Fair point Erik, it doesn't need to be a wide, one of my favourite landscape lenses is 135mm but I stick by my basic point, it is possible to take beautiful landscape images without needing all the latest kit and AF lenses for landscape, to me are just unnecessary.
Tilt for product shots etc. in the studio, sure, I can see how live view would benefit but I'd rather be tethered anyway so less important, tilt in the field, that's just about knowing your equipment surely? You can set-up outside in the garden, set tripod at full height and work out very quickly how much tilt you need to get everything in focus from just a few practice shots, then lower your tripod and do the same etc. etc. Doing this, I personally know that when I arrive at a scene, based on my framing, I can set the tripod up, set focus and tilt knowing exactly how much I need to cover foreground to horizon, that's just basic understanding of your equipment. Looking at every scene afresh and working through setting up tilt seems pointless to me.
Of course it doesn't matter how I work you would be entirely within your rights to think my processes are daft, but my idea of a landscape is a beautiful view, in focus from front to back, that's just my interpretation though, regardless of whether you use tilt, shift, stop down or whatever. If I could go back 20 years knowing what I know now, I would not have bothered buying half the stuff I have, people who buy images want to be blown away by the content of the image, the scene, the emotion, the weather, whatever it is, as long as it resonates with them, nobody has ever commented to me that if i had taken the photograph using different/better equipment, they'd have bought it, lots have commented that if I'd pointed it at something nicer they'd have bought it but that's a different matter entirely!
I print a lot and have learned that where I am, a 24x36" print, matted and framed is just about as big as most people can fit in their houses, I can print from pretty much any camera available now and get a beautiful print at that size. People like seeing bigger prints and often comment how great they look but rarely do people have space. That said, if i was to buy a landscape kit now it would be a 40mm rodi on an Alpa STC with a P25+ back and that's it, because I could buy all that for less than the price of a IQ250 and still have money to drive across Europe and point it at lovely things, we all want different things though and I'm not daft enough to think my choices would matter to anyone other than me.
Mat
