Lens Upgrade
- Thread starter Helpdan
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Get a tripod and use slower iso. This is probably the first thing about landscape that people forget, camera stability that does improve sharpness maybe more than the lens used since for landscapes you usually will use f-8 or smaller the lens differences will be less at that f-stop.
Hello and welcome!
I'm fairly new here also with a D3200 so can't offer much in the way of advice. All I'd say is that I've found the 18-55mm to be a pretty good little lens, albeit I've not taken all that many landscapes with it. It may be the case that with time and practice you'll be able to get the sharper images you want from what you have. However if you feel you've got the maximum out of it and still find that you're wanting more then you've come to the right place to get help on what lens to get.
I'm fairly new here also with a D3200 so can't offer much in the way of advice. All I'd say is that I've found the 18-55mm to be a pretty good little lens, albeit I've not taken all that many landscapes with it. It may be the case that with time and practice you'll be able to get the sharper images you want from what you have. However if you feel you've got the maximum out of it and still find that you're wanting more then you've come to the right place to get help on what lens to get.
Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
This lense is pretty good. The only reason it is so inexpensive is that it practically out sells all the other lense.
. Use a sturdy tripod, one that will be planted solidly on the ground and not vibrate/shake in the wind.
. Use ISO 100. Higher ISO increases noise which also affects sharpness.
. Use Aperture priority at F8 to F11.
. This lense is sharpest at 35mm, so use it. This is the zoom where the lense is retracted maximum - so it has minimum length.
. If possible use a remote to trigger the shutter, with a couple of seconds of delay.
. If your eyesight is good, use manual focus and focus some what two thirds before the end of the scene. Else use live view to get a sharp focus, and then switch live view off before shooting. This is because in live view the mirror will go up once to come out of it and once to shoot. There is no "Mirror Up" in D3xxx series.
. Bracket the shots +-1EV.
. If there is sun in front use a lense cap designed for the lense. Flare can reduce sharpness a lot.
Once you get sharp images and are satisfied, then there are a lot of lenses for landscape. Just keep this in mind
. Landscape is rarely shot below F6, so fast lenses are not required.
. Lenses for landscape should be sharp from centre to edges at shooting aperture, normally F8 to F11. Most of the slower lenses satisfy this criteria, but it is better to check test results from reputed sites.
. Lense with zero or low CA will also tend to be sharper so check the lense tests for CA. Avoid ones with high CA.
. A few Manual Focus AIS lenses satisfy the above criteria. Check their specs and test results, and then get the ones you like, from major resellers of pre owned lenses.
Here is an example
Full frame
Top right
adityasoman
Senior Member
When using a tripod TURN OFF the VR.
Use self timer 2/5s
Use self timer 2/5s
I think that you need to use that lens/camera combination more--you're assuming that the lens isn't sharp enough based on what? It's interesting to see how so many people think that a DSLR is going to take perfect pictures on its own and if the pictures aren't perfect, it's the equipment that's at fault. If I thought like that, I'd have 50 lenses already instead of 5. Change your mentality from "I need a new lens" to "The pics aren't coming out the way that I want...how do I correct that with settings?". That's how I figured out that I needed a 35mm prime because the bakeh on the 18-55 wasn't dramatic enough for the closer shots that I was taking. I didn't realize that I needed a wide-angle until I started taking family group shots (again, the 18-55 was sharp, but I had to back up quite a ways to fit everyone in).
Take that approach and you'll not only learn how to use your current equipment, but you'll also be able to make good lens decisions based on the fact that you'll know what you want exactly when thinking about your next lens--you won't be asking people what lens will give "sharper landscape pictures". You'll be asking questions like, what lens has good depth-of-field or which wide-angle lens to capture landscapes or what lens is fast enough for night shots of landscapes.
Take that approach and you'll not only learn how to use your current equipment, but you'll also be able to make good lens decisions based on the fact that you'll know what you want exactly when thinking about your next lens--you won't be asking people what lens will give "sharper landscape pictures". You'll be asking questions like, what lens has good depth-of-field or which wide-angle lens to capture landscapes or what lens is fast enough for night shots of landscapes.
I totally agree. The current kit 18-55 lense is a gem of a lense, versatile, cheap and quite sharp. On a 24MP, D3300 I have to do an onscreen check to differentiate between the kit, 35mm F1.8 and 50mm F1.8. To get a sharp image takes a lot of technique - steady hands, no wind and proper aperture. At F8 (with flash if your nad shakes), it is very difficult to differentiate.
There are lenses which are not that sharp at edges, but they are mostly older inexpensive designs. What kills sharpness at high F stops is CA rather than the lense resolution. Similarly at very bright transitions there may be purple fringes if the images is slightly over exposed. A bit of understanding of the lense behavior, and one can always get the best out of with.