What ONE lens would you pick for landscape work?

[Steve Hamley]

135mm lens for 4x5, 270mm for 8x10. Specifically, the 135 Apo Sironar S and the 270mm G-Claron or a 10-3/4" Dagor (convertible).

Steve

[Michael Gordon]

I'd recommend rice or dried beans. Peanut butter isn't all that inexpensive.

[David Karp]

Since I have not used a lot of lenses beyond the ones I own, I have to limit my response to those that I have used. That excludes such well regarded lenses as the Schneider 110 XL. With that caveat, of all my lenses I think my choice for one lens only would be the Fujinon NW 125mm f/5.6. Small (52mm filters), light, and very versatile.

[Ken Lee]

First you have to show us what you mean by "landscape photography". It's a broad category, like "oil painting" or "sail boats".

[Christopher Perez]

If money were no object, I'd buy four mint used lenses from MidWest photo and call it done. I'm sure you could find four wonderfully luscious lenses to express your vision with clarity, contrast, and subtle detail that total to less than the cost of a single 110SS-XL. Considered in this way -

1) 90mm Angulon f/6.8 (no rise/fall, but this is landscape, fer cry'n out loud!)
2) 135mm Fujinon W/EBC f/5.6
3) 210mm Schneider Symmar-S/MC f/5.6 (or APO Symmar or a Kodak 203 Ektar or a GClaron or a Xenar f/6.1 or...)
4) 300mm Nikkor M f/9

For me, spending money on a well marketed lens (ie: plenty of hype) did nothing to better my ability to take a fine photograph.

[Andre Noble]

Some people take 'bang for the buck' to the extreme.

[Diane Maher]

For 4x5: 203 mm Kodak or 240 mm Schneider G-Claron
For 8x10: 450 mm Nikkor M or 420 Schneider Repro-Claron

[Ted Harris]

Well ..... I probably move in closer than Bruce so tht these East Coast eyes end up framing the same as Bruce's but I do find that for 4x5 my SSXL 110 is among my most used lenses....this of course assumes that I can move in close enough. That not being the case out come the 240 or 300. For 5x7 it is the 300 followed by a 150.

i alwasy ejoy taking these East Coast eyes to the West. I don't gnerally come back with sweeping vistas though. The last time I was photographing in the Rockies I got totally absorbed by a couple of tree knots .... shot them for several hours. Another time, either Laguna or Newport Beach, I spent an entire afternoon photographing the moorings under the old pier (don't as details it was a good 30 years ago but I still remember lugging my Kardan Color S through the sand). I have also had a great deal of fun with whacky architectural stuff on the 'left coast' such as the witch's house in the Beverley flats (did get chased away by cops once there), the Tale of the Pup, the Cider Barrel, etc.

[CXC]

G-Claron 240mm. Enough with the big skies and foregrounds already.

[Tom Westbrook]

My fave for landscapes is the 210mm APO Sironar S (4x5).