10 Best Sony Lenses For Landscape

Shopping for the best Sony lenses for landscape photography is tough. You’ve got to balance features, focal lengths, and costs. Landscape photography is the rare photography style that can use everything from 14 mm ultra-wide lenses to 200m telephoto options.

The best overall landscape photography lens for Sony mirrorless cameras is the Sony FE 20mm f/1.8 G Len. It’s professional, wide-angle, and built like a tank. With that said, there are nine other lenses on our list that might just surprise you with their features and utility.

Here are the top 10 landscape lenses for Sony mirrorless cameras!

1. Sony FE 20mm f/1.8 G Lens: Best Overall Landscape Lens For Sony

Specs

• Focal Length: 20 mm
• Size: 73.5 x 84.7 mm
• Weight: 373 g
• Compatibility: Full frame (FE)
• Image Stabilization: No
• Aperture: f/1.8
• Autofocus: Yes

Start With The Best Lens For Lanultra-wide-anglehy 

This is, hands down, the best Sony lens for landscape photography. It’s the perfect balance of features, quality, and price tag. You won’t find a better overall lens anywhere in Sony’s catalog.

The strength of this lens comes from an unbeatable set of features for people interested in landscape photography. The 20 mm focal length is beyond ideal for this style of shooting. This is wide enough to let you take in a breathtaking vista without introducing too much distortion. The f/1.8 aperture is also ideal for letting in more lights to let you take some shots in low-light conditions.

All of this is housed in a Sony G lens. This is second from the top when it comes to Sony’s lenses. This means you’re going to get a high-end build quality, but with a few strategic compromises that bring the price down to a more accessible range. At the end of the day, the price and features combine to make this the overall best choice for someone interested in landscape photography.

Pros

• Extremely lightweight which is ideal for traveling to landscape shoot locations
• Balances features, budget, and build quality
• 20mm is right in the “sweet spot” for landscape photography focal lengths
• Prime lens construction means the highest image quality and reliability
• The f/1.8 aperture is powerful for low-light shooting

Cons

• The ultra-wide angle is more restrictive for using during other photography styles

2. Sony FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM Lens: Best For Professional Photographers

Specs

• Focal Length: 16 to 35 mm
• Size: 88.5 x 121.6 mm
• Weight: 680 g
• Compatibility: Full frame (FE)
• Image Stabilization: No
• Aperture: f/2.8
• Autofocus: Yes

The Best Sony GM Lens for Landscape Photography

If you’ve been asking “What is the best Sony lens for landscape photography,” you need to pick up the Sony FE 16 to 35 mm GM lens.

This lens comes from Sony’s GM line of lenses. This is their professional blind and offers the best build quality out of any Sony lenses. If you’re looking to shoot on the same lenses that the professionals use, this is a great place to start.

This lens offers you some flexibility. It’s able to get wide enough for any landscape photography shot, but it can also zoom in offering you more options when it comes to your photography style.

This makes it a great choice for people who are heading out on a trip and only looking to take one lens with them. This lens can help you cover everything from street photography to events, and of course landscapes.

Pros

• Sony’s GM lenses are the top of their line and offer unbeatable quality
• A versatile lens that handles landscape photography as well as other styles like street, travel, and even portrait
• This lens is a solid choice for a one lens kit

Cons

• This is an expensive lens that might cost more than your camera
• Zoom lenses are more prone to mechanical failures than prime lenses

3. Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens: Best Telephoto For Landscapes

Specs

• Focal Length: 70 to 200 mm
• Size: 88 x 200 mm
• Weight: 1480 g
• Compatibility: Full frame (FE)
• Image Stabilization: Yes
• Aperture: f/2.8
• Autofocus: Yes

Telephoto For Landscape—Trust Us

If you’re shopping for the best Sony FE lens for landscape, you might want to consider a telephoto lens!

This might be a little surprising especially if you are new to landscape photography. However, a telephoto lens can be one of the most powerful tools in a landscape photography kit.

It’s true that most landscape photography is best served with a wide-angle lens. One major drawback to only using wide-angle lenses is that a lot of your photos and your style start to look too much the same. A telephoto lens allows you to isolate your subjects, capture distant pieces of the landscape, and helps you get more creative with your photography.

This might not be able to be the only one you take on a landscape photography shoot, but it’s a great lens to add to your kit to inspire you to take some truly creative landscape shots.

