Real Estate Photography - Needed Gear?

manaheim · Jan 18, 2011

Well except that you need to keep in mind all lenses (and particularly that sigma) are at their worst at the extremes. Shoot wide enough to giv eyou enough room to correct and crop, but not at max width unless you have to.

burgo · Jan 18, 2011

the best lens to use for real estate is a tilt shift lens

manaheim · Jan 19, 2011

burgo said:
the best lens to use for real estate is a tilt shift lens

Why?

Christie Photo · Jan 19, 2011

robb01 said:
I think my main focus would be high end residential, as like I said there is no competition in my area. No one seems to be using a real photography service.

Don't believe there's no competition in your area.

The reason on one is using a "real" photographer is on one is willing to pay.

The agents shot it themselves and feel it's good enough.

-Pete

SBphotography · May 30, 2011

So are tilt-shift lenses better than wide angles lenses for interior real estate shots due to the fact that wide angles cause lots of distortion??? I need to know before I make a purchase

mrpink · May 30, 2011

Ehh, threads only 5 months old- not too bad.

Wide angle distortion can be corrected in post. I have not had any experience with tilt-shifts, but I am also wondering why they were suggested over a UWA.

I would go with a UWA and tripod.

p!nK

KmH · May 30, 2011

Not all UWA distortion types can be effectively 'fixed' in post processing. Not all UWA lenses have the same amount, or complexity of distortion.

Tilt/shift lenses allow the distortion to be corrected before the shutter is released.

However, good T?S lenses are not cheap.

Frankly, if you have to ask which to get, you're already in over your head.

manaheim · May 30, 2011

Another element to consider is a tilt/shift lens allows you to correct WITHOUT loss of image real estate... post-processing corrections winds up angling the edges and you wind up having to crop (or artificially re-create) those sections. BUT... post-processing fixes can be had for free to cheap, and ask KMH said... t/s lenses are not cheap.

potownrob · May 30, 2011

Christie Photo said:
robb01 said:

I think my main focus would be high end residential, as like I said there is no competition in my area. No one seems to be using a real photography service.

Click to expand...

Don't believe there's no competition in your area.

The reason on one is using a "real" photographer is on one is willing to pay.

The agents shot it themselves and feel it's good enough.

-Pete

Amen. My mom is a residential real estate agent and she's never mentioned anything about anyone using a professional company to shoot the houses/buildings/properties, though i'd be surprised if they didn't exist around here. I would imagine they use them more for commercial real estate, at least for promotional brochures and info for new construction (new housing developments). For my mom's residential listings, she usually uses one of my P&S cameras to shoot the properties and she usually shoots them herself. I try to make sure she takes a camera with a wide angle lens and have it set right for the situation since she is not good with the settings (despite having used an old manual film SLR for years), but she often just shoots with a regular P&S and backs into corners and across the street, even for her more demanding customers.

SBphotography · May 31, 2011

I've never used a tilt shift lens but am in the market for a UWA for real estate photography, landscapes and cityscapes.. If a tilt shift is better than a UWA in all aspects then I will buy the tilt shift (price is not an issue for me as I want Canon L series lenses). Although I have no experience with a tilt shift lens, if that is the better one to get then I will learn how to use it.

what do you guys think?

Overread · May 31, 2011

If price is no issue and you can't try one out at a local camera club then I'd suggest renting a tiltshift lens and giving it a try. They are not ultra cheap and renting one for a few days would at least give you the chance to test its performance and see if the thiltshift effect it something you can make use of (of course combine this with reading tiltshift based articles and threads to get an idea of how best to use it)