Today, we’re going to present the absolute must-have Lenses for every travel photographer. Be prepared to examine your travelling gear set. No matter if you’re wondering whether it’s complete or having doubts which lens is best for you – all answers await below.

Our article includes the three, ultimate lenses’ necessities:

• wide-angle zoom lens,
• telephoto lens,
• fixed focal length (prime) lens.

It also contains the examples from different price ranges, so everyone can find something suitable (and affordable) for themselves.

Here’s the objective list of the lenses that are necessary for every travel photographer, based on our knowledge and experience. It’s not sponsored. We discussed, argued, had the quiet days in our team, but finally – we achieved an agreement and we can proudly share it with you. The photography market is really huge and may seem chaotic, with constantly newest and newest gear coming up. This article shows you what is the most important about each type of the lens, why are they essential for travel photographers and describes the situations when to use them most effectively. Our goal is to help you choose the best gear for yourself, by giving you useful tips and inspirations.

Enough talking, let’s begin our lenses’ lineup!

First and foremost: wide-angle zoom lens.

You should go for 18-55mm APS-C sensor or 28-70mm full-frame sensor – depending on a camera you have. Wide-angle lenses are crucial for landscape and architecture photography, so there’s no explanation for you, if you don’t have it – you just have to get one. They give you the perspective, as well as the ability to get closer to the subject while still fitting a lot into the frame or to capture the whole family at the table… or even in the jungle. This is actually what makes the wide-angle lenses so unique – a broad angle of view and a short focusing distance.

Photo by Jess Kraft

Photo by Sergey Urydnikov

There’re a few things that you should always have on our mind while using wide-angle zoom lenses. First of all, get A LOT closer to your subject, you should be even literally inside your foreground, amongst the subjects. Those lenses really emphasize the sizes of the objects, making bigger what is closer and smaller what is farther. It enables you to show your viewer the close details and the broad background at the same time. Remember to keep the sizes natural!

photo by Chantal De Bruijne

It’s also extremely important to keep the composition clean. Use the details to create a visual path for your viewer, simplify the understanding of your photo. There’re different techniques for this, e.g. creating clear layers, using the elements of the foreground to guide the viewer to the background, or just a simple composition of a close-up detail and a rather distant background.

Photo by Oleg Znamenskiy

Beware perspective. Use architecture, trees (these have awesome possibilities – see the picture below!) or any other geometric object that you see. Keep an eye on the lines so that they don’t collide – even a tiny move of your camera can distort the perfection of the photo!

Photo by Piotr Kulczycki

Having this all in mind as well as the eagle eye for capturing the stunning details on even more stunning background will make you the master of the landscape and architecture photography. Most importantly – take advantage of this wide-angle view! Go for broad horizons, full of details and bright colors. And don’t worry about your family and friends saying that you always come back from a trip with hundreds of postcard-type photos (we hear it all the time as well) – you can never satisfy everyone and it’s about YOUR work, so always make it YOUR way!

As everything, wide-angle zoom lenses come in variety of prices. Set your budget and above all – define your needs! It’s not about buying the most expensive or the newest on the market lens, but fulfilling your needs and possibilities (don’t go for a big and heavy lens, if you’re a small person or you just have small hands). Now, let’s check out some examples in diverse pricing:

1) Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR Lens 

2) Tamron Zoom Super Wide Angle SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD Aspherical [IF] Autofocus Lens

3) Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8E ED VR Lens 

Second, but equally important: telephoto lens.

This time, go for 55-200mm APS-C sensor or 70-300mm full-frame sensor. The telephoto lenses are usually used for photographing wildlife or sports events from longer distances as well as portraits and macro photography. Due to their specific internal construction, their focal length is much longer than the actual length of the lens. Thanks to that they provide wonderful far-reaching effectiveness, and are quite small, light and easy to handle at the same time. They come in variety of sizes, from short and medium, up to super lenses and even the telescope-like ones for astrophotographers (although the bigger, the more expensive, with the latter being extremely expensive).

The telephoto lenses’ main advantage is that they make the distant objects look bigger. But don’t hold your horses here! The telephoto lenses give you the opportunity to selective focus. You can use it to emphasize an intriguing subject, but it also comes handy when the background is not as impressive as your subject.

Photo by Jess Kraft

Another great benefit comes in terms of photographing wildlife. Enjoy the lions… or even an unobtrusive macaque without running for your life! It applies to any (wild or not) animal you can’t or just don’t want to disturb. Get a little camouflage or simply sneak in and try to stay still. With a telephoto lens a picture like this won’t be the last you take in your lifetime.

Photo by Matej Hudovernik

Ever watched a documentary with a cheetah chasing an impala or any other grass eater? Were the captions misleading, like one moment the cat almost had a dinner in his paws and the other the dinner seemed to be miles away? This a compression made by telephoto lens! It creates the feeling of intimacy between even the distanced subjects. Late for a train and the streets are almost empty? Use this tool to make the cars look like they are bumper to bumper – a free alibi for multiple usages!

Photo by Piotr Kulczycki

The telephoto lenses allow you to get in the middle of any sports field without the necessity to be a player. First time watching a particular type of game? Get the great captures of the details, movements and positions of the players, so you can then ask for explanations. Even the sports which are safe to come close look better from a telephoto perspective, as well as any other person-to-person situation, you don’t want to get into.

