looking for lens recommendations...real estate use

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Deleted member 12106

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Wife has finally decided she can take her own pics and edit them. Unfortunately I don't have a good lens to really do rooms/upclose. I have a canon t2i and seedlight. My shortest lens is 25?mm. Since she will be using it, not interested in L glass.

Budget is open. Any suggestions?
 
You'll probably want to get the 10-22mm if you're on a crop frame. It will be your best bet if you need wide angle. If you want something even cheaper, Canon also makes a 10-18mm.

The 10-22 is lauded as probably being the best wide-angle crop sensor lens. It isn't likely you'll need anything wider than that. If you do, I'd probably recommend stitching together multiple images in a pano. If you want to save even more money stitching images together with whatever lens(es) you have now is the lowest cost option.

If you're serious about real estate photography, putting some money into a pano head and a good set of tripod sticks will probably take your further than any piece of equipment. Not sure what your budget is on this is, but a nice set of sticks will let you get stable steady low angle and above the head shots. Most buildings have terrible lighting and it's generally not feasible to have more than a few off camera flashes to help out (as generally real estate photography needs to be fast and efficient), therefore long(er) exposures are generally necessary to get enough light in the shots (especially if you want low ISO and a very narrow aperture). The panning head will allow you to photo-stitch when you have to, and depending on how sophisticated you are and allow for 360 degree views in rooms of the house as necessary.
 
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Cool, I'll check these lenses out. I have a tripod now. Wife has talked about doing video and panoramic shots but it has not gone beyond talk. The guys in her office use their cell phones or pics from last year (snow in the pics when summer, or summer pics when its winter) so not much effort(if any) will be needed to make the photos stunning.
 
Things will look the most normal if she can shoot with a medium wide angle as often as possible. With the crop camera that will be 18mm+. Use the ultra wide 10mm only when really needed because it will cause massive distortion: cause the back wall to sink way back in the frame and make anything on the edges really long. The 10mm will certainly "open" the room up, but at a point it becomes false advertising, and has the additional effect of not letting interested buyers see the space as our eyes see it.

I read a high end housing magazine a few weeks back and I couldn't believe the quantity of horribly done HDR photos. Eye gouging rough dirty colors, houses and kitchens just looked terrible. Don't let your wife do any of that.
 
MN Scout said:
Things will look the most normal if she can shoot with a medium wide angle as often as possible. With the crop camera that will be 18mm+. Use the ultra wide 10mm only when really needed because it will cause massive distortion: cause the back wall to sink way back in the frame and make anything on the edges really long. The 10mm will certainly "open" the room up, but at a point it becomes false advertising, and has the additional effect of not letting interested buyers see the space as our eyes see it.

I read a high end housing magazine a few weeks back and I couldn't believe the quantity of horribly done HDR photos. Eye gouging rough dirty colors, houses and kitchens just looked terrible. Don't let your wife do any of that.
Click to expand...

As a wide angle (very-) amateur, and someone in the market to buy a house, I completely agree with all if what MN Scout says here.

I have the 10-18mm STM. Its a great lens. There are times i wished it had a bigger aperture, but the image stabilization helps with that a bit if you're hand-held. It has some chromatic aberration and vignetting (easily correctable in software), but most notably its soft in the corners. The center and half way out are sharp though. Also, its small and its super light weight so its easy to take anywhere with you.

Basically your trade offs are going to be IS on the 10-18, and a bit more zoom range and maybe a bit more usable larger apertures on the 10-22.

I dont have any experience with the 10-22, but for the price ($300 new), the 10-18 is a fantastic lens. I would say it performs much better than my 17-85 IS USM, which cost twice as much ($600).
 
Three points:

1. Not being interested in 'L' lenses is understandable, but the reality is that sometimes the lenses you need to get the shot only exist as Ls. For example, the 17/4L and 24/3.5L II TS-E lenses, which are a staple of architecture shooting.

2. Once stopped down to f/8 (beyond which diffraction takes hold and robs sharpness), the 10-18 and 10-22 might as well be equal in terms of sharpness and CA. What the 10-22 will really get you is less distortion. The 10-18 is half a pound lighter, noticeably narrower and shorter, and takes smaller (and thus cheaper!) 67mm filters, of which you'll want a circular polarizer for killing window reflections.

3. Both lenses have their strengths and weaknesses for uses other than real estate; the 10-22 as noted has better central sharpness at wider apertures and has said wider apertures, thus making for a better 'event' lens. The stabilization in the 10-18 *may* obviate the need for a tripod in some situations, but is also useful for handheld video.

Overall, it's hard to go wrong with either!
 
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