road where I’ve captured tack-sharp images at 1/25th of a second without even thinking about it. I’ve pushed it even further—1/10th of a second—by bracing against a wall, leaning into a tree, or just grounding myself and breathing slowly. And the files? Still sharp. Not “passable” sharp—fine-art-print sharp.

If you’re looking for a spark of creative energy, explore Inspiring Visions: 22 Impactful Photographer Quotes

The freedom that it gives you as a travel photographer is enormous. You can work in dim alleyways, dense forests, misty mornings, or late twilight without scrambling for a tripod every five minutes. You’re able to react fast, stay in the moment, and pull off shots that simply weren’t possible a decade ago. For me, stabilization isn’t a bonus feature anymore—it’s a core part of how I work.

Weather sealing

Landscapes don’t always happen in perfect weather. I’ve been blasted by ocean spray, desert dust, sideways rain, biting Arctic wind—you name it. And this is something most photographers barely talk about: weather sealing.

Some of the most compelling landscape and urban images I’ve ever created were made in miserable conditions—fog rolling through a valley, mist hanging over a street, rain softening the edges of a mountain scene. Those moody moments carry emotion you just can’t fake, but to capture them, your gear has to be willing to stand in the storm with you.

With higher-end equipment, I simply don’t worry about it. I keep a lens hood on to reduce the number of droplets hitting the front element, but beyond that, I treat my gear like tools. Tools are meant to be used—rain, fog, cold, dust, whatever the day brings. The Sony A7R series, along with its pro-level lenses, has weather sealing that lets me stay focused on the photograph rather than worrying whether my camera is about to drown.

It’s not glamorous, and it doesn’t get talked about nearly enough, but when you’re out capturing real scenes in real conditions, weather sealing becomes the unsung hero of landscape photography. Without it, half of my favourite photographs simply wouldn’t exist.

Tips for Buying a Lens

If you're building a kit or upgrading your current one, here are a few things I've learned the hard way:

• Know what type of landscapes you actually shoot—wide, mid-range, or telephoto.
• Don't underestimate the importance of focal length flexibility.
• Buy lenses that complement your camera's sensor.
• Read real-world reviews, not just lab tests.
• Don't be afraid of buying used or refurbished gear from reliable sources. Used lenses can offer great value, especially when new models cost twice as much.
• When considering cost, remember that lenses with larger apertures (like F2.8) can cost twice as much as F4 versions. While a higher price often delivers better low-light performance and image quality, it may not be necessary for your needs.
• Think about size and weight if you travel a lot.

Additional Considerations

There are a few other essentials in landscape photography that don’t always make the headlines, but they matter more than most people realize.

Tripods and stability

Tripods are critical for quality images, especially when you’re shooting long exposures, waterfalls, twilight scenes, or other situations where slower shutter speeds are used. But you don’t need one of those giant, back-breaking monsters that people used to lug around. I travel with a small, extremely high-quality Gitzo tripod and head, and honestly, it’s liberating.

Yes, there are situations where you need something heavier—high winds can make even the best lightweight tripod dance around. I’ve been on bridges in Lofoten where the wind felt strong enough to knock me straight off the road. In those moments, I bring out my biggest tripod, drop it to its lowest setting, and let physics do its job. But the truth is, after decades of travelling and shooting, I’ve learned that my small Gitzo handles 95% of what I need. I simply use a 10-second timer, step back, let everything settle, and the resulting images are perfectly sharp.

Low light performance

Low light ability matters far more than beginners realise. Some of the most rewarding landscapes happen when the light is barely there—those fragile moments before sunrise or long after sunset. Having gear that can handle low light gracefully gives you opportunities most people miss.

Weight

Now that I’m in my early 60s, I can tell you with absolute certainty: weight matters. In my early days, I used to haul around a massive backpack stuffed with bodies, primes, telephotos, and all kinds of “just in case” lenses. Today? No chance.

Every ounce counts. The lighter your kit, the longer you’ll walk, the more present you’ll be, and—this is the important part—the more you’ll enjoy photography. When you enjoy it, you see more. You slow down. You compose with intention. Lightweight isn’t just about comfort; it directly translates into better images.

Want to understand how colour, contrast and mood shape a photograph? Read What Is Saturation in Photography

Cost vs. performance

There’s a cliché I see repeated endlessly: “Better gear won’t make you a better photographer.” And while there’s a grain of truth in that, it’s also one of the most misleading statements in photography.

Better gear absolutely produces higher-quality images—greater dynamic range, better weather sealing, more accurate autofocus, improved stabilization, superior sharpness, and overall durability. These things matter if you shoot seriously, print your work, or travel in real environments rather than studio conditions.

High-end equipment won’t magically fix poor technique, but it does give you more headroom to push creativity and cope with challenging conditions.

I’ve always lived by a simple rule: buy fewer, higher-quality pieces. Everyone has a budget, but instead of collecting a shelf full of “almost good” lenses, save up for one or two excellent ones. They’ll last longer, hold their value, and elevate your work far more than quantity ever will.

Final Recommendations

If you're starting, a solid wide-angle zoom like a 16-35mm is a great place to begin. You'll learn composition faster, and it's perfect for those big, wide scenes everyone loves.

For more experienced photographers, adding a telephoto zoom opens up a whole new world. You start noticing shapes and patterns you'd never see with a wide-angle lens alone.

Primes like 24mm or 35mm are excellent for street photography or deliberate fine-art compositions, but for travel landscapes, zooms are king. The freedom they give you is worth everything.

Ultimately, the best lens for landscape photography is the one that balances flexibility, image quality, weight, and the way you personally see the world. For me, that means carrying three zooms and trusting them to handle every landscape I encounter—from quiet coastal mornings to the raw chaos of the Arctic.

If you're heading out into the world, pack the glass that lets you work the way you want—and leaves you free to chase the moments that matter.