Need a Lens for Real Estate photography

[ky-at-heart]

I am trying to full fill a need in my area for Real Estate photography. I have a Canon XTI. I have read articles about the 10-22mm and the 14mm "L" lens for these purposes. I need something that is wide, but not so wide that it gives a "fisheye" look to the picture. Any real estate photographers out there with some advise?

[Bonish Photo]

I'm not a Real Estate Photographer, but I can suggest a few different lenses that might help out.

I think the 10-22 would be a good option because it is wide enough to get the entire room into the frame for most images you'll be taking, and it also gives you the option to zoom in a tad if you need to crop out a chair, edge of a wall....etc

Make sure your body you own will accept a EF-S lens. Almost all of their newer bodies will, but many of their older bodies wont accept that stle of lens.

I've done a few shoots for both Real Estate friends or people who needed shots of their Interiors for either brochures or flyers for various businesses.

Hope that helps

[ky-at-heart]

Thanks for the advise, it is looking like the 10-22mm is going to be the lens. I have the Canon XTi and it will take the EF-s lens. The 14mm is to rich for my blood for right now.

[bob_r]

Welcome to the forum, Brian.

I've shot interiors with the 10-22 also and while it doesn't give a "fisheye" look, it will show distortion on the wide end. Sometimes the distortion can be reduced in post processing, but usually not eliminated. If this gets to be a business for you, you'll probably want to invest in one of the tilt-shift lenses. They can eliminate the distortion, but they take a while to learn how to use and they are rather expensive.

[gldiana]

If you are serious about Real Estate photography, which goes in hand with Architectural photography, the lenses you're considering are not, by a far margin, a good choice. Your only choice is a Tilt Shift lens as Bob said. Canon makes 5 different ones, the newest ones are very expensive ($2,500) but offer a sharpness that is actually equal or superior to the 14mm L lens. Any wide angle other than a Tilt Shift will distort the perspective making the room look much bigger than what it is and will converge the lines on the side of the field. The 14mm L is a very expensive lens and quite frankly a waste of money on the XT.
Remember you can rent a Tilt Shift for about $45/day (cheaper by the week) and you can also use the 1.4x and 2.0x power converters with them.

[ky-at-heart]

Mmmmm...some very good food for my thoughts. Thanks. I am serious about breaking into this Real Estate photography, not so much architectural photography for artistic reasons. I think that the best route would be to rent one of each lens for a while to give it a test drive. My only worry is the TS lens! Those things intimidate me... Gldiana, what TS size would you recommend and how difficult are they to learn?

[gldiana]

Perspective Control lenses (Tilt Shift) have a bit of a learning curve but it's not something that cannot be learned in a few days of shooting, especially if you're limiting yourself to indoors. Nothing to be intimidated by, actually they're some of the most fun lenses I ever used. With an APS-C sized sensor I'd go for the 17mm (I really wouldn't, I'd upgrade to a full frame sensor, but for field of view anything with a longer focal lenght will not be very useful inside a house, especially smaller houses); with a full frame sensor I'd go for the 24mm. These are very sharp lenses.
Check the link below, 1 week rental of the 24mm for $115 insured. They have pretty much all lenses there.
http://www.lensrentals.com/rent/canon-ts-e-24mm-f3.5-ii/for-canon

[julia.sadie]

Maybe you can find something here: http://photographyforrealestate.net/

[clarinettedn06]

Maybe you can find something here: http://photographyforrealestate.net/

Thanks for this link. But i think they cost more than its value. BTW, those were really good photos.