The best Canon lenses for landscape photography

Landscape photography can place you in some unforgiving climates – just ask wilderness photographer Valtteri Hirvonen, who regularly shoots in conditions as low as -35°C from his base in northern Finland. "The camera and lenses are tools for me, and I don't baby them, so weatherproofing is important," he says. "The most epic moments happen when the weather isn't perfect – quite the opposite. When there is a storm, when everyone else stays home, that's when the magical moments happen in nature. I want my gear to work in those situations."

Radomir Jakubowski is a nature photographer and Canon Ambassador who firmly agrees with Valtteri. "There is nothing more boring than blue sky – I love storms, I love the rain, I love light that changes before your eyes," he says.

Canon’s L-series RF lenses offer new degrees of creative freedom to landscape photographers, and not only because of their pro-level weather-resistance and robust construction. Compared to their EF lens predecessors, RF lenses deliver technical advances including better image quality, closer focusing, less focus breathing (which is ideal for both filmmaking and focus stacking), enhanced image stabilisation (IS), plus a quicker autofocus motor.

Here, we'll look at the best RF lenses for different kinds of landscape photography, from ultra-wide-angle lenses such as the Canon RF 10-20mm F4L IS STM for capturing a broad field of view to telephoto lenses such as the versatile Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM for isolating small details from a distance.

1. Best all-round landscape lens: Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8L IS USM

2. Best lens for landscapes with scale: Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM

3. Best long landscape lens: Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM

4. Best ultra-wide-angle landscape lens: Canon RF 10-20mm F4L IS STM

5. Best ultra-wide-angle zoom lenses for landscape: Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8L IS USM & Canon RF 14-35mm F4L IS USM

6. Best lens for versatility: Canon RF 24-105mm F4L IS USM

7. Best hybrid wide-angle prime lenses for landscapes: Canon RF 24mm F1.4L VCM & RF 20mm F1.4L VCM

"This is a fantastic all-round lens," Mike adds. "The fast f/2.8 aperture makes it good for shooting in low light, and using the wide aperture also allows you to separate a subject from the background using differential focus. As it's an L-series lens, the weather-proofing is excellent. You can be confident that if you're working outdoors and the weather changes for the worse, it will work equally well."

If you regularly shoot video as well as stills, an outstanding alternative is the hybrid RF 24-105mm F2.8L IS USM Z. With a constant f/2.8 aperture over its extensive 24-105mm zoom range, it offers exceptional sharpness and up to 5.5-stops of image stabilisation, plus video-specific features such as an iris ring for smooth manual iris control when filming, reduced focus breathing and electronic parfocal performance, and compatibility with an optional power zoom adapter.

"Basically, the RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM is the multi-function workhouse for any professional photographer, whatever the genre."

If you require advanced video features in addition, consider the hybrid RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM Z. It has the same versatile focal length range and constant f/2.8 aperture, plus professional filmmaking features such as a dedicated iris ring for smooth manual iris control, reduced focus breathing, two customisable Lens Function buttons, and connectors for an optional power zoom adapter.

Compared to its EF predecessor, the Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM offers quicker Nano USM focusing and an extra stop of stabilisation when used with a camera such as the Canon EOS R5 Mark II or EOS R6 Mark II. "Here you have a lens that is the same size as the EF 100-400mm lens and a little lighter, yet offers more focal reach," says Mike. "When you're shooting with the EOS R5 Mark II, it is possible to get sharp handheld images with shutter speeds as slow as 1/8 sec at the 500mm focal length.

"Many people would think of this focal range only for sports action and wildlife, but it's also great for landscapes," Mike continues. "It's about looking at landscapes in a different way, isolating areas or details such as groups of trees. One nice feature is the Zoom Touch Adjustment ring, which enables you to adjust tensioning for the zoom, according to the subject you're shooting. It also stops the focal length changing by accident if you tip the lens up or down."

"Mirrorless cameras have given us the opportunity to go back to the drawing board and create a simpler design," Mike explains. "With the Canon RF 10-20mm F4L IS STM there's only a single-element focusing group, which means it's the first L-series lens that we've been able to put an STM focusing motor into. STMs aren't as powerful as USMs, which is why they've not been used in L-series lenses, which typically have large focusing groups. But STMs are more compact and much quieter, so they're excellent for video work.

"The STM has been updated from the standard STMs we use in the consumer lenses, and it offers full-time manual focusing override as well.