Pros

• You’ll be able to isolate subjects and escape the “21 mm tourist trap” photographs
• Landscape and wildlife photography are a natural combination and this lens gives you both
• This is a pro-level lens that you’ll be able to use in rough outdoor conditions

Cons

• It’s an expensive lens
• This lens demands that you get creative for your landscape photography
• The lens can be a little hard to balance on the small body of mirrorless cameras

4. Sony FE 50mm f/1.2 GM Lens: Most Versatile Choice For Landscape Photography

Specs

• Focal Length: 50 mm
• Size: 87 x 108 mm
• Weight: 778 g
• Compatibility: Full frame (FE)
• Image Stabilization: No
• Aperture: f/1.2
• Autofocus: Yes

The Nifty Fifty Never Fails (Even For Landscapes)

If you hang around photographers long enough, you’re going to hear people talking about the glory of the Nifty Fifty. This is something of a pet name that we’ve given to the 50 mm prime lens. You’ll see this lens in the hands of everyone from working wedding photographers all the way over to award-winning artists.

What makes the Nifty Fifty so special? Well, there’s really nothing it can’t handle. This lens is ready for everything from shooting events in low light conditions, to portraiture, to even giving you new perspectives on landscape photography.

Yes, you won’t be able to get the sweeping vistas that you can get with a wide-angle lens, but the Nifty Fifty is a hard-working lens. It will help you focus your ability to see the composition of a shot. Do you really need to capture all of those rolling hills or is there an interesting placement of trees, a rocky outcropping, or another feature of the landscape that can take your shot from interesting to inspiring?

Grab a 50 mm prime lens for your Sony mirrorless camera and see where your creativity takes you.

Pros

• Enjoy the long-lasting simplicity of a prime lens
• The 50mm focal length transitions seamlessly from weddings to landscapes
• Train your eye for seeing clear compositions rather than relying on “sweeping vistas”
• There are budget-friendly versions of the 50mm prime for Sony

Cons

• No wide-angle shooting with this lens
• Photographers will have to be ready to make a creative trade-off sacrificing wide angles for clean compositions

5. Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM Lens: Best For Wide Angles With No Distortion

Specs

• Focal Length: 35 mm
• Size: 76 x 96 mm
• Weight: 524 g
• Compatibility: Full frame (FE)
• Image Stabilization: No
• Aperture: f/1.4
• Autofocus: Yes

Enjoy The Scenery Without The Distortion

This is the best Sony mirrorless lens for landscape photography when you want to have images that are ready to go without much post-production.

There’s a trend in photography right now where artists are looking to capture images that have the least post-production. One of the biggest challenges for the style of shooting is the natural distortion that comes with wide-angle landscape lenses. 35 mm is the widest you can go without introducing some distortion inside of the lens.

This lets you take incredibly clean images that require the least touching up. You’ll be able to snap wide-angle shots of landscapes without needing to compensate for the distortion that a 20 mm or a 14 mm lens would introduce.

The 35 mm lens is also a classic for all types of photography. This was one of the first focal lengths to become widely popular and creates images that feel natural and relaxed. This lens in particular has a well-balanced design and a build quality that’s going to last you through countless landscape expeditions.

Pros

• 35 mm is wide enough for landscapes, but tight enough to eliminate lens distortion
• This lens is versatile under different shooting conditions
• 35 mm is a “natural” focal length that creates images that just feel right
• A prime lens from the Sony GM line is the best build quality you can get

Cons

• Might not be wide enough for some landscape photographers
• You could always get a 16 to 35 mm lens and have the best of all worlds

6. Sony E 20mm f/2.8 Lens: Best For Sony E-Mount Cameras

Specs

• Focal Length: 20 mm
• Size: 62.48 x 20.32 mm
• Weight: 69 g
• Compatibility: Crop Sensor (E)
• Image Stabilization: No
• Aperture: f/2.8
• Autofocus: Yes

Learn To Love The Pancake

The best Sony E lens for landscape photography also happens to double as a body cap.

Every camera brand has its own pancake lens. These are lenses with wide focal lengths that also happen to double as a body cap. They’re ultra-light and can be slapped on the front of any camera without increasing the size or weight too dramatically.

This is one of the lightest lenses you’ll ever find. At 69 g, you’re hardly going to feel the weight of this lens. The 30 mm equivalent focal length is also ideal for handling wide-angle photography on a crop sensor camera.

One of the biggest advantages of this lens is that it’s the perfect partner for the smaller Sony crop sensor mirrorless cameras. It can get pretty difficult to balance the larger lenses on these tiny cameras, but this is where an equally compact lens shines. You won’t have to worry about the lens that weighs twice as much as your camera when you’re shooting on this 20 mm pancake lens.

