Which Nikon SLR and Nikon lens will yield a sharp 24" x 30" landscape image?

[Marko]

This came to me by email

Can you please post my question. I couldn’t see where else I could post it.

Which Nikon SLR and Nikon lens will yield a sharp 24" x 30" landscape image?

Thank you!

Rosemary

[Marko]

Hi Rosemary,

One of the keys to sharpness is indeed the lens but it's not the only factor also. Other varaiables that come into play (especially when we don't know your level of experience but are guessing beginner level as a default) include the method of printing the photo, the aperture, camera shake etc.

We also don't know what 'sharpness' means to you. Is it corner to corner sharpness, overall sharpness, sharpness to your eye lookiing at a print from 5 inches away or five feet away etc.

but just to give you some type of concrete answer the lens below does seem to get good reviews and it covers a huge range which is very practical. Hope that helps, Marko
18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AFS DX VR Zoom-Nikkor Lens

Here's a review of that lens
http://www.digitalreview.ca/content/...on_intro.shtml

[tegan]

As Marko indicated, that is both too broad and too general a question. The Nikon D3 on a tripod with the mirror locked up, using a remote shutter release and an 18mm to 50mm 2.8 VR HSM lens would probably provide the sharpest image under ideal conditions, but that would be a pricey way to go.

Time of day, direction of light, camera position, aperture setting, ISO, presence of haze and smog, use of filters, etc. would also factor in to the final image sharpness and quality.

A technically sharp image however is not necessarily a great landscape shot. Then elements such as composition, framing, bringing out detail, colour and all the methods and approaches of a great landscape photographer come into play. So, a beginner with top equipment will still have a lot to learn and a lot of experience to undergo before they can take great landscape shots.

Tegan