Digital Camera for Lanscape Photography

[Poppie]

Hi, I want to buy a Digital Camera for the purpose of  landscape photography.  Which digital camera and brand would be the best?

I have heard Olympus camera's are very good. Are They? I am thinking of getting the Olympus E500 SLR. Would that be good enough to take Landscape photo's?

I am new at this so thought I would give it ago before I went out and bought myself a Digital Camera.

Hope someone out there can help  

Thanks!

[Rapick]

Hi, I want to buy a Digital Camera for the purpose of  landscape photography.  Which digital camera and brand would be the best?

I have heard Olympus camera's are very good. Are They? I am thinking of getting the Olympus E500 SLR. Would that be good enough to take Landscape photo's?

Hi,
I use the older (but quite similar) E-300 ...
Find a few landscape images e.g.  here: Musandam
It much depends on what your landscape images are intended for. and your 'absolute image quality' requirements v/s available budget.
E-500 is very good value for money. Add the Zuiko 11-22 (22-44 mm eq. FF) F/2.8-3.5 (plus a good tripod) and get a very capable landscape-making tool.

Rapick

[picnic]

Hi, I want to buy a Digital Camera for the purpose of  landscape photography.  Which digital camera and brand would be the best?

I have heard Olympus camera's are very good. Are They? I am thinking of getting the Olympus E500 SLR. Would that be good enough to take Landscape photo's?

I am new at this so thought I would give it ago before I went out and bought myself a Digital Camera.

Hope someone out there can help :)

Thanks!
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=93415\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I would also consider if you are planning to print your landscape photos and how large.  That may affect your decision.

Diane

[BlasR]

Or you can get Hasselblad h2 with phase one p45 digital back.

BlasR

[Poppie]

I would also consider if you are planning to print your landscape photos and how large.  That may affect your decision.

Diane
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=93458\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Hi, I do want to print out the photographs that I take also. Would the Olympus still be good enough for that?  If not what other digital camera's are?

Thanks

[wolfnowl]

First, figure out how much you can afford.  There's no point looking at a $15K camera if you've only got $500.  Then go to a good camera store and talk to somene knowledgeable.  Hold the camera in your hand, see how it feels to you, if the buttons are intuitive or if it's clunky to use, etc.  Then try another one.  Try a few cameras in your price range.  You can't buy a camera without knowing what it feels like to hold it in your hand.

Mike.

[LoisWakeman]

Hi, I do want to print out the photographs that I take also. Would the Olympus still be good enough for that?  If not what other digital camera's are?

You need to consider both the quality and the number of pixels that the camera produces. A 6MP camera might do 3000 x 2000 pixel images for example.

I can't help with the former, but the latter is easier to quantify. Most people reckon on about 240-300PPI (pixels per inch) in prints. So for example if you wanted tp print 10x8s, you'd need 2400-3000 pixels across.

You can also use progams like PhotoShop or Qimage to upsample your images to print bigger: but only you can tell whether that will be acceptable.

You might find this page helpful:

http://hannemyr.com/photo/pixels.html

[Rapick]

Hi, I do want to print out the photographs that I take also. Would the Olympus still be good enough for that?  If not what other digital camera's are?

The 8MP images (3248x2436) produced by E-500 will deliver excellent prints (@ 300ppi) up to A4 size (297x210 mm) and still quite acceptable ones (just below 240 ppi) up to A3 (420x297 mm).
More than sensor resolution, a high quality lens (high resolution and contrast, reduced flare, chromatic aberration, vignetting, etc.) is of the utmost importance for landscape photography.
The Olympus Zuiko Digital 11-22mm f/2.8-3.5 I suggested in my previous post is excellent. It will cost about the same as the camera body, though - good lenses are expensive!

Rapick

[spotmeter]

The Canon 5D is an exceptionally good camera. I bought one as my walk-around camera, and was surprised to see that my landscapes with this camera are  indistiguishable from those taken with my 1DsMkII, which is the finest  35mm digital camera.

Canon lenses from 85mm and up are very sharp and produce brilliant landscapes.

For 50mm and wider you will want to buy Contax or Zeiss manual lenses (the Contax are superb and very inexpensive) and attach them to the Canon with an adapter.

Or, you can purchase the Canon 17-40 f4 and the Canon 70-200 f4, both of which are exceptionally sharp. You only need to get a 50mm to fill the gap between the two lens.

Just as important as the camera is a good tripod. I recommend the Gitzo with an Acratech head.

It is also good to get an L-bracket so that you can quickly change from landscape to portrait mode, which is very useful for stitched panoramics.  A bubble level will help you to level the camera, and a remote release with mirror lock up will produce the sharpest landscapes.

[clawery]

I agree that the Canon 5D is your best bang for your buck! Great camera for that price range.

[dobson]

Spotmeter's right about a tripod being really important. If you have a tripod that's heavy, or hard to use, it won't do much for you. A tripod is no good if it sits at home.

Phillip