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Greetings everyone, first post, great to be here :)

I’ll be backpacking Ireland this summer, and debated between bringing a Rolleiflex 3.5f (whiteface), or the M4. I’m leaning more towards the M4, and was curious on opinions for what lens might take the best landscape images. I’ll be packing the 35mm for most shots, but when it comes to wider landscapes in the open country, I’m debating...your thoughts? 

Hoping everyone is enjoying the holiday season, and an early Merry Christmas!

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10 hours ago, FreedomPanda said:

Greetings everyone, first post, great to be here :)

I’ll be backpacking Ireland this summer, and debated between bringing a Rolleiflex 3.5f (whiteface), or the M4. I’m leaning more towards the M4, and was curious on opinions for what lens might take the best landscape images. I’ll be packing the 35mm for most shots, but when it comes to wider landscapes in the open country, I’m debating...your thoughts? 

Hoping everyone is enjoying the holiday season, and an early Merry Christmas!

Dug

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Welcome to the Forum.  The combo in your photo makes for a good landscape kit.  What other M lenses do you have?  If not, what is your budget for a "landscape" lens?

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As ever, there is no "best". You can capture good landscapes whatever you have...

... from 21mm...

 

... to 90mm...

 

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35mm format is much more difficult than MF and LF for landscape. All you need for landscapes with LF and MF is good exposure and accurate developing. Most of LF and MF landscapes are mediocre in thier content, but very pleasing in tonal and overall quality.

Whart Leica gives you for landscape? It is completely different from larger formats in terms of mobility and spontaneous feeling.

The lens choice is next to irrelevant. Anything will do. From pinhole mount cap to 90 LTM Elmar.

I recommend to look at HCB and GW landscapes. They are not easy to find but it is possible. GW is available via Arizona online archive.

In another words, Leica allows you to hike for landscapes like no any other camera will do and it could also sit it your pocket ready for anything you will see as the landscape. With collapsible Elmar 50 or Classic Elmar 35 3.5 it is everywhere, anywhere camera.

It allows you to catch something spontaneous and almost everywhere, anytime.  Landscapes included.

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14 hours ago, FreedomPanda said:

I’ll be packing the 35mm for most shots, but when it comes to wider landscapes in the open country, I’m debating...your thoughts? 

Normally, when I shoot landscapes with a 35mm rangefinder, I prefer to use 21/28/45mm lenses with my Contax G1.

When I shoot landscapes with my Leica, I use a 21mm with my 35mm because those are the only two M-mount wide angles I have.

However, my first choice for shooting landscapes is a medium format camera with a wide-angle lens.

35mm Rangefinders by Narsuitus, on Flickr

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I think a 50 is better for landscape as the wider lenses tend to push out the background too far, 35mm is okay but I wouldn’t go wider — tried 28,24,21,18 and never really warmed to any of them. BUT if want a really good landscape camera that is sturdy light and quick, I recommend the Fuji GS645W 120 film and the results are great. My is the first one, the focus is hyper focal but that doesn’t matter for landscape when you are at infinity and at f8 you pretty have everything in focus. I have one and used it hiking out west, Bryce and Grand Canyons and Zion National Park. Key point is that if you like some shot a lot, the large negative will deliver a terrific large print. And it is so compact and it has a built in meter. My two-cents anyway.

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48 minutes ago, ianman said:

I've had some pretty successful hikes with my Nikon FM2.

So did I with Smena-8m or even cheaper, fixed focus, single shutter speed P&S.

But I always return to Leica. It is slick and heavy, much more smoother to operate comparing to Canonikons and has frames.

Frames is big factor for me. And exterior durability. No any other cameras wear out like Leica M. 

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A fixed lens Rolleiflex would be far too limiting for me, too bulky and altogether not the right camera. An M4 and a few lenses is a far better bet for backpacking IMO. Perfectly good for landscapes (there's an awful lot of rubbish talked about with regard to what is a viable landscape camera - its really whatever you are happy with using for landscapes). But 'best' results is fat too wooly a question to elicit a meaningful response - I'd take 21/35/90, maybe other lenses too - actually, this IS what I take to Ireland whenever I visit and it suits me well.

