BUYING GUIDE: THE BEST CAMERA FOR LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY (2021)

Some of the most common questions we get are: Which camera is the most perfect for landscape photography? Which camera do you use? Which camera is the best for Nature photography? What we usually reply is that equipment is not the most important ingredient but with the level of competition these days we understand why someone would ask these questions. In this Article we would like to share our honest opinion with you, making recommendations for the best cameras on budgets from large to small.

Table of contents

1. Criteria for choosing a camera for landscape photography
2. General lens recommendations: The standard set for mountain adventures
3. Camera purchase recommendations for landscape photography
4. Our camera choice (professional setup from 1500 Euro)
5. Our lens choice for landscapes, mountains and outdoor photography
6. Update 2020: Camera for landscape photography

Criteria for choosing a camera for landscape photography

• Image quality: Best/outstanding, without flaws, wide dynamic range.
• Weight/Size: If you travel a lot, size and weight is an issue, otherwise you can skip this point.
• Lens selection: The chosen camera system should have many lenses to choose from in order to create an attractive package in size/shapes/weight.
• Not important: Everything else like Wlan, Wifi, great screen, 1500 million motif presets, focus options and image processing. In landscape photography all this is irrelevant, often even disturbing.

General lens recommendations: The standard set for mountain adventures

• Two standard zooms: 25-70mm (full format, 18-50mm for crop sensors), preferably with 2.8 aperture, and a telephoto zoom 70-200mm (2.8 aperture models are incredibly heavy, models with an aperture of 4 are much lighter and cheaper).
• A standard fixed focal length of 35/50/85 mm with 1.8 f-stop or/and an ultra-wide angle of 10-20 mm depending on your taste or if you feel artistic. If you are unsure, test it in advance in stores or buy used.

Camera purchase recommendations for landscape photography

THE BIG BUDGET – 1500 EURO +

• A full format camera (like the Nikon D610, D750 or D850) with 2-4 excellent lenses.
• In 2020 we still recommend the classic DSLR models from Nikon or Canon.
• The Mirrorless systems from Sony and co are recommendable too and can be lighter and good for travel.
• Test if possible and choose according to your personal preference, there are no bad cameras in this price segment
• Invest in a good photo workshop and learn quickly and purposefully at the most beautiful locations.

• Our tip: Nikon D750 (as successor of the D610, which we still use)

MEDIUM BUDGET – 500 EURO TO 1500 EURO

• An SLR camera with 1-2 lenses. Invest in 1-2 standard zooms (as mentioned above), plus maybe a cheap fixed focal length (around 100-200 Euro, aperture 1.8) A used full format camera or a new one with crop sensor is available.
• “Rule of thirds”: Use two thirds of the budget for the lenses, and 1 third for a camera body
• Buy used equipment – lenses especially hardly lose value with good treatment.
• Practice makes perfect – take a lot of pictures and invest in high-quality technical literature.

• Our tip: The Sony Alpha 6300 or Alpha 6400 or Alpha 6600 (they only differ slightly)

SMALL BUDGET – UP TO 500

If you have less than 500 Euro at your disposal, you have to be creative. We favour 2 options:

• Save until you have more money and shoot with what you have. In the meantime, learn the basics of photography in your free time. Read our photo guides and tutorials, they are free!
• A modern smartphone which you probably already have, with a decent photo app is enough to get you started. Save files in raw format and targeted image editing will get you started faster. Take lots and lots of pictures!
• keep your eye on the local classifieds for A used DSLR body plus a “Nifty Fifty” – standard 50mm fixed focal length with 1.8 f-stop.
• The rest you invest in a cable remote shutter release, additional battery, memory cards, tripod and a wrist strap – it makes sense to buy them in this order.

Our camera choice (professional setup from 1500 Euro)

Already in 2013 we decided to use the Nikon D610. The lightest SLR full format camera then and still today. Excellent image quality (especially in the “depths”), stability and a large lens selection were the main reasons. The successor model Nikon D750 is basically identical in construction and offers even better picture quality at higher ISO values. Even today, in 2020 we would not change this choice.

We can recommend this camera with best conscience to every landscape photographer. The Nikon D750 is guaranteed not to disappoint and has some minor specific advantages over the competition.

Before 2013 we used Canon and today we regularly test most models.

Our advice: It doesn’t matter which brand or model you choose. In the same price range, almost all cameras offer very similar performance in landscape photography.

Since 2017, we would in principle also recommend the corresponding competitor models (segment: “entry-level full format”) from Canon. In 2013 we chose Nikon because of the difference in price and weight. The Image quality was arguably comparable

Sure, there are cameras with more pixels, a little bit more image quality (e.g. Nikon D800, D810, D850, Canon 1DX…), others again with hundreds of additional functions, others are lighter (e.g. Mirrorless from Sony) and others looking much more erotic in advertising. We have chosen this body because the image quality is easily sufficient or even better for large and high-quality magazine double pages, the weight is still “portable”, there is a large choice of lenses and the price for the performance was/is reasonable.

Decide according to your budget: We recommend the rule of thirds: 1/3 of the budget in the camera body, 2/3 in lenses and additional equipment (tripod, remote release unit, memory cards, batteries).

Our camera choice (jacket pocket suitable setup 500 to 1500Euro)

Of course, as professionals we are suppost to have all the professional equipment with us at all times. But even as a professional, like most photographers, you sometimes just want something small and light. A camera that is suitable for everyday use, a camera that you can always just grab and be an inconspicuous tourist for a bit. On a walk, weekend city trip, family birthday party and all landscape trips that don’t necessarily provide the most epic landscapes.

Our choice: Sony Alpha 6300 with kit lens or fixed focal length. Yes, we have looked at and tested many models and the Alpha models simply stand out in terms of value for money. Sony has become the absolute market leader in just a few years.