Pros

• Light enough to replace your lens cap
• Extremely budget-friendly
• Ideal balance for the small size of E-mount cameras
• Crop sensor equivalent focal length of 30 mm

Cons

• The lens trades features for its compact form factor

7. Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 DG DN Art Lens for Sony E: Best Sigma Lens for Sony Mirrorless Landscape Photography

Specs

• Focal Length: 14 to 24 mm
• Size: 85 x 131 mm
• Weight: 795 g
• Compatibility: Crop Sensor (E)
• Image Stabilization: No
• Aperture: f/2.8
• Autofocus: Yes

Try Out a Sigma Lens For Landscape Photography

If you’re looking for the best E mount lenses for landscape photography, you can’t go wrong with the 14 mm to 24 mm lens from Sigma. This lens combines several high-end features in one of the most popular third-party lens manufacturers around.

Sigma has built its branding on being the best third-party lens manufacturer for Sony as well as other popular camera companies. Sigma lenses come at a discounted cost because you’re not paying for Sony’s name brand. However, Sigma lenses tend to stand up in one-to-one comparisons with their name-brand equivalents.

This lens has a few features that made it a mandatory inclusion on our list. This Sigma lens covers a 14 to 24 mm focal range which is, essentially, everything the landscape photographer needs. It also has a rear filter holder which is great when you’re applying ND filters and other filters that allow you to control your outdoor exposure.

Pros

• Enjoy Sigma’s high-end features and budget-friendly prices
• 14 to 24 mm covers all the typical focal length ranges from landscape photography
• Rear filter holder is ideal for using ND filters to control exposure and outdoor lighting

Cons

• Some people don’t like the Sigma design when compared with Sony
• More affordable, but still close to the cost of the nearest Sony equivalent lens

8. Sony FE 24-105mm f/4 G OSS Lens: The Beginner Landscape Photographer

Specs

• Focal Length: 24 to 105 mm
• Size: 83.4 x 113.3 mm
• Weight: 663 g
• Compatibility: Crop Sensor (E)
• Image Stabilization: Yes
• Aperture: f/4
• Autofocus: Yes

Beginner Landscape Photographers Need Gear Too!

This is one of the most interesting lenses on today’s list. It might not look like this lens has any standout features, but it’s actually got an excellent balance that would be great in the hands of someone learning the ropes of landscape photography.

Everyone needs to start somewhere when it comes to landscape photography. Having a lens that’s capable of tackling a wide range of shooting styles is going to let you build up your skills while still exploring your own artistic sensibilities. This is a great lens for someone who is still trying to figure out if they prefer wide-angle landscape photography or if they’re looking for something more tightly curated.

This lens has plenty of features that stand out. The glass used inside this lens is precision designed by Sony to offer high image quality with low distortion. This is a huge benefit to beginning photographers we’re still working their way through their favorite photo editing software’s tutorials.

Pros

• Focal range coverage lets you explore variety in your landscape photography style
• The price tag is very reasonable for a lens of this quality
• You’ll get consistent performance while building up your artistic style and your photography skills

Cons

• The f/4 aperture might not offer enough low-light performance for some
• This lens suffers from the “jack of all trades, master of none” issue

9. Sony FE 14mm f/1.8 GM Lens: The Widest Of Wide Angles

Specs

• Focal Length: 14 mm
• Size: 83 x 99.8 mm
• Weight: 460 g
• Compatibility: Full frame (FE)
• Image Stabilization: No
• Aperture: f/1.8
• Autofocus: Yes

The Best Sony Lens For Ultrawide Landscape Photography

Sometimes when you want to go wide, you want to go ultra-wide. Ultra-wide lenses offer you the best possible way of capturing the breathtaking vistas that you encounter during landscape photography. Sure, they come with some natural distortion, but this is nothing that an experienced photographer can’t compensate for.

This is arguably the best ultra-wide lens that you can find for a Sony mirrorless camera. This comes from Sony’s GM line of lenses which is their best of the best. This lens has some of the best balanced glass that we’ve seen from an ultra-wide-angle lens.

The biggest trade-off that you’re going to encounter with this lens is that the ultra-wide-angle is great for landscape and a few other styles, but requires a lot more skill when it comes to events, street photography, and portraiture. If you’re looking for a lens that is able to handle landscape as well as other styles, this might not be the right choice for you.

Pros

• This is the top of the line for ultrawide lenses from Sony
• Flawless quality for landscape as well as architecture and astrophotography
• The f/1.8 aperture handles low-light conditions with ease

Cons

• Lenses this wide will have some distortion no matter how well-designed they get
• This is a true specialty lens that will have a harder time doing double-duty for other photography styles
• This pro lens commands a pro price tag

10. Sony FE 50mm f/1.8 Lens: The Best Ultra Budget Lens For Sony Mirrorless Landscape Photography

Specs

• Focal Length: 50 mm
• Size: 68.6 x 59.5 mm
• Weight: 186 g
• Compatibility: Crop Sensor (E) & Full frame (FE)
• Image Stabilization: No
• Aperture: f/1.8
• Autofocus: Yes

Spend Next To Nothing And Shoot Like A Pro

Have you ever wanted a lens that shot like a professional piece of glass, but didn’t cost more than your camera? This version of the Sony 50 mm lens is well worth a closer look. It delivers on exactly what plenty of photographers I’ve always wanted.

