As we travel, my husband Nick captures the world so beautifully around us and many of the photos on these pages of Land of Marvels are his, taken as we travel to different cities and landscapes. Travel photography requires a different skillset and Nick is asked a lot what his favorite lens is and what lens he would recommend for a traveler who needs a new lens. There really is no right or wrong answer to this question. Below he gives you his thoughts about favorite lenses for travel photography!
THE SIGMA 35 / MY FAVORITE LENS FOR TRAVEL
Right now my favorite lens to use for travel photography is my Sigma 35 F/1.4. The Sigma 35 has been reviewed a ton online but I’ll add some more to the conversation as it relates to my travel and landscape photography. I love this lens, across the frame it’s really sharp. It annoys me when I’m trying to shoot travel, landscapes, and architecture and the corners are soft. This is not a problem I’ve found with my Sigma. The 35mm focal length is a pretty nice spot to be for me. For me it’s wide enough to shoot many landscapes, is a great perspective for street scenes, I even like to shoot some portraits on the lens and while it’s not as flattering as it would be with an 85mm, it’s still a fun look. Some people might complain that the lens is a prime and you are stuck at 35mm. I actually really like this. Primes historically have been higher quality optics than their zooming counterparts. I also like that by locking yourself at 35mm it forces you to work the scene to get a good composition by moving your body and the camera.
WHAT Other LENSES WOULD I RECOMMEND for travel photography?
What kind of lens to get really determines on your shooting style, what kind of images you like to take and how you like to take them. I tend to take my time at a location. I compose, shoot, think about the framing and shoot again. I tend to be more methodical about my approach. If you are a more run and gun person who needs to be fast and nimble because your shooting from the hip, your needs will be really different than my own. Below are my general recommendations for 3 types of shooters.
The Flexible Run and Gunner
For most travelers you want to keep your photography simple. Walk around, explore, see something interesting — shoot a picture. You don’t want to be stuck at a single focal length or have to waste time changing lenses. What you should be checking out is a versatile zoom lens that will let you be flexible. The 24-105mm is a lens I would consider. It lets you cover a wide range of situations from landscapes at 24mm or portraits and detail work at 105mm. When working with this kind of lens it’s easy to walk up to a spot, zoom in on your subject, take a shot, and leave. Don’t fall into this all the time though, take a moment and make sure you look around to see if there is a more interesting spot to shoot from. Work the scene!
 |
|
I went really wide at 17mm with this image of the Taj Mahal so I could get the entire archway in the frame. It was nice to have the option to zoom out this way when I needed too.
|
I wanted to add one more lens option to this section as an alternative to the 24-105mm. If you constantly find yourself shooting wide angle images, I tend to do this a lot when I’m shooting buildings or interiors. You may want to opt instead for the 17-40mm. At 17mm you can get a really wide look and then zoom into 40mm to get a more standard perspective. The 17-40 has served me well in my travel bag. I don’t use it as much as I used to but when I need to go wide this is where I look.
The Slow Methodical Bag Carrier
For people like me that tend to take their time, setup their camera for the situation and compose more methodically, I really would recommend looking at a 35mm Prime lens. It’s my go-to lens in my bag. When I’m traveling I have a day pack and I carry three lenses with me: a super wide lens for churches or landscapes that require a wide angle to view, a middle-of-the-road lens that can cover a lot of ground (my 35mm), and a telephoto zoom (I carry the 70-200 f/4). The majority of the day is spent at 35mm and I switch to the others when I want to get a specific look. The problem with this is you have to take the time to get the shot. Sometimes a shot isn’t worth it and you waste time shooting a photo that really is mediocre. Keep asking yourself is my time really worth it for this scene. If your gut says YES, then compose and create!
 |
|
The 35mm as you can see in this image is a nice lens for landscapes that don’t need to go super wide. If you click the image to view you can see the sigma 35 is really sharp!
|
 |
|
The 35mm is really versatile and works great for shooting images on the streets.
|
The Budget Conscience (I’m Out of Cash)
If you are on a really tight budget because you spent most of your money on the travel expenses then another great alternative is a 50mm f/1.8. For just over $100, it’s a fantastic value. It’s small, light, and cheap. The image quality isn’t nearly as good as the Sigma 35 but for the price, it’s workable and the size is great for walking around travel destinations. For generic shooting, this is a nice lens to keep in the bag. For me, I take this lens with me when I want a lighter load and plan on shooting tighter framed detail shots. Having an aperture of F/1.8 you can knock the background out of focus pretty well at 1.8. I highly recommend this lens to keep handy.
 |
|
I shot this Moroccan lantern outside of a restaurant in Marrakech with my 50mm lens @ f/1.8 – even though the lens is cheap you can set the aperture all the way open and get a creamy soK background.
|
Melanie Fontaine says
I’m loving this new series already! Through traveling, but especially during the last year, I have really fallen in love with photography and I’m constantly trying to gain more knowledge and improve my photography – it’s slowly, but surely becoming one of my big passions! I’m saving up for a new camera right now and getting a really great lens for travel photography afterwards is going to be my next priority afterwards. I’d be interested to know which camera brand Nick is shooting on and why – I know that it’s an age-old fight that fundamentally doesn’t really make a difference to most people, but I’m curious! 🙂
Casey, by the way, I’ve loved your blog even before you started fresh, but I have grown to love it even more during the last couple of weeks – I definitely notice that you have been working super hard and I just wanted to let you know that it’s worth it! 🙂
Nick Nieto says
Hi Melanie,
I currently am a Canon shooter. My main camera is a 5D Mark II.The 5D Mark II Body was at a sweet spot for me in terms of image quality, features, and price. I chose canon because that’s what my friend had and I could borrow lenses from them if I needed to. It’s getting long in the tooth and if I was to upgrade now I probably would get the Mark III since I already have a full set of lenses for that series of camera and the new features pretty great. However if I wasn’t so invested in lenses I might consider the new mirror-less cameras out now; they are really great. They are smaller, lighter, and have a great image quality. I have to say I’m really tempted by the Sony A7 series of cameras.
I hope that answers your question. Feel free to email, or tweet me direct if you have any more questions.
Kelley Matney says
Great post! I’m just starting to get back into photography now that I have some time and a new camera on my hands. Tips like there are always super helpful.
Casey Martin says
Oh great!!! Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Matt Degreff says
Cool article – have you tried the sigma 18-35 1.8? Its really fantastic. I replaced my 17-40 with it and its just so much better. The 24-105 takes alright pictures but its such a beast and i really hate telescoping lenses. Also i think the 40mm 2.8 is a much sharper and nicer lens than the 50mm 1.8, for not that much more and its also smaller.
A better idea in general though is to shoot film! An olympus XA will fit in any pocket or a nice rangefinder would do great, you can worry less about your gear getting stolen and enjoy your trip more since you wont be critiquing your images constantly.
I’ve written lots of articles about this stuff here – http://theplacesigoto.blogspot.com/ cheers on your interesting blog as well!