> What is the cheapest lens I can get for taking pictures of mountains and trees with my new Canon R8? honestly, i remember my first trip out to zion years ago. i brought a heavy bag and regretted it halfway up the trail. for the R8, you really need something wide to capture the scale of those canyon walls. the most logical choice for your 300 dollar budget is the Canon RF 16mm f/2.8 STM. i grabbed one for a backpacking trip last summer and it stayed on my camera 90% of the time. it is basically the cheapest way to get an ultra-wide angle on that system. it has some heavy distortion that the camera fixes automatically, so it works well enough for landscape shots. if you can find a used Canon RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS STM, that is a decent option too for more versatility with trees, but for the big mountain views, that 16mm is hard to beat for the price.

Saw this earlier and wanted to chime in with some technical specs to keep in mind for Zion. Since youre on a full-frame sensor with that R8, you have to be careful about corner sharpness and distortion when buying budget glass. $300 is tight but doable if you look at these specific options:

• Canon RF 16mm f/2.8 STM
• This is likely your best bet for those massive canyon walls. It is super light, but be careful because the native barrel distortion is actually quite high. Make sure to keep the in-camera lens corrections turned on or your horizon lines will look like a bowl. I would suggest stopping this down to f/8 or f/11 for landscapes to help with the corner softness.
• Canon RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS STM
• You can usually find these used or as white-box splits for under $300. The technical trade-off here is the slow variable aperture, but for mountains, that wont matter much since youll have plenty of light. Just watch out for lens flare when the sun is hitting those red rocks at an angle; the coatings on this budget zoom arent as robust as the L-series glass.
• Canon RF 24-50mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM
• This is basically the smallest zoom you can get. Its okay for basic shots, but honestly, the 24mm wide end might feel a bit cramped when youre standing at the bottom of a cliff looking up. Id personally go for the 16mm prime for the sheer width, just watch those edges...

Stumbled on this today and yeah, weight is totally your biggest enemy at Zion. Honestly, you just need a used wide-angle zoom for that R8. You dont need fast, expensive glass for mountains since you'll be stopping down to f/8 or f/11 anyway. That wide field of view is what really captures the scale of those canyon walls tho.