Disadvantages: The Alpha series from Sony has its weaknesses in ergonomics, the lenses are relatively expensive (because they are new), and the menu operation is a horror, typical for Sony.

Advantages: It is small, light, quite inexpensive and offers a great all-round package. Good photo quality (depending on the lens) 4k video recording and up to 120fps in FullHD.

Our tip (2019): Choose the Sony Alpha 6300 if you shoot in raw and edit pictures. Choose the Sony Alpha 6400 if you shoot in jpeg – the automatic color output is much better here. Choose the Alpha 6400 or 6600 if you want an extremely fast autofocus that can also do eye-tracking (especially for video mode this is a pleasure with these models, incredibly positive development!)

The smallest format

If you are looking for something smaller, many recommend the Sony RX series. It is small and ultra portable. Photos and videos are good quality and a no-brainer. The newer the model, the more likely you are to have features like WIFI, Bluetooth (great if you want to get everything online right away) and 4k video recording. The rest is pretty similar with the models. Your budget is the deciding factor here, the RX VI is a good choice.

Our lens choice for landscapes, mountains and outdoor photography

A short answer in an ever changing lensscape is impossibe. Since the selection of lenses becomes larger and more confusing than the camera itself, we’ll give you the percentage points with which we have taken our halfway presentable pictures over an average of 10 years:

50%: Standard zoom, the “always on”: For a full format camera this is currently a 28-75mm, f2.8 from Tamron. Does not cost the world, is crisp, has hardly any faults, is sufficiently fast and has for the price the best overall package for people who sometimes wear their equipment for days on end. A similarly good choice for crop sensors would be a variable focal length of 18-55mm.

20% standard tele zoom: 70-200mm. Here we have a heavy f2.8 model from Tamron (without image stabilizer) for paid shootings and specific projects. We also use an old Nikon with aperture 4. It’s light and cheap, and luckily mountains don’t run so fast from A to B, so the lame autofocus are not a hurdle when it comes to taking great pictures.

15% fixed focal lengths: 35mm, 50mm, 85mm f1.8 by Nikon: If we want to carry little weight but still get high quality results or if we like to experiment or report results, we tend to go for one of our fixed focal length lens. Although rarely used, the results are often the most rewarding – and yet the standard zoom on the camera is usually a paradox we haven’t really seen through ourselves ;).

5% ultra wide angle: 14mm, f2.8, manual focus by Samyang. Cheap, sharp, but very special. We use it very rarely for special effects or for milky way shots.

0% Everything else: Sure, there are even better, higher quality lenses and even more telephoto options – but these are hardly “portable” anymore and cost so much that you can’t refinance them with photography alone. A sharp 400mm, f4 would certainly be fun. If you would like to make one available to us and drag it up the mountain – Sherpas are always welcome guests here at Mountain Momements ;)!

Reading tip: Tutorial Landscape Photography – interesting facts about landscapes, nature and photography. With many useful (and maybe not so sensible, but useful) tips from many years of practical nature photography.

Conclusion

Is the Nikon D610 now the best camera for landscape photography? No. In our opinion the best camera is the one you have with you. No matter what brand or product name is on it and no matter what great features it has or lacks. We think the experience itself is much more important than the camera.

Suggested reading: Check out these extra photography tips centred around capturing the Dolomites as well as these 10 tips for better landscape photos.

In our opinion you can take beautiful landscape pictures with every camera nowadays just by using the manual camera mode. Feel free to have a look at our post on manual photography and hopefully demystify the relationship between ISO, aperture and shutterspeed.

Update 2021: Camera for landscape photography

The camera market turns fast. For some years now, mirrorless systems, above all Sony with the Alpha Series, have been conquering the market. The big players Canon and Nikon have taken the game with the Canon R and Canon RP as well as Nikon Z6 and Nikon Z7 and various other smaller models.

Are mirrorless cameras useful for landscape photography? Yes and no. In our opinion, mirrorless systems are inferior to the classic folding mirror models.

The following reasons speak against switching to electronic shutter mechanisms in 2021:

• The power consumption of the mirrorless systems is much higher (i.e. 2-3 spare batteries per day are mandatory),
• the prices are higher,
• the choice of lens is sometimes significantly reduced or adapters are usually necessary
• Even with adapters many lenses cannot be used with autofocus or only very slow autofocus.
• The electronic viewfinders take some getting used to, and sometimes the viewfinder blacks out when you pull the trigger (therefore a no-go for sports photography).
• Some very expensive memory cards are necessary.

The young 2021 models of mirrorless systems mainly have one advantage: The video possibilities are breathtakingly good. Those who want to do videography, as it were, are very well advised to use the electronic models as a combination package – and 2021 is probably the turning point here, at the latest. If you want to film, you should definitely get yourself a mirrorless camera.

Also the options to connect the camera with your phone and use the pictures immidiately for Social Media are a reason to use a new model.

We have thoroughly tested the Nikon Z6 (photo and video combined) and rejected it. We use the Sony Alpha 6300 as an everyday camera and video auxiliary camera on trips and mountain tours.

Innovations mirror reflex models: There are exciting developments in sensor technology and the reading of sensor data. For example, the sensors of the D750 and D780 and especially the D850 have been significantly improved in their dynamic range. A great development for professional photographers and ambitious landscape photographers! If you want maximum image quality for less than 10,000 euros, you will probably not be able to get around the D850 that quickly.

Conclusion landscape camera 2020: Still the mirror reflex cameras offer the clearly better package for pure photography. The immensely large selection of lenses at good prices is the main argument! Who needs also very good video possibilities for photography, should take the step to the electronic models. Which ever model you choose is relatively unimportant. Test the camera, take it in your hand and decide on the operation that suits you better.