An Essential Landscape Photography Lens?

There a picture in our office of my colleagues stood at that section angle HV pole, with the lighthouse behind it. They replaced it in a storm !! You even photographed it at the end… (it’s not a telegraph pole either 😅) great video

What are you holding on your bag for your camera?

The 35 1.4 is now for sale, so no, James didn’t feel it was an essential landscape lens.

The use of a soundtrack that sounds like a very old cassette player is annoying - everything else is great

So funny to hear the beginning portion! My dad is an old school landscape photographer that almost exclusively shot with a 16-35 f/4, whereas I came from shooting portraiture and using more midrange focal lengths with a wide aperture. On a trip to the southwest United States, he always thought it was strange I was shooting landscapes with a 58mm f/1.4 handheld (typically wide open) while he was doing the more typical, prescriptive method. It's great fun to "break the rules" sometimes!

If I had to choose just one lens and live with it permanently affixed to my camera... It'd be that 35GM. It's just perfect.

Next time, take a one at 1.4, 1.8, 2.8 and compare/show them. It is always fun to see the differences.

First, I love your photography! Second, as far as "go to lenses" I have gone back and forth on what to have on me on the trails. For the last several years I have settled for a 24-70 f2.8 and a 70-200 f2.8. I carry sometimes with that a 1.4 extender and a couple of extension tubes to cover going in or out if needed. That is my general loadout for landscape/nature photoging. I have different ones for birding and/or eventing. Zero bubble!

I've got the 2021 Sigma 35mm F/1.4 DG DN Art. Do you think it's at all comparable? It's a little cheaper I believe, and (I imagine) a little bit heavier, but It's insanely sharp with a beautifully smooth bokeh and DoF.

I LOVE shooting landscapes wide open.

I shoot a lot close to the ground and I generally put elements in the foregreound that are very close to the lens, so the more out of focus they get, the best the shot looks because it creates a real sensation of depth in the image.

f/16 shots with everything in focus tend to look a little flat in my opinion, sometimes you don't really get the scale of distances that the photo is displaying

Hope you didn't get spooked at South Stack Lighthouse. Had a tragic past and some ghosties lurk! 😄

😆 the shadow of the tripod...only true James Popsys fans will understand.

Very nice showing the possibilities of prime lenses and shooting wide open. Nice photo’s and way of editing the end result. Thanks!

Hey, don't know how to message you so,.. are you Ok? Two weeks without a video, a little worried.

When in doubt.... Blanco Casa. Great video...as usual.

The blue hour shot sequence made my nether regions do that funny tingly thing ... I thought either you were going to drop your camera over the edge or I going through the screen and over the edge. Not really a fan of high places. In any event, this video was the perfect combination of funny, informative and relaxing. Thanks!

Thanks James, I am working on this very subject as we talk!!!!! Thank you for the heads up on Photo Pills, just purchased and it really is going to help me get more into manual shooting to get the most out of my lens work!!!

Thank you Buddy, give mom and baby a hug!!!

Moonpie

Why is it so important for a subject not to break the horizon line? How about going just low enough so that the whole of the lighthouse was above the horizon? Would that work?

This has to be my favourite video on this channel. The mood and the content is so good

Very interesting to see photos like that

Let's see only 35GM Landscapes

is lumix g85 good enough to get started in wild life photography? can some one please help
my budget is around 800$

Sorry James but your choice of music for this video is a bit suspect ................. sounds more like the sound track to a 1970's porn movie I'm afraid LOL

Hi, James! Another great video. What mobile app are you using as DoF calculator?

Good points in this video. Was that bannister a sobriety test?

Interesting James, I always struggle mentally with the, have to have everything sharp from front to back and as I'm not a pro who cares, I dont bother with it. You have just made me feel a lot better and for me looking at your work with the blurred foreground, it looks great, and natural. I rarely use a tripod either, I dont have the time to faff around.

Best Landscaper Lens I've used..Canon 16-35mm F4.
Sadly, Lens was much better than my Camera, Canon 6D. Things have evolved since then but I'd use that Lens anyday again. Majority of shots taken were 18mm to 25mm.

Hey James, Im sorry for this stupid question and if you dont want to reply no worries.... I was thinking about buying my first actual camera for photography, because my last one is a compact nikon coolpix l330 that literally has so blury, out of focus and grainy images and even after doing some editing it didnt make the cut..... So would you recommend me trying to repair the camera or buying a new one and of so could you recommend me something for a beginner with possibility to charge the battery on the go because i travel quite a lot.... So if tou answer me i would be thankful if not and this question makes no sense and is stupid amd tou will ignore it ok....

I heard that if something is designed for optimum sharpness wide open, then it suffers diffraction at the tight end sooner. It's given as why using portrait lenses could be sub par for trad hyper focal landscape.

I'm sold. I don't care for bokeh much as a street shooter, but this makes sense in terms of cleaning up layering.

This has been very inspiring. Creatively, it's very freeing to have that many more options

Do you see a huge difference between 1.8 version of this lens and the 1.4 version, enough to invest the extra money?

Quick question if I may, why would we listen to your advice on Sony camera lenses when you were busy extolling the virtues of Panasonic when they were paying you?

I love the photography content, obviously, but I think that my favorite aspect of your videos is how consistently you throw tripod shade.

We couldn't see John because of your wide aperture. :P

Gorgeous images and instructive. Vertigo as a bonus.

Hi James, thanks for another great video. One question, when shooting shallow depth of field with wide angle do you focus directly on the main subject? Eg the lighthouse? Or do you use zonal focus area?
Thanks

James I like the world map on your wall, as you've already been to one of the New Zealand's, can I suggest its time to visit the other one! Cheers from the right hand New Zealand.

OK, you slipped up in this video! Ssooo are you reincarnated; a time traveler; space alien (maybe that one's a stretch)?. WAIT - A LONG-LIFE VAMPIRE? LOL But A "TELEGRAPH POLE"??? Keep up the great work - LOVE your videos!

I don't understand the obsession with front to back sharpness that so many people have - it's actually more realistic for the image to be softer nearer to the camera as that's the way our eyes perceive things in the landscape;, and as you say it gives more non-distracting depth and sense of surroundings to the image. Great work James.

What about apparent focus and real focus. Like the difference between a 20x25 print and a 40x50 print DOF?

Hello James! Thank you very much to mention my name in your video, it was really nice to meet you and have a chat about photography. Really enjoy your content and energy, your work is such an inspiration. Wish you all the best, hopefully, see you out there again! thanks, Jon

Hi James, we have a similar view when it comes to framing and composition, we have a few shots in our collections that are very much alike, well done on todays video, Del

Prime lenses are awesome landscape tools. The obsession with front to back sharpness doesn't have to be the universal rule. Sometimes my favorite images from trips have elements selectively left out of focus.

Great video & info James. Big aperture landscape shooting is great. I treat f/5.6 as stopped down! 24GM, 35GM & the Tamron 70-180/2.8 works well for me.

I think a shot of that power line pole with the sunset in the background would have been nice. Oh.. you did that later :)

Another great vlog. Just received a copy of your Volume 3 book and your photographs in print are fantastic along with your narrative. Look forward to your future work.