# Long telephoto prime lens for landscapes?



## pulseimages (Sep 4, 2013)

I've been eyeing the Canon 400mm f5.6 L lens for a little while now. I love the sharpness of the lens and that it's a bargain for it's range.

Would this lens make for an interesting landscape lens or it mainly for birds and sports?


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## gferdinandsen (Sep 4, 2013)

pulseimages said:


> I've been eyeing the Canon 400mm f5.6 L lens for a little while now. I love the sharpness of the lens and that it's a bargain for it's range.
> 
> Would this lens make for an interesting landscape lens or it mainly for birds and sports?



A lot of people use deep telephoto's for landscapes; I however, am not one of them...but don't let my style dissuade you.


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## Don Haines (Sep 4, 2013)

gferdinandsen said:


> pulseimages said:
> 
> 
> > I've been eyeing the Canon 400mm f5.6 L lens for a little while now. I love the sharpness of the lens and that it's a bargain for it's range.
> ...


For me, wider angle lenses seem to be the choice for landscapes, but every now and then a long lens is usefull, things like trees and grasses on the other side of a pond, or other places not easily accessable.... so my comment is yes, it is usefull, depending on what you wish to shoot.


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## rpt (Sep 4, 2013)

Don Haines said:


> gferdinandsen said:
> 
> 
> > pulseimages said:
> ...


I have used my 100-400L @400mm as a "landscape" lens when I was shooting some of the features at the Grand Canyon. So yes. But I mostly use it for birding...


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## stefsan (Sep 4, 2013)

Depending on your style and your interests this could well be very good lens for landscapes as well as for wildlife and birds. I often use my 70-300L for landscape work.


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## neuroanatomist (Sep 4, 2013)

stefsan said:


> I often use my 70-300L for landscape work.



Same here. Using a telephoto lens for compression can result in intersting landscape photos, as can subject isolation.


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## Harv (Sep 4, 2013)

You don't say on which body you would use the 400mm for landscapes. On a 1.6 crop body you might find that long a focal length quite limiting. I know I would.

Having said that, I've always liked using medium telephotos for landscapes and my 70-200 gets a lot more use than my wide angle lenses on my 1D Mark IV and my 5D Mark III.


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## surapon (Sep 4, 2013)

pulseimages said:


> I've been eyeing the Canon 400mm f5.6 L lens for a little while now. I love the sharpness of the lens and that it's a bargain for it's range.
> 
> Would this lens make for an interesting landscape lens or it mainly for birds and sports?



Yes, Just In my Idea = Some time We can not walk and get close to the point of views that we love to get the recorded photos, and I have 100-400mm Lens with me , on another camera, and I just Recorded them on 400 mm. range.
Yes, In my Main Camera, I use directed function as Wide angle Lens from Canon TS-E 24 mm. F/ 3.5 L MK II ( Not T & S Function) to get the Best Scenic Views as the Over all Sharp from corner to corner.
Enjoy the photos in Greece by 400 mm Lens
Surapon
Yes, I have EF 600 mm too, But I never carry this Monster Lens on Airplane, Because the Length of this Lens and Some time not fit on the Small Airplane.


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## mackguyver (Sep 4, 2013)

IMHO the 400 f/5.6 is a bit long for landscapes. Unless your are at least 100 yards/meters away, you'll need to use f/16 to get barely usable DOF. You could focus stack, I suppose. With distant landscapes you end up with haze and other atmospheric issues, thought, 

I have taken a few decent landscape shots with my 400 f/5.6, but I find the 200mm focal length of my 70-200 much better for telephoto landscapes.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Sep 4, 2013)

It can be difficult to use a long telephoto for landscapes. The issues can sometimes be overcome.
1. Haze in the air shows up easily, so you must time your shots to minimize it, such as early mornings.

2. Heated air between you and the distant subject becomes more of a issue, once again, the solution is cold days or early mornings.

3. Just the amount of air between you and the subject means that the resolution is going to suffer, so don't expect high resolution.

In some cases. its the only option, but I would not want to try it on a regular basis. 

Here is one image of the Alki Point Lighthouse in West Seattle taken from a moving tour boat at 235mm with my 7D and 100-400mm L on a cold and hazy day. I boosted the blues in pp perhaps too much because of all the gray.

I also tried to get a shot of Mt Rainier, but the hade overwhelmed it. Even trying to bring it out in PP didn't reveal much. Once again, the boosted blues to help the gray sky just colored the haze blue. The Mt Rainier image was at 300mm.


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## brianboru (Sep 4, 2013)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> It can be difficult to use a long telephoto for landscapes. The issues can sometimes be overcome.
> 1. Haze in the air shows up easily, so you must time your shots to minimize it, such as early mornings.
> 
> 2. Heated air between you and the distant subject becomes more of a issue, once again, the solution is cold days or early mornings.
> ...



The Mt Rainier shot could benefit from the "Lumosity Blend" technique Kieth goes over at NL to make the mountain stand out without boosting the sky or overly altering the color.

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/tutorial_pages/sfx-colour.html

If you don't mind me posting an edit of your image I can show an example.


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## Sporgon (Sep 4, 2013)

surapon said:


> Yes, Just In my Idea = Some time We can not walk and get close to the point of views that we love to get the recorded photos, and I have 100-400mm Lens with me , on another camera, and I just Recorded them on 400 mm. range.
> Yes, In my Main Camera, I use directed function as Wide angle Lens from Canon TS-E 24 mm. F/ 3.5 L MK II ( Not T & S Function) to get the Best Scenic Views as the Over all Sharp from corner to corner.
> Enjoy the photos in Greece by 400 mm Lens
> Surapon



What an amazing sight to see that community atop such an unscaleable rock ! It makes you wonder how on earth they built up there. Definitely useful to have the telephoto for this kind of shot. 

