NZPhotographer Issue 59, September 2022

Lenses
I’ve always been a fan of prime lenses for landscape
photography, although today’s zoom lenses have
developed miraculously in terms of sharpness and
distortion. Prime lenses do still offer the ultimate
construction with fewer elements resulting in the sharpest
glass. Whilst I own five lenses for landscape photography, I
will very rarely carry all of these lenses at once.
Nikon 24mm f3.5D ED PC-E - The 24mm has always been
my most used wide focal length lens. I love the perspective
and depth of field it offers. I rarely work with focal lengths
wider than this as I find the ultra-wide lenses often don’t
shoot my style of photography. The tilt-shift features also
enable me to control perspective and extend the depth
of field if needed. Using tilt-shift lenses requires some honed
skills and knowledge of the camera movements, so it’s
not a simple lens to use. It is also a manual focus-only lens
which for landscape photography I do not mind.
Nikon 50mm f/1.8 G AF-S - This is far from my most
used lens, but for the right subject and required
perspective, I will often reach into my bag for it.
Nikon 70-200mm f4 G ED VR - This lens is a real
workhorse, and I often use it for picking out parts
of the landscape and creating a more abstract
approach to the landscape. This f4 lens is half the
weight of the f2.8, and is also nicely a lot sharper at
smaller apertures, so much better suited to landscape
photography than its big brother.
Nikon 300mm f/4 AF-S - I bought this after often
not finding the reach on my 70-200 to shoot the
compositions that I was seeing. It is also one of the
sharpest lenses that Nikon makes.
Nikon 18-35mm AF-S f/3.5-4.5G ED - While I will often
not carry this lens, I use it for coastal photography
and in more adverse weather conditions to which I
don’t want to expose my 24mm tilt-shift to. This is a
lightweight and incredibly sharp lens. In fact, one of
the sharpest wide-angle zooms that Nikon makes.
Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III - I always have this
in my pack for those times when my lens just isn’t long
enough. It can be used on both my 70-200mm and
my 300mm lenses; with the 300mm, it extends its reach
to 420mm.
Other Accessories
I own two Benro tripods; one is more stable and the
other is a smaller, more lightweight option. For my
main tripod, I have a Benro Mach3 TMA38CL & V3
Ball Head. It offers good stable-shooting conditions
for coastal environments and in the wind. My smaller
TMA328CL & V2 Ball Head offers a much more
compact set-up for times when I’m walking long
distances or travelling lighter.
I use a lot of filters for my landscape photography,
both solid ND filters and graduated ND filters. I have
carried the Benro 100mm filter system for about the
last six years, and I love the features and precise
control it offers. For me, the biggest advantage of this
system is the plastic frames around each filter, making
them easy to handle and—with a fair amount of
testing—quite drop-proof compared to others. I also
love the latest edition of the magnetic polarising filter
for the system, which makes it so easy to use. Three of
my lenses have a 77mm filter size. My other two lenses
live permanently attached with step-up rings on them,
making them 77mm. I find this great for efficiency
when using filters and It also enables me to have a
77mm lens cap on every single lens; meaning that I
can quickly swap lens caps when changing lenses.
Other Items
As previously mentioned, my bag is always loaded
with a lightweight waterproof, a down jacket, hat and
gloves – just in case I get caught out in some cool
conditions, plus a small Blunt Metro umbrella which
is great for shooting in a shower. At the top of my
pack, I always carry a first aid kit, PLB (personal locator
beacon), sun cream, a Swiss Army knife and a head
torch, plus a lightweight towel for drying wet camera
gear. I carry very few other gizmos and gadgets apart
from spare batteries, memory cards, a shutter release
cable and lens cleaning accessories.
Spare Equipment
I have a large and a medium Lowepro GearUp Box
for my spare equipment. In the large GearUp Box,
I keep a few things like my battery charger and a
few accessories I don’t need out in the field. I also
use it for storing lenses I’m not taking with me; it has
enough spare room to put two lenses in. The medium
GearUp Box contains my Vlogging kit. It’s got all the
equipment I need to film myself for YouTube videos
out on location. It contains a great little Nikon ZFC with
the 16-50mm kit lens along with a Joby Beamo Mini
LED light and microphone.
PUTTING THE GEAR INTO PRACTICE - ON
LOCATION AT SAINT BATHANS
The gear shots for this article were taken while out on
location at Blue Lake, Saint Bathans. It’s a classic New
Zealand landscape location and one that I enjoy
guiding groups to on some of our Central Otago
workshops as I think it offers both the larger and
endless small abstract views.
Heading out here for an opportunist evening away
in my VW Camper during mid-summer, I was not
anticipating any interesting light, although some cloud
cover provided some interesting light to work in. I
managed to make a wide-angle vista of the scene as
well as the chance to focus on some more personal
Interpretations of the landscape with some longer
lenses. Why the best gear might make a difference;
training your eye to see the image and working with
the right focal length lens for the shot makes the
largest difference to your end photographs.
58 September 2022 NZPhotographer