Will a 15-85mm be wide enough for landscapes?

[JersFocus]

I am wondering if the 15mm side will do it for mountain landscapes. I have lr 4 and have never done a pano but I guess thats and option as well.

I am not sure buying a UWA is worth it if ill only use it at limited times. I could always get a cheap sigma 10-20 i guess, but wonder if 15 is enough.

Thoughts?

[MNUplander]

Originally Posted by JersFocus

I am wondering if the 15mm side will do it for mountain landscapes. I have lr 4 and have never done a pano but I guess thats and option as well.

I am not sure buying a UWA is worth it if ill only use it at limited times. I could always get a cheap sigma 10-20 i guess, but wonder if 15 is enough.

Thoughts?

You might get more responses in the Lens section, but I saw it here so Ill take a stab. 15mm is pretty wide on a crop body, roughly equivalent to the 24mm FOV on a FF body. Many find that this FOV is plenty wide for them and never need any more, others are ultra-wide junkies and for them, wider = better.

Plus, not all landscapes have to be wide angle shots either - I think you'll be perfectly happy with just the 15-85 for now. If you find yourself becoming a wide angle junkie then pick up an ultra-wide down the road.

[duane0524]

Originally Posted by JersFocus

I am wondering if the 15mm side will do it for mountain landscapes. I have lr 4 and have never done a pano but I guess thats and option as well.

I am not sure buying a UWA is worth it if ill only use it at limited times. I could always get a cheap sigma 10-20 i guess, but wonder if 15 is enough.

Thoughts?

I see that you own it, so I would ask you a question. When you are using it for landscapes, do you wish it was wider?

[highergr0und]

It's all relative to how much of the scene you want to photograph and how often it's a problem. Stitching is always a possibility. I really enjoy my Sigma 10-20, but I like to use it for interesting perspectives more than big landscapes.

[JersFocus]

Originally Posted by duane0524

I see that you own it, so I would ask you a question. When you are using it for landscapes, do you wish it was wider?

Well i just got it, and havent had a chance to get out with it. I live in a very flat land and want to be sure i take a trip to the mountains this summer.

After some research, by, i am sure pixel peepers the 15-85 may have issues at 15mm. For the price I think I will close out my lens kit with a Tokina 12-24... then i wont be second guessing.

I should stop reading reviews though because i am sure i am in the 97% that isnt affected by the small things.

[ejenner]

Wider isn't about how much you want to get in, but about how close you want to get to your foreground. How much space in the frame do you want the flower(s) to take relative to the mountains for instance?

At least that's JMO.

I'm definitely a wide-angle junkie.

[smmokan]

Yes, the 15-85mm lens is wide enough for a very large majority of landscape images. In fact, it was wide enough (for me) that it allowed me to get rid of the Sigma 10-20mm lens. I haven't looked back, it's an amazing lens that's as sharp as you'll find.

[Jim60D]

The just released new version of Canon's free Digital Photo Professional will do Digital Lens Optimizing to correct for loss in image quality caused by diffraction or lens aberrations, and sharpens the image to compensate for any loss of resolving power. At present it does this for about 25 Canon lenses and the EF-S 15-85mm is one of them.

Article demonstrating it.

I think you will find it wide enough. On the occasion it is not, that's why I have a tripod with a panning clamp on the head, a $15 Ebay focusing rail, and an L-bracket I made with steel corner braces from Home Depot, some bolts, T-nuts, a hex head bolt handle, and some scrap wood as a nodal rail for single row panoramas. Using DPP's lens corrections also helps the photomerge.