“What’s your favorite lens?” may be one of the most asked questions I get from other photographers. Lens choice is a very personal one. Focal length and lens-build quality ultimately impact how the final image looks. I’ve been a professional photographer for more than 20 years. I love classic “old school” Nikon primes for their cinematic and dreamy quality. I also love the new Nikon Z series primes because they are razor sharp and super fast. But, if I had to choose one, it would be a Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens.
Why the Nikon 24-70mm lens?
Well, for me, it’s the most versatile lens out there. It’s wide enough to shoot landscapes and has enough telephoto reach to shoot portraits and action. With a maximum aperture of f/2.8, it’s fast enough to shoot in lower light conditions. Although, a lens is only as good as the photographer using it. Pick smart shoot times. Get up early and stay out late. Shoot the golden and blue hours. I shoot water with either a super-fast shutter speed (like 1/3000+ of second( or really slow (like 1-10 seconds) to make the water look more dynamic. With a super-fast shutter speed — like the cliff diving image — you’ll freeze every drop of water. With a slow shutter — like the Icelandic waterfall — it will give you a dreamy feeling of movement.
Sometimes I’m not able to physically move closer to my subject because I’m on the edge of a cliff or near the water. The Nikon 24-70mm lens allows me to zoom in and remove any distracting things on the edges of the frame. People often ask why my images look so sharp and vibrant. First, I shoot at times of day when the light is interesting — like sunrise and sunset. Second, I choose apertures that will give me the sharpest possible image.
Typically your lens is sharpest at 2 to 3 stops from its maximum aperture. So, for the Nikon 24-70mm lens, the sharpest aperture will be around f/5.6 to f/8. I’m not a pixel peeper, but this gives me results I’m happy with. Also, picking the correct area to focus on in landscape images will improve your image quality immensely. You usually don’t want to focus on the far-off background or something super close to the camera. Typically, focusing on something about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way (distance-wise) into your frame will give you great results.
You can always test this by zooming in on the LCD preview screen to check sharpness in different areas of your frame. When traveling light, I generally carry a 6 or 10-stop Wine Country Camera Blackstone ND Filter in my bag to shoot longer exposures with moving water at any time of day.
Below is a selection of images I’ve made with the F-mount Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8E ED VR lens and the new mirrorless Z-mount NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S lens.
You can see more of my work on Instagram.