The picture of Santorini shows the bay which now covers the volcano that was the centre of the island. Historians recon it was this cataclysmic eruption that led to the end of the Minoan civilisation on Crete. Santorini is also top tip for the legend of Atlantis.


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## surapon (Sep 4, 2013)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> It can be difficult to use a long telephoto for landscapes. The issues can sometimes be overcome.
> 1. Haze in the air shows up easily, so you must time your shots to minimize it, such as early mornings.
> 
> 2. Heated air between you and the distant subject becomes more of a issue, once again, the solution is cold days or early mornings.
> ...



Dear Mr. MT Spokane.
I love your Beautiful Point of views/ Photos. Thank you sir for share with us plus " How to " from your photography skill.
Surapon


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## preppyak (Sep 4, 2013)

I think 400mm is gonna be a little long for most landscape work. I often use a telephoto to stitch together some panoramas, but I do that with my 85mm or 200mm lens. I think most would probably work in the 70-200 range for such a thing. 400mm requires you to be really far from a subject, and as Mt Spokane pointed out, the distance limits you just as much as framing.

This is 4-5 vertical photos at 200mm stitched together


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## surapon (Sep 4, 2013)

Sporgon said:


> surapon said:
> 
> 
> > Yes, Just In my Idea = Some time We can not walk and get close to the point of views that we love to get the recorded photos, and I have 100-400mm Lens with me , on another camera, and I just Recorded them on 400 mm. range.
> ...



Dear Sir, Mr. Sporgon.
Yes, That is " Meteora Monestaries" on top of Limestone rock" Tower " That extend nearly 900 feet in to the air. Over 600 years ago at Meteora----Byzantine monks---yes, Great Red wine for all monks too.
Yes, Sir, Santorini is one of the best scenery views( for Photographers like us) in the world, and Plus the great "Ouzo" Greece Liquors too---
Thanks for your comments.
Surapon


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## Jim K (Sep 5, 2013)

Once I bought my 5D3, my 70-200 f/4L IS moved from the Birding group to the new Landscape group. It does nice work there. It still visits the birders on occasion.


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## mackguyver (Sep 5, 2013)

I knew I had read an article about this subject somewhere - this might be helpful:
http://www.outdoorphotographer.com/gear/lenses/telephotos-for-landscapes.html


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## neuroanatomist (Sep 5, 2013)

Jim K said:


> Once I bought my 5D3, my 70-200 f/4L IS moved from the Birding group to the new Landscape group. It does nice work there. It still visits the birders on occasion.



200mm on FF can work for birds, but you have to get close...




EOS 1D X, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM @ 200mm, 1/60 s, f/2.8, ISO 125

Back to the OP's point, while a 400mm prime _can_ be used for landscapes, it's likely not ideal. I and others have mentioned using a 70-xxx or 100-400 zoom for landscape shooting, but how much of that is at the long end? For me, many are in the 70-150mm range. The 100L Macro also makes a very nice landscape lens...




EOS 1D X, EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/100 s, f/5.6, ISO 200


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## ablearcher (Sep 6, 2013)

brianboru said:


> The Mt Rainier shot could benefit from the "Lumosity Blend" technique Kieth goes over at NL to make the mountain stand out without boosting the sky or overly altering the color.
> 
> http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/tutorial_pages/sfx-colour.html
> 
> If you don't mind me posting an edit of your image I can show an example.


 Interesting article, thanks for the link!


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Sep 6, 2013)

brianboru said:


> Mt Spokane Photography said:
> 
> 
> > It can be difficult to use a long telephoto for landscapes. The issues can sometimes be overcome.
> ...


 
I don't have time to work on it, but feel free to improve it, I'm sure its possible. It is probably best to start with the original. I can upload the raw if you'd like, here is a jpeg. As you can see, there isn't much detail in the mountain.


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## Rienzphotoz (Sep 6, 2013)

neuroanatomist said:


> Jim K said:
> 
> 
> > Once I bought my 5D3, my 70-200 f/4L IS moved from the Birding group to the new Landscape group. It does nice work there. It still visits the birders on occasion.
> ...


Very nice pics!


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## Sporgon (Sep 6, 2013)

I find that medium telephoto such as the 135 f2 and 200 2.8 can be useful landscape lenses, but even with this focal length it is very easy to suffer from the problems listed by others; shake, air diffusion and dof being the main ones. I do like the potential of the tight framing and compression though. I even use them for panos, the picture below of Whitby Abbey was shot on the 135L, but as I was shooting in sections and pretty close diffusion wasn't an issue despite it being very early in the morning ( 5 o'clock  ) and a light sea mist.

In the bottom picture, which is a single frame, you can see how the line of trees behind the bracken is very sharp but the hills beyond are softer due to air diffusion. Actually I think it produces a pleasant effect.

Personally I wouldn't want to use anything longer than 200mm in this way.

Severe issue with web colour on second image, I'll have to change it :-[


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## surapon (Sep 6, 2013)

neuroanatomist said:


> Jim K said:
> 
> 
> > Once I bought my 5D3, my 70-200 f/4L IS moved from the Birding group to the new Landscape group. It does nice work there. It still visits the birders on occasion.
> ...



Great Photos , Sir, Dear Teacher.
Surapon


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