Best lens for photoing houses

[NicoleDaly]

I was asked to photograph architecture in some houses to display on a website. I was wondering of anyone know what's the best lens to use for this type of photography? I have a 50mm 1.8 & a kit lens 18-55mm 2.4. Im thinking I may need to rent a different lens bc these may not be the proper ones. Thanks : )

 

[480sparky]

Best lens would be a tilt/shift.

 

[Trever1t]

Amazon.com: Nikon 24mm f/3.5D ED PC-E Nikkor Ultra-Wide Angle Lens for Nikon DSLR Cameras: Electronics

 

[PapaMatt]

Tokina 11-16, or something between 10-24mm

 

[bazooka]

Canon or Nikon? There isn't a 17-55 2.4. There is a 2.8 but it's not a kit lens.

Anyway, the ideal solution as Sparky said is a TS or Perspective control lens. This will allow you to keep the edges parallel without having to be square on and pointed at the horizon. The focal length can vary by a lot depending on what kind of composition you are looking for and how much room you have to work with.

I have the 24mm TS-E 3.5 (ver. 1). It's a pretty decent lens for the price. There is a version II which improves on some things, but it's twice the price...

 

[Bossy]

You might be able to work with the 18 end of your lens. I shot my inlaws house for their sale with my 18-105 kit lens and an off camera flash. Wider would've been nicer though. You can fix angles in photoshop.

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[NicoleDaly]

I have a Canon. (Thanks everyone for all your help)

 

[analog.universe]

I'd suggest something crazy wide, before a tilt-shift, if you have a crop sensor camera. Sigma 8-16 or Tokina 11-16 or some such. If you had full frame, the Canon 17mm TS-E would be perfect, truly profound lens (with a price to match). For architecture though, I don't think it's wide enough on a crop sensor.

 

[Joey_Ricard]

I was asked to photograph architecture in some houses to display on a website. I was wondering of anyone know what's the best lens to use for this type of photography? I have a 50mm 1.8 & a kit lens 18-55mm 2.4. Im thinking I may need to rent a different lens bc these may not be the proper ones. Thanks : )

Nicole, the lenses you have are fine for taking images of houses - in other words you do not NEED to buy another lens just to shoot houses. Should, could, would, whatever. You can do it with the ones you have. The 50 might be a little tight, and if you use the 18-55, shoot as level as possible. I shoot a lot of mechanical, architecture as the core of my business as opposed other avenues in my photography. I often use a 24-70 when shooting exteriors and 17-40 and 16-35 for interiors.

Again, could, should, would - sure, but you don't have to have to.

PS: if you do get a ultra wide angle like my 16-35, be prepared to work well in photoshop to straighten and stretch - again shoot as level as you can in wide.

 

[NicoleDaly]

Nicole, the lenses you have are fine for taking images of houses - in other words you do not NEED to buy another lens just to shoot houses. Should, could, would, whatever. You can do it with the ones you have. The 50 might be a little tight, and if you use the 18-55, shoot as level as possible. I shoot a lot of mechanical, architecture as the core of my business as opposed other avenues in my photography. I often use a 24-70 when shooting exteriors and 17-40 and 16-35 for interiors.

Again, could, should, would - sure, but you don't have to have to.

PS: if you do get a ultra wide angle like my 16-35, be prepared to work well in photoshop to straighten and stretch - again shoot as level as you can in wide.

Thank you much Joey. I didn't really want to rent a lens, as my funds are low. I appreciate the help from you and everyone else!!! I love the this forum! : )

 

[bazooka]

I was wondering of anyone know what's the best lens to use for this type of photography?

I thought by "best", she meant best. My mistake.

 

[CCericola]

Definitely rent a tilt shift lens. If you are going to try to do something new, you might as well trying to do it with the right equipment. I use borrow lenses.com and lensgiant.com for rentals.

Sent from my iPad using PhotoForum

 

[Joey_Ricard]

Definitely rent a tilt shift lens. If you are going to try to do something new, you might as well trying to do it with the right equipment. I use borrow lenses.com and lensgiant.com for rentals.

Sent from my iPad using PhotoForum

- I dont have the "right equipment" as you mention

 

[NicoleDaly]

bazooka, I may have mis-spoken... i did mean whats the "best" lens and would any of my lenses be ok to use too? So everyone that had responded has helped me greatly : )

 

[manaheim]

Best lens would be a tilt/shift.

Tilt/shift lenses are quite expensive and you can get essentially the same result with perspective correction software like PTLens. ($15 last I checked). There is a slight drawback to PTLens in that you wind up having to crop some of your image when you're done, but if you plan ahead and shoot wider than you need to it's generally nothing to worry about. I do quite a bit of this kind of photography, and I do not own a tilt/shift. (They are quite neat, though.)

However, you never really said if you're doing interiors or exteriors.

For interiors you're going to essentially want as wide as you can get. The Sigma 10-20 is a good lens. Canon probably makes an equivelent, but I'm not sure. Nikon only started doing it recently for DX cameras. For exteriors, odds are your 18mm will be fine.

If you're doing interiors, I would also recommend you bring a flash, remote shutter release and a tripod. Set the camera on manual, fire a longish exposure and pop the flash in the process. (bounce it off the ceiling or wall behind you- watch for hot spots) It will help fill in the room nicely.

You can get FAR more advanced than this, but these are some good basics to start with.

As I say I have a lot of experience with this so let me know if you have any questions.

Good luck.