" In another first, the Canon RF 10-20mm F4L IS STM is equipped with an Image Stabilizer that's built especially for wide-angle lenses. "When a wide-angle is used with a camera that has IBIS, the corners of the image can sometimes appear to wobble," Mike says. "That's caused by perspective shift rather than the stabilisation, and while it's most visible in video, it can also lead to blurred corners in still images.

"The Peripheral Correction Image Stabilization system developed for ultra-wide-angle lenses combines the IS systems in the camera and the lens to reduce that," says Mike. "The Canon RF 10-20mm F4L IS STM gives you 5-stops of IS on a normal camera body or 6-stops on a camera with IBIS, but that is now practically across the entire frame rather than just in the centre. So, you get crisp, clear video and sharp stills from edge to edge."

For Mike, this lens is the obvious high-performance choice. "This is our best performer in the RF range," he explains. "Overall, it's the sharpest edge-to-edge and it has the least distortion. It's got 5-stops of IS, it's fully weather-sealed and the faster aperture allows the user to reduce the shutter speed and ISO to capture astral landscapes without the Earth's rotation blurring the stars."

The RF 15-35mm F2.8L IS USM also boasts in-built focus breathing compensation, a video function that allows a shift in focus without magnification. This tech benefits stills photographs too, meaning you can make use of a shallower depth of field and still retain edge-to-edge sharpness by taking several shots and combining them in-camera on cameras with focus bracketing and focus stacking features, including the Canon EOS R10, EOS R7 and EOS R3.

More compact than the Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8L IS USM or the equivalent EF lens, the Canon RF 14-35mm F4L IS USM lens also provides a wider angle of view, albeit with one less stop of light. "It's nice to throw a wide-angle lens on the camera, as it challenges you to find interesting angles, such as reflections in the sea," says Valtteri. "Of course, there are also situations where it's necessary, such as shooting in tight spaces."

Mike adds: "The selling point of the Canon RF 14-35mm F4L IS USM is its wider field of view and that it features UD [Ultra Low Dispersion] and aspherical elements designed to compensate for a whole host of lens aberrations typical with such a compact wide-angle lens."

"I think with landscapes, we do focus a lot on the wide setting, but you can create amazing scenics with telephotos as well," says Mike. "With a longer focal length you can kind of compress landscapes. If you think of the amazing shots of the fields of Tuscany, a lot of them are shot from a hilltop using longer focal lengths. So having a 24-105mm, not only have you got the classic wide-angle but also a telephoto to achieve those longer views as well."

"All RF lenses are great for video, but these hybrid lenses have a more filmmaking-oriented design, including an 11-bladed aperture for cinematic bokeh, plus minimal focus breathing, which is a benefit when shooting a set of stills for focus stacking as well as when filming, where videographers want to keep the same angle of view as they shift focus from one subject in the scene to another. In addition, there's an Iris Ring for manual adjustments of the aperture while shooting video, which provides seamless transitions thanks to the smooth 1/32 steps between stops."

The Canon RF 24mm F1.4L VCM is a great option for professionals who need a versatile wide-angle prime lens for detailed landscape images. "Its full-frame, fixed focal length gives you a really clear, artistic look, and the sharp optics provide incredibly high image quality," Tibor says. "It also has a fast f/1.4 maximum aperture for shooting when the light starts to drop and to help separate an object from the background when you’re working close-up."

Despite its short focal length, the Canon RF 20MM F1.4L VCM shares the same dimensions and filter thread size as the RF 24mm F1.4L VCM and other hybrid primes, meaning it is familiar to operate and easily interchangeable on camera rigs for video. Its rear filter holder is particularly beneficial when working with an ultra-wide angle of view. "You'll get less distortion on the scene than if you had a filter on the front, because the light rays are straighter as they pass through the rear filter to the sensor," Tibor explains. "As the light isn't bent as much, it eliminates coma distortions – so when you're shooting landscapes on a clear night, stars will be rendered as distinct dots rather than looking like comets."

The picture quality is also outstanding, with a slightly different optical design compared to the RF 24mm F1.4L VCM to ensure optimum results across the ultra-wide angle of view. "The RF 20mm F1.4L VCM includes Super UD, UD and BR elements to correct chromatic aberration, advanced distortion correction data built-in for cameras to utilise, plus ASC, SWC and Super Spectra coatings for high image quality across the frame," adds Tibor.

You can explore the full range of Canon lenses using the Canon lens selector, which will help you find the perfect match for your EOS camera and your preferred genre of photography.