Best Urban Landscape Lens?

For this kind of documental architecture stuff, you'd be better off with a 28 or 35mm T/S lens on an SLR, or better still, a LF view camera. If you want to stick to something compact, I believe the best option is a Plaubel Makina 69 pro shift.
 
Thanks mfogie! I had the 14 and 17 with me and they were not useful at all from where I was able to photograph. Yes, yes, a view camera would be great and digital back etc. etc. I used to own the Canon TSE's when I was shooting a DSLR and don't deny that they would be great, but alas, this was a quick informal shoot... and I was happy with the results.
 
Difficult to answer for every opportunity.

Personally, I favour wide angle lenses. Usually 28-35. I also use a Hasselblad SWC quite a lot for urban landscape work but that is more about fitting the content to the lens, if you know what I mean.

You can see some examples of how I've used the SWC and my GF670w in my Flickr stream.

LouisB
 
Also, with the 50 (100 EFL), I was far enough back so a shift wasn't really needed for most shots as I was up on hillsides and shooting the facilities dead on so no perspective to correct! With a shorter lens and up way close I would need to fix perspective much more.
 
well, actually, the question was rhetorical!!!

I went thinking I was going to shoot my shorter lenses for these landscapes, but once there chose to shoot the 50.

For more intimate landscapes, I generally choose a 35mm EFL.
 
Sorry I just found this thread. These images are GORGEOUS! The 50 works great!! If I was you I wouldn't worry about making wide-angle lenses work for this kind of image. I find that the tight frames around the structures turns them into beautiful objects unto themselves. Using a wide-angle lens will very likely change the images into environmental statements of some sort (not a bad thing, just WAY different). I'd like to see more of this kind of image if you care to share more. VERY MUCH appreciate your posting these.

By the way, I found the text on your website very moving. Thanks for that too. Keep up the good work.
 
Thanks Jamie and Traveller! Glad you looked at my stuff!

Also, thanks Jamie, I've found that when I add text to my photos that people find them much more accessible. Glad you found it moving! I pour my heart into my photography and into my writing, so I really appreciate the support!

Good day!

🙂
 
Wide angle is actually about impressing us with foreground, or seeing through the foreground to a background. I actually like ultra wide angle for cityscape and tend toward normal to long lenses for landscape. Your images draw our attention to the objects of your gaze, as Jamie puts it. Good show!
 
I really like your photos, writing, and overall presentation. Writing and photography make such great companions, don't they? The horizontal gallery is especially nice. Your choice of 50mm is understandable; getting some distance between you and the subject helps with distortion and gives a natural perspective. Nice work!

John

P.S. My son is in school in Tucson so we visit often. Love stopping be the CCP. A nice show underway now on Lola Alvarez Bravo.
 
Thanks johnwolf, pvdhaar and traveller 101!!! 🙂

traveller, I've never gotten good "seeing" throug an UW lens. Even my Pan 14 is a little too wide for me. Following the K.I.S.S. principle, I have just accepted this. I tend to see best with a normal FL (love my new cheap-ass Sigma 30!) and then limiting my wide lens use to a 35mm EFL (like my cheap-ass Olympus 17!). For long, something around 90mm EFL workes well... and that's pretty much what I like limiting my shooting with... keeping it simple! I can't get good at everything.

Realizing that I do occasionally shot handheld (ala. this set), I've decided to keep my Olympus 45 for the AF... was thinking of getting rid of it and just using the Color-Skopar 50 -- very "special" IMO. AF can be useful. 🙂

pvdhaar, yeah, that was supposed to be the joke part of my post... everytime someone asks about a "landscape lens" it instantly goes to UW. Thanks for the compliments! I just put the 50 on and it seemed easy and natural to shoot for these scenes... I think that is what comes through... natural and unforced.

John, thanks! Until I started this website/photoblog, I kept my writing and photography seperate, but given the space, it just went together naturally. Let me know when you're in town, maybe we can meet up at the CCP. Saw the LAB show already. It's a great resource here in Tucson! The museum will bring out photos from their archive for private viewings if you set up an appointment. Alway mean to do this sometime.

Best!!!
 
Nice photos and writing. I like the use of a telephoto in your work here. I am put off by the occasional tilted image- seems more from sloppiness than deliberate graphic impulses in light of the other straight images.

You really should make an appointment for print viewing at CCP. They have the full Larry Clark 'Tulsa' portfolio, which at least used to be available for direct viewing. I see they pulled the Muybridge Panama folios from viewing, which sucks since they were wonderful books. Just stay away from the first three Ansel Adams boxes if you want the intern who shows the prints to have any interest- they've see them ten times a week....
 
Would love to see the Tulsa series!!! Didn't know they had it. Nah, not interested in AA at all. Thanks! I'll review my photos and see which ones are less than perfectly straight.
 
Have you been to Tibet or Xinjiang? I brought a few lenses below 100mm and ended up shooting very little - everything beautiful is so far away you'll need a 400-600 super tele just to frame those mountains!
 
Never been to Tibet or Xinjinang. Lots of places I go to, I bring a camera and then don't take a single shot. I can't take photos without feeling really familiar with a place. That's why Ansel Adams wouldn't even bring a camera the first couple times he went to a place. Cedar Rapids is firmly in the Midwest. While I've never been there before, I grew up in the Midwest... probably added to a little of the nostalgic feel in some of these photos.

🙂
 
Search the Magnum site for architecture, fine examples from Renee Burri. I like the set you present here, and the writing, but there's no getting around full frame film or digital for describing the surface of things.
 
Thank you both Godfrey and twopointeight for you compliments and support! It means a lot to me!

Burri shows an ease of composition that I really like. I generally like my own shots when they just feel like they fell into place and were not labored.

Regarding my 12MP sensor vs. 35mm color negative print film, while recognizing the differences, I think that they are in a rough sense equal. Larger format color film or digital will both be much better as will high quality fine grained b&w film in 35mm... but after jumping into m43 fully committed, I made the conscious decision to root myself in color. I guess in recognizing the limits of my talents, I have to maintain focus and make compromises.
 
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