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On 12/21/2018 at 7:16 PM, FreedomPanda said:

I’ll be packing the 35mm for most shots, but when it comes to wider landscapes in the open country, I’m debating...your thoughts? 

Landscape Cameras by Narsuitus, on Flickr

My personal favorite scenic/landscape film cameras are:

Calumet CC-402 wide field/short monorail 4x5 inch view camera with Fujinon 90mm f/5.6 SWD #0 Shutter

Fuji GSW690 III 6x9cm rangefinder with fixed 65mm f/5.6 Fujinon lens

Contax G1 35mm rangefinder with 28mm f/2.8 Zeiss Biogon lens

The small Contax would be my first choice for backpacking.

The large Calumet would be my first choice for maximum image quality.

The Fuji would be my choice when I needed a compromise between the other two landscape cameras.

If I insisted on taking my Leica M6 backpacking for landscapes, I would take it with my 35 and 21mm lenses.

If I did not have the 21mm for my M6, I would buy a 24 or a 28 to work with my 35 for shooting landscapes while backpacking.

 

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On 12/22/2018 at 9:04 AM, pgk said:

A fixed lens Rolleiflex would be far too limiting for me, too bulky and altogether not the right camera. An M4 and a few lenses is a far better bet for backpacking IMO. Perfectly good for landscapes (there's an awful lot of rubbish talked about with regard to what is a viable landscape camera - its really whatever you are happy with using for landscapes). But 'best' results is fat too wooly a question to elicit a meaningful response - I'd take 21/35/90, maybe other lenses too - actually, this IS what I take to Ireland whenever I visit and it suits me well.

I've been toying with the idea of a MF camera for shooting landscapes as well (Hasselblad 501cm, Fuji GW690 or something along those lines) , but I've been using my M-A/M4 and 35mm/2.4 Summarit for this purpose and have been very pleased with the results.  Now I don't tend to take wide, sweeping 'Ansel Adams' style landscapes - my style is more in the New Topographics vein - and I prefer smaller prints of usually 8x10 or 11x14, so 35mm has been serving me well.  Although I would like to try MF at some point, I agree that a Leica M camera and a good lens make for a perfectly fine landscape kit if you're not planning on making huge prints.  Nice and portable too. 

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No one is making a case for longer lenses (90, 135). There is an infinite amount of material in the distance that is nicely rendered by a long-ish lens. I can also proselytize for the good old 50 – a recent time in Ireland was wonderful, and mostly my 50 made for some pictures I quite like. I am totally charmed by Ireland and the Irish.

Visit the Beara peninsula and the Dingle peninsula – the Ring of Kerry is not the only place in the west that nourishes the soul.

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2 minutes ago, Michael Hiles said:

No one is making a case for longer lenses (90, 135). There is an infinite amount of material in the distance that is nicely rendered by a long-ish lens. I can also proselytize for the good old 50 – a recent time in Ireland was wonderful, and mostly my 50 made for some pictures I quite like. I am totally charmed by Ireland and the Irish.

Visit the Beara peninsula and the Dingle peninsula – the Ring of Kerry is not the only place in the west that nourishes the soul.

Actually, I recently picked up a 75mm/2.4 Summarit and have been using that for some landscape photos as well.  It's nice to have the additional reach sometimes.

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This is really a statistics question. Any lens CAN be the right lens for a particular picture. But what lens do YOU mount most often, either because your vision favors certain shots or you just reach for a particular lens most often? For me it's the 35/2 ASPH. Second is the 50/2 non APO summicron. And that's down to the focal length. I can't get down on the ground where I would have used a 24 anymore, so I tend not to shoot too many of those. And I tend not to use telephotos much unless it's a certain kind of shot (like trees in the fog or something).

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On 12/21/2018 at 7:16 PM, FreedomPanda said:

I’ll be packing the 35mm for most shots, but when it comes to wider landscapes in the open country, I’m debating...your thoughts? 

 

2 hours ago, Michael Hiles said:

No one is making a case for longer lenses (90, 135).

I did not make a case for longer lenses because the original poster only expressed an interest in something wider that 35mm.

I would take a 90mm telephoto with my other lenses when shooting landscapes with a 35mm rangefinder.

When I shoot landscapes with my 35mm SLR, I take a 105mm macro for shooting distant scenes and for shooting nature close-ups.

 

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