DSLR lens(es) for real estate

[Muse]

A friend of mine just got her real estate license and she's working with a local company part time. I mentioned to her that I could take pictures and she sounded enthusiastic. Over the summer I acquired a Pentax K-x two lens kit (18-55mm and 55-300mm), my first DSLR, and have since obtained these additional lenses:

Pentax SMC 18-250mm
Pentax SMC 28-90mm
Pentax-A f1.7 50mm prime

What lens or lenses would be best for real estate photos? I suppose the 18-55 would be the most versatile, aside from the 18-250mm. Actually, the 18-250mm is said to be as good (quite good from 18-100mm) except at about 18mm where it has quite a bit more barrel distortion, however it's relatively big and heavy.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

You need an ultrawide-angle lens for photographing interiors. 18mm is wide (28mm equivalent) and can get you by with many photographic subjects, but inside a house you cannot back up all the way through a wall. Also, wider lenses make houses look bigger.

Looking at Pentax's offerings, the 12-24mm f/4 seems like the best option. I think that other lens makers make UWAs for Pentax as well, such as the Tokina 11-16 or the Sigma 10-20.

You also want a good sturdy tripod and probably a cable release.

 

[rootaxs]

UWA, or you can stitch several photos together. UWA will capture a lot in a single shot, but doing several shots at mid-range, say 20-50mm, will help with distortion, plus you can capture more than even a single UWA can achieve.

 

[SZLiao214]

Go pm Fuzzybabybunny. He does this for a living and has a lot of great photos.

 

[fralexandr]

as everyone else has said you need an ultra wide angle lens. I've been using the 18-55mm for taking pictures of houses (i'm not a professional), and it works ok, but some shots would benefit from going wider.
basically the ultra wide zooms for pentax are (low prices are generally used, high price is the lowest i've seen new or thought i saw it new)
pentax 12-24 (~625-$700)
sigma ex 10-20 3.5 (~$575+)
sigma ex 10-20 4-5.6 (~$400-480)
tamron 10-24 (480-$100 mir) (i'm in the process of buying one)
the pentax is a good lens though, just really pricey for me

and there are various primes like the pentax 15mm, some others like the 12mm and 14mm, some of which are around $300, though many $600+

 

[martensite]

Another vote for (atleast) a 12-24 mm if you want to do serious architectural shots. It's a really good lens, except for some CA issues in high contrast conditions when wide open. It's color, sharpness and rendering are very good.

Versatility-wise, probably the sigma 10-20 definitely makes more sense, but I doubt if its IQ will be as good as that of the Pentax for overlapping FLs.

The widest FL I've got is 16mm (~24 mm in 35mm equivalent) on my DA*16-50, and I find it to be really restrictive for most building and some landscape shots. Besides, at the wide end, there is a fair bit of distortion, some of which is very difficult to correct in CS4.

From purely a distortion POV, a prime would fare better than a zoom I suppose. Remember that distortion correction usually involves some cropping too, so you may lost some corners, edges etc.

 

[Muse]

Besides, at the wide end, there is a fair bit of distortion, some of which is very difficult to correct in CS4.

From purely a distortion POV, a prime would fare better than a zoom I suppose. Remember that distortion correction usually involves some cropping too, so you may lost some corners, edges etc.

My Pentax K-x has distortion correction (if you have the option enabled) for DA lenses. Are you referring to that? It does the processing in camera while you're shooting, so it slows things down somewhat. So I've heard, I haven't used it yet. It could be beneficial with a zoom wide open in correcting barrel distortion, presumably no post processing necessary.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

Ehhh... I wouldn't worry about it. If your camera has built-in corrections, that's great, and I would certainly recommend using it for these shots (you won't be shooting rapid-fire anyway); but for typical realtor shots for the Web.... no big deal. If you were shooting for Architectural Digest, yes, worry about distortion and find the best way to correct it. Semipro stuff? Nah..... the camera's built-in correction, or basic first-order corrections in Photoshop will be plenty good enough.