Photo by Piotr Kulczycki

You can also benefit from telephoto lenses when capturing people. The portraits taken with those lenses have the human features (like noses, ears) exaggerated so you can work on capturing the proper perspective. While traveling, it’s really pleasant and important to photograph the locals, especially the ones you meet in person. Learning the new cultures and people is one of the greatest parts of traveling!

Photo by Sergey Urydnikov

As we said before, the telephoto lenses vary in prices. The longer the lens (meaning the farther working distance), the higher the price. Again, it’s up to you – find out what do you actually need. Here comes our selection:

1) Tamron SP 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di VC USD 

2) Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/4G ED VR 

3) Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM Lens 

Last, but not least: fixed focal length (prime) lens.

In this section, go for 35mm APS-C sensor or 50mm full-frame sensor. The main difference between the prime and zoom lenses (the first category in our post) is that the prime have a fixed focal length and the other can be adjusted. The truth is, although it’s not so obvious, that having a flexible focal length is not always the best solution. Let us explain you why!

First of all, your photos are simply sharper. The construction of the prime lenses is less complicated, which gives you this advantage.

Photo by Piotr Kulczycki

The less complicated construction means also that the lenses are lighter. As a travel photographer it’s just an obvious argument for you!

Another benefit of their construction is their price. The prime lenses are generally cheaper that the zoom lenses.

The fixed focal length lenses are also able to produce wider f/stops. This is a huge advantage for capturing portraits. Thanks to that, you are able to focus on the face and isolate it from the background – it beautifully emphasizes the people’s unique features.

Photo by Oleg Znamenskiy

Another wonderful benefit of these lenses is that they develop your composition skills. You need to move yourself and move your camera to be sure, that everything you want is in the frame, rather than working just with zoom. It’ll teach to you how to take advantage of different perspectives.

Photo by Piotr Kulczycki

This all certainly doesn’t mean that you don’t need zoom lens! The prime lenses also have some disadvantages. There come times, when the limitation of the focal length is irritating and you lack the versatility and compactness of the zoom lenses.

The truth is that while you travel, you see different places, different people and different situations. And for each and every one of them you need a perfect lens. As a professional photographer (whether you are one or you want to be one) you MUST be prepared for everything.

Check out our list of variously priced prime lenses and find out which is best for you:

1) Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens 

2) Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Lens 

3) Zeiss Milvus 50mm f/1.4 ZE Lens 

There’s also a DIY option for the thrifty

What you need is an old lens, laying forgotten in your garage and a… adapter. Yes, it’s that easy. Adapters are much cheaper (starting from less than one dollar) and although the old lenses aren’t as quick as the modern ones, it’s quite an investment, if you don’t want (or can’t) spend fortune. Find your old friend (or your father’s/mother’s/older sibling’s) and check out what it can do. The results are really impressive. You can find a super-easy instruction how to screw everything together here.

Nikon UR-E9 Converter Adapter for Nikon Coolpix 5400 Digital Camera – 0,99$

And of course an option for the Rich and Famous

If money is nothing for you and you’re looking for the best, regardless the price – these are for you. Just look at this amazing Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4. It just pleases the eye. It’s considered to be the best lens on the market in its category – no wonder it costs $4,490. But the results!

How about this wonderful Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90mm f/2.8-4 ASPH. lens? It has better protection system (from water, dirt and damage) than your neighbor has on his house. The price? Merely 4950$.

Go crazy, if you can afford it. In the end, it’s all about the photos, not the gear.

Experts say…

Even being a professional, it’s always good to listen to some advices. Especially when they are given by other professionals. For Kristin Addis a standard wide-angle lens is not enough, so she goes for something extremely wide:

I love my 18-10mm lens as I’m all about the wide-angle photos!

Check out the photos on her blog Be My Travel Muse and you’ll understand that it’s really her thing. Another interesting and worth trying lens is proposed by Daniel and Audrey from Unconcerned Market:

Sigma 8mm f/3.5 EX DG Circular Fisheye Fixed Lens for Nikon SLR Cameras. It’s a fun wide-angle lens used to make fisheye photos (such as the one outdoor photo pictured here). Much cooler are the interactive 360-degree spherical panoramas like this one. For all the others on our site, check out our spherical panorama archive.

Fisheye lenses are definitely cool and unique, but you have to remember that the results are pretty peculiar. They are rather easy to operate, though. Another expert recommendation gives us an example, which is perfect also for our Rich and Famous category:

I think my favourite lens would have to be the Canon 85mm f/1.2. It’s not an easy lens to use and the wide Aperture makes focusing critical. However, it’s great in low light and it’s the best portrait lens in my collection. It’s not always the first lens that I pick up when I’m on assignment but it is the one I enjoy using most.

This is a lens that you can be jealous of, unless you have one. No other comment required, simply check out Gavin Gough website and feast your eyes.

Whew! That was a lot of lenses! And there’re even more, this article is just a guide line. The examples present the variety of prices, we didn’t focus on the brands. The selection of the lenses among every brand is so huge, that it’s almost impossible to cover them all. The main goal of this article was to show you what kind of lenses you need as a travel photographer to get the best results in every situation. And that Great Three: wide-angle zoom lens, telephoto lens and fixed focal length (prime) lens is basically everything you need. Invest in what you can afford, because it’s usually the lens not the body, that does the greatest job.

Let us know what lenses you use for your travel photos, and what worked best in your experience.

The post The 3 absolute must-have lenses you need to take the best travel photos appeared first on Photler Travel Photography Blog.