Selecting a Camera For Landscape Photography

Chances are you already own the camera you'll be using to shoot landscapes, but do read this anyway, so you know what to look for when it's time to upgrade. Unlike the bygone days of film cameras, in which you might have used the same camera for several years, the rapid advances in digital technology and stunning improvements in image quality offered by the latest camera models encourage digital photographers to upgrade every two or three years.

NIKON AND CANON CAMERAS ARE SUPERB!

All digital cameras can produce fine landscape images, but some models are clearly better for landscapes than others. Just for the record, John has used Canon cameras for more than 30 years while Barbara shoots Nikon. You might be surprised to hear we shoot two different systems, but it makes perfect sense to us. We always know our Nikon gear is Barbara's and Canon items belong to John, so we never get mixed up. This makes things simple, keeps peace in the family, and we each shoot what we like. Effectively teaching over a thousand photo students each year is important to us, too. Thoroughly knowing both the Canon and Nikon systems helps us teach, because the vast majority of our photography students also shoot Canon or Nikon.

Both Canon and Nikon offer superb cameras and wide choices of lenses, including high-quality prime (non-zoom) lenses, tilt-shift lenses that control depth of field and convergence of vertical lines, zoom lenses with image-stabilization, and specialized macro lenses. Canon and Nikon each have cameras with a full-frame sensor that gives the full effect of wide-angle lenses.

OTHER EXCELLENT CAMERA SYSTEMS

Several other companies build digital camera systems and they make fine equipment. The major players include Sigma, Fujifilm, Pentax, Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, and Olympus. Their cameras are perfectly capable of shooting superb landscape images, but their overall systems are considerably smaller than the Canon and Nikon systems, leaving nature photographers with far fewer choices of lenses and accessories.