There are so many lenses available today and it can be really easy to spend a lot of money
on the wrong lens and over the last 25 years I've owned everything from quality prime lenses
to zoom lenses and a combination of both but I think I've found the ultimate combination with
just two! and later on I'll be talking about how I would change these if I was shooting different
genres from people to Sports and More there used to be a time when prime lenses were a lot sharper
than zooms but nowadays this isn't the case which is great because it means lighter bags and a lot
less lenses to carry and when I did shoot with primes there was the odd occasion where I was on
the top of a cliff and I wanted to get closer to the subject but I couldn't if I'd have had
a zoom I'd have been able to do this no problem and I have to confess I've been out a few times
where I've taken so much kit with me I'm talking 10 lenses three camera bodies and more I ended up
not taking a single photograph because I had that decision paralysis and it's an absolute nightmare
when this happened let me know if this has happened to you in the comments below with a two
lens setup it's so much easier because you either have to shoot with one or the other and that's it
so at the moment I'm shooting with the 17 to 28 which is very similar to the 16 to 35 most
manufacturers do make if you're shooting with a crop sensored system this is very much like the 10
to 18 millimeter or thereabouts the second lens is the 50 to 400 from Tamron and this is one of those
new age super zooms and this one's surprisingly sharp but why these two lenses are not something
including the 24 to 70 range I think it comes down to how striking those photos can look when you
pick out details in a landscape with a telephoto lens it's easy to cut out those distracting Parts
have you ever been to a location and pointed out a part of that landscape that looked interesting
a telephoto lens gives you the ability to do this capturing that one interesting part and nothing
else whereas a normal lens feels like it doesn't have quite enough reach to do this effectively
and this is the key to a telephoto's power you can make things that look quite small from your
position look big and Grand and who doesn't want big and Grand things in their landscapes
the 50 to 400 gives me more coverage than the 70 to 200 and the 100 to 400 combined all in one lens
you do suffer ever so slightly with those smaller apertures but I shoot at f8 to f11 so this really
isn't a problem and when that light does drop tend to put the camera on a tripod anyway
the thing that I've found with shooting with a normal lens is that on either shooting at the
widest end at 24 or the narrowest end at 70 millimeters now these two lenses cover both
of those focal lengths I also hate having big overlaps when it comes to focal ranges and this
is the biggest contributor to having extra weight in your bag that you don't actually need let's say
you had this 70 to 200 and the 100 to 400 that's 100 millimeters of overlap and it's not necessary
with today's lenses by the way I'm not sponsored by Tamron even though it does sound like a Tamron
advert I just really like the way that they're thinking at the moment with these really new and
different focal ranges now if you've been watching my channel for a while you may have seen a video
that I did not so long ago where I talked about not getting a wide angle lens and you're probably
thinking why are you now telling me to get a wide angle lens the truth is that a wide-angle lens is
very much an advanced landscape photography lens and that video is very much aimed at those of you
who are just starting out getting truly unique photos with a wide angle lens is really hard and
you need to be so persistent and patient to find those truly new locations that no one else has
shot before and this is the hardest thing with wide angle photography so if you are learning
the technicalities of Photography as well as all of this it can be really frustrating and it can
put you off photography for good and this is why I said in that video not to get a wide-angle lens
when you're first starting out at this point it's about enjoying landscape photography and
getting some good shots and there's nothing better than a telephoto lens for this in saying all of
that if you've built a passion for landscape photography and you really enjoy it and you
love finding those compositions this is when a wide angle lens really comes into its own
like I said I shoot 70 to 80 percent of my photos with a telephoto lens but I always like to have
the wide angle lens with me so I've always got that option now if you're wondering why I didn't
go for the G Master which is the 16 to 35 F28 that thing is so heavy and it's so expensive as
well I actually did a comparison between the 16 to 35 F28 from Sony and the Tamron 17 to 28 and
the image quality was almost identical the focal range is a bit shorter but at less than half the
price I'm willing to make that sacrifice imagine being out in the field and all you have to decide
is whether it's a wide shot or a close-up this gives you the answer to which lens you're going to
choose this has freed up my shooting style so much and now I just focus on getting the shot instead
of wondering about whether I'm using the right bit of Kit or whether I should change to another bit
of Kit now this two lens setup does suit my style of shooting but there are a few other combinations
you might want to consider if you worry about that critical gap between 28 and 50 and it's a focal
range that you use a lot you might want to get the 17 to 28 and the 28 to 200. this gives you 17
to 200 again in a two lens setup I still own the 28 to 200 and as you can see it's a lot smaller
lens than the 50 to 400 you are losing those 200 millimeters on the longer end but you're gaining
that 50 to 28 millimeters and it Blends really nicely with the 17 to 28. as for other genres if
you like that shallow depth of focus look I'd go for the 17 to 28 and then the 35 to 150 this has a
maximum aperture of F2 to F 2.8 which is fantastic for things like portraits travel photography and
wedding photography it is a big lens about the same size as this 50 to 400 around about 1.15
kilos but that's the thing when you're shooting with a larger apertures you do need bigger glass
and bigger lenses I'd prefer to have that extra focal length because I am shooting at f8 to f11
most of the time and that's why the 50 to 400 suits me better also if you photograph your
kids and your family or you're that member of the family that they ask whenever there's a wedding
about again the 35 to 150 is fantastic for that although it is a little bit expensive but like
I said companies like Tamron and sigma are coming out with quite unique focal ranges and this is why
I love the 17 to 28 and the 50 to 400. ultimately it's up to you to decide which lenses work best
for you and your style of shooting these two just work really well for me and landscape photography
now it's one thing to have the perfect lens set up but if you're struggling to take interesting
photographs there are a few practical changes you can make and in this video I show you exactly how
to do that to take some amazing photographs you'll be proud of I'll see you next time