About Spencer Cox

I'm Spencer Cox, a landscape photographer based in Colorado. I started writing for Photography Life a decade ago, and now I run the website in collaboration with Nasim. I've used nearly every digital camera system under the sun, but for my personal work, I love the slow-paced nature of large format film. You can see more at my personal website and my not-exactly-active Instagram page.

Post Archive By Spencer Cox

Nikon Z MC 50mm f/2.8 Macro Review

This hands-on review covers everything you need to know about the Nikon Z MC 50mm f/2.8 Macro, a lightweight macro lens for Nikon’s Z System. As a true macro lens, the 50mm MC is capable of reaching 1:1 magnification, albeit with a short working distance. Here’s how it measures up!

Tips for Multi-Day Backpacking as a Landscape Photographer

I just returned from one of the longest hikes I've ever done, the famous O Circuit in Chile's Torres del Paine National Park! This eight-day hike goes around the Paine massif itself, circumnavigating these magnificent peaks and showcasing them from every angle. For landscape photography, it's hard to think of...

Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Review

The Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 is a budget telephoto zoom which offers an impressive range of focal lengths. This $1300 lens is available both for Sony E and Nikon Z, and as soon as it was announced, our readers immediately started asking me to review it. I’m happy to bring you our full tests today.

Landscape Photography on a Cloudless Day

Photographers may be some of the only people with a negative opinion of blue skies! But who can blame us? Harsh sunlight doesn’t complement a lot of subjects very well – if anything, just the opposite – and an empty, blue expanse usually doesn’t add much interest to the top of a landscape photo.

Nikon Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct Review

This hands-on review covers everything that you need to know about the Nikon Z 58mm f/0.95 Noct, an ultra-bright statement piece lens from Nikon. The Noct is manual-focus only, and it costs $8000, so it’s hardly practical for most photographers. But it sure is an impressive optic – here’s how it measures up!

Searching for Fractal Beauty in Landscape Photography

There are two impossible questions I like to ask myself as landscape photographer. Although they’ll never have perfect answers, the closer I try to get, the more I see my photos improve. They are: “What makes a good landscape?” and “What makes a good landscape photo?”

Everything Else Aperture Does to Your Photos

Most photographers are aware that aperture affects your exposure and depth of field in photography. (If that's news to you, I recommend reading our introduction to aperture before this article.) But what else does it affect? There are lots of other variables that also change with your choice of aperture....