Just How Good is the Sigma 24-105 Art for Landscape Photography?

If you’ve been following my journey and adventures for a while, you’ll of course know just how much I love seascape photography. You’ll also know that I travel to the Dingle Peninsula as often as I can. There are many reasons for this—the landscape there is so unique, the coastal areas are so diverse, and the power of the waves is incredible. It’s right at the edge of the west coast of Ireland, so it’s always ready for sunset without interruption. Well, of course, if you exclude my arch-nemesis, that bank of cloud that appears on the western horizon right at sunset :-)

For this adventure, I’m once again back in Dingle, but I’m going to bring you to a new location. It’s a place I regularly bring clients to during workshops and one-to-ones, but I’ve never shot a YouTube video there before. The area is called Dooneen Pier. It’s on the westerly side of the Dingle Peninsula, close to the impressive ridge known as Ballydavid. It offers stunning views of the Three Sisters and Ceann Sibéal. These features will appear in almost all of my shots from this day—and for good reason. The view from here is just that good.

I was here the day before hosting a client for a one-to-one workshop. As I normally do, I arrived the evening before, both to be ready for sunrise and to scope out the conditions so I’d be well-prepared for the following morning. It’s hard to know what the conditions will be when you arrive in the middle of the night, especially when it’s pitch dark, so that’s not going to be much help.

When I arrived, I was greeted by some stunning light and powerful waves. The view from the car park area is expansive—you can see the full stretch of the coastline, and unfortunately, you can also see the not-so-pretty concrete jetty that cuts right into the scene. I was excited to see what the shoot would bring—not just for sunset, but also for my client the following morning and right through until sunset again. It was going to be a long and action-packed day, that’s for sure.

Back to today, though—the light was ace, and the views were stunning. So, of course, I decided to give myself a challenge: to shoot only with my Sigma Art f/4 24-105mm lens. I’ve had this lens for years, but only used it a handful of times. That’s mainly because I usually shoot either wide-angle (15-35mm) or telephoto (70-200mm), and I’ve also opted to travel as light as possible over the years.

Today was no different. I was going to travel light—so light that I was only bringing this one lens, my camera, tripod, and filters. No bag, no backup lenses. Everything else was staying in the van. The goal was to force myself to commit to the challenge. I have to admit, walking down towards the water felt liberating, but also a bit like I was missing something. I was—it was my camera bag :-)

When I reached the lower level, I could see the power of the waves as they approached. I’d timed my visit to coincide with high tide just starting to retreat. That’s usually the best time to explore this location. As the tide goes out, I can get closer to the rocky cliff areas without risking a soaking. I wore my wellies, just in case. More on that later.

I watched the waves roll in and get lit up by the impressive yellow-orange sidelight from the setting sun. It was time to put the 24-105mm to work. I walked towards the concrete jetty (I didn’t want it in the shot just yet) and zoomed in to 105mm. Right away, I was able to get shots that wouldn’t have been possible with my wide lens. I watched as waves crashed against the distant rocks and timed my shots to coincide with their impact. I had the camera on high-speed continuous and fired off a bunch of shots—each wave was different in shape, power, and the explosion it created.

Once I was happy with those first shots, I climbed over the jetty and onto the rocks. Now I could see the waves up close. I framed up my first composition using a pointed rock that angled out toward the ocean, with the Three Sisters and Ceann Sibéal behind it. That was going to be my first shot of the session, no doubt.

When I reviewed the shot on the back of the camera, I felt like there was too much dead space between me and the rock. Even zooming in didn’t solve it. So I moved forward to fill the frame more and get closer to the water action. I figured I was safe—the tide was going out, wasn’t it?

That’s the thing with the ocean—it only kind of follows the rules. It always has a trick up its sleeve and should never be underestimated. As I was recording a piece to camera for my YouTube video, I spotted a wave approaching and mentioned it, saying it was going to cascade perfectly over the pointy rock. I was right, but not only did it do that—it continued to push past the rock, and the full force of it landed right at my feet. Needless to say, I was soaked. My camera was soaked. My Osmo video camera was soaked. Talk about immersive filming :-)

This was one of those moments where I was really glad I wore my wellies. Even though I was wet, my clothes would do what they do—repel water. If I hadn’t worn them, my feet would’ve been soaked, and that would’ve meant a soggy retreat back to the van. And that would have meant missing the best of the light.

And the best of the light did come. Not long after I got that shot, the sun met with my old nemesis—that bank of cloud arrived and swallowed up all the golden light. I was glad I had gotten my shots beforehand.

Earlier in the day, I’d spoken with my friend Jaro and invited him to join me. When I arrived at the location, I sent him a video of the golden light and the waves. That convinced him to come out. Unfortunately, by the time he got there, the light was gone. The scene was still stunning, but it wasn’t the supermodel scene it had been an hour before.

So, how did the challenge with the 24-105mm go? Overall, pretty good. It gave me the option to shoot semi-wide at 24mm, and I could zoom in to 105mm to capture more compressed scenes. But there were times when I needed that bit extra to fit the foreground into the frame as I would have liked. As the light began to fade, I explored the area by walking along the pier wall and trying some long exposure shots.

In reality I knew this was going to be a good lens for landscape photography even before I set out, however what I did find was restricting myself to using only that lens made me think outside the box more than I normally would which is in fact the main point of the exercise at the end of the day.

I noticed my battery was flashing—it was running low. Would it last? I hadn’t brought a spare with me. I took a few more long exposures using rocks as leading lines, with the Three Sisters and Ceann Sibéal in the background. Eventually, the battery gave out. I had to walk back to the van to get a new one. A few minutes later, I was back at full power, but by then the light had completely gone. I needn’t have made the trip after all. Still, I took a few last shots: one of a wide expansive view that included the jetty, and another around 50mm to frame up a blue hour scene.

It was great to meet up with Jaro—it always is. He’s an amazing photographer and friend. You can check out his work at kerryviews.com. I was also pleased to have conquered the challenge of using only the 24-105mm. At times, I did feel like I would’ve benefited from an extra few mm to capture the full foreground, but I could always move my feet, though on those uneven rocks, that was a challenge in itself.

You can see the images I took below, and watch the full video of the shoot. You can also watch me edit one of the images over on my Patreon page, where my Behind the Raw series now lives.

Thanks for reading.