There are two 50 mm lenses on this list, but they couldn’t be any further apart. This lens is something of a secret in the world of professional photography. Its low cost and plastic construction make plenty of people think that this is a beginner or toy lens, but it’s actually a workhorse supporting photographers the world over.

It’s got a nearly identical glass, blades, and assembly as its more expensive 50 mm counterparts. However, it ditches the more expensive housing for a lightweight and affordable plastic enclosure. This means you’re trading some durability and weatherproofing for a lens that weighs next to nothing and costs about the same.

Landscape photographers are going to want to consider the 50 mm focal length before buying this lens. It definitely offers you the ability to get more creative and think about composition, but it does eliminate the ultra-wide-angle shots that define the genre.

Pros

• Easily one of the greatest lenses ever designed
• Used by pros and beginners alike
• So light-weight, you can add it to any kit
• Well under the cost of any lens on this list

Cons

• 50 mm is tighter than some landscape photographers might want
• Photographers working in rainy or dusty environments might want to save up for a weather-sealed model

How To Pick The Right Mirrorless Sony Lens For Landscape Photography

It can be tough to fix the right landscape photography lens. Landscape photography is a varied style that can use everything from ultra-wide lenses all the way to zoom and telephoto options.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the most asked questions about Sony’s landscape lenses.

How Much Does The Best Mirrorless Lens For Landscape Cost?

The best mirrorless lenses for landscape photography can cost anywhere from around a hundred bucks on the second-hand market all the way over to several thousand dollars. This means that you’ll be able to find a lens that fits virtually any budget.

What To Look For In A Sony E Mount Landscape Lens

The best Sony E mount lenses for landscape all share a few common traits. You should look for a build quality that can stand up to trips to outdoor locations, well-designed glass elements that minimize distortion, and a focal length that works for your style.

The Best Wide Angle Lens For Sony

The best wide-angle lens for Sony has to be their 20 mm lens. This is considered the sweet spot for landscape photography, and wide-angle photography in general because it offers you wide-angle shots without too much distortion. If you go any lower in the measurement of your focal length, you’re going to be up against some serious distortion.

What Kind Of Lens Is Best For Landscape?

The best lens for landscape photography is the lens that inspires you to capture breathtaking shots of natural landscapes. Wide-angle lenses allow you to capture sweeping vistas that show off the vast beauty of nature. On the other hand, tighter focal lengths allow you to curate your shots and capture something unique.

Is 24mm Good For Landscape?

A common question is “What is the best focal length lens for landscape photography?” 24 mm lenses are amazing for landscape photography. They are right in between wide-angle and tighter focal lengths. This lets 24 mm be versatile while still capturing the sweeping grandeur of nature.

Is 18mm Good For Landscape?

You can use 18 mm lenses for landscape photography. These lenses are very wide and this means you’re going to need to correct some distortion when you’re editing your images, but this is very easy to edit whether you’re using premium editing software or budgeting-free alternatives. 

Can I Use a 50mm Lens For Landscape?

A 50 mm lens is a great choice for landscape photography. You won’t be able to capture a sweeping vista without stitching together a panorama of several shots, but you will gain a better eye for photographic composition when using this tighter focal length. A 50 mm lens also lets you build up your skills in a variety of other photography styles.

Is 16mm Wide Enough For Landscape?

A 16 mm lens is more than wide enough for landscape photography. This is wide enough to handle not just landscape photography, but for astrophotography as well. A 16 mm lens might have some distortion, but this is easy to fix in your editing process.

A 16 mm lens can also let you get artistic. That distortion that we mentioned throughout this article can look stylish and interesting outside of the landscape context. Try out your 16 mm lens at an event or during a street photography session to see how interesting your shots can become!

Is A Wide-Angle Lens Good For Landscape?

Wide-angle lenses are the go-to choice for landscape photography. When you think of landscape photography, you’re probably thinking of the rolling majesty of a wide natural scene. A wide-angle lens lets you capture these images without needing to stitch together several panorama shots during editing.

Wrapping Up Landscape Lenses For Sony Mirrorless Cameras

So, which of our landscape lenses for Sony mirrorless cameras is the right one for you?

Is it our pick for the overall best with the Sony FE 20mm f/1.8 G Lens or maybe the Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens to flex some creative muscle? In any case, you should probably have a Plastic Fantastic 50 mm lens in your kit—it’s saved many photographers in tough spots!

Whichever lens you pick, these are the ten best landscape photography lenses for Sony cameras.

See also:

These Are The 10 Best Sony Lenses in 2023!