Reading mode: Light Dark

Interior designer in need of a wide-angle

Go to last post
B

babyteach101

Active member
Messages
65
Reaction score
0
Location
US
My friend is looking for a simple camera that she can take decent pictures with for her portfolio. She's an interior designer and will be taking pictures of rooms. She'd like to do something relatively professional and is tired of hiring people to do the work. Any suggestions for a camera for her needs?

-Jen
 
An entry level DSLR any brand, buy the one with the best deal.

full automatic external flash.

a Wide angle lens that can deliver the equivalent to the full frame focal length of 24 mm. Preferably one that doesn't cause straight lines to curve at the edges of the frame.

If she wants to illuminate an entire room, she will need some slave flash units and remote triggering devices. (not needed for simple flash shots).

----
Now that you've judged the quality of my typing, take a look at my photos. . .
http://www.photo.net/photos/GlenBarrington
 
babyteach101 said:
She'd like to do something relatively professional and
is tired of hiring people to do the work.
Any suggestions for a camera for her needs?
Click to expand...
Jen,

A friend also tells me he's tired of hiring dentists for taking care of his teeth. Any suggestions of good drill bits for his needs?

Sorry for the harsh parallel, but the job will be professionally done by a proffessional. Unless your friend is well-versed in photography, she'd be best advised to continue hiring photographers when needed, or she will get so-so results, possibly compromising her interior design image (no pun).

That said, interior shooting where the room, furniture and decoration are themselves the subject (as opposed to interior shots of people, for instance) will almost always call for wideangle or extreme wideangle lenses. I'd suggest a 15 to 25mm lens (in 35mm camera parlance) for such photos. In the DSLR world, Canon's 10-22mm lens, or Sigma's 10-20mm are good lenses for the job, assuming an APS-C sized camera. I don't feel this should be attempted with compacts, firstly because their image quality with interior/low light will be inferior to DSLRs (as she needs professional images), and also because their lenses won't probably reach the wide end that would be needed.

--
Best regards,

Bruno Lobo.



http://www.pbase.com/brunobl
 
Depends how wide angle it needs to be.

If I wanted to take interior shots, especially in relatively small spaces, I'd want something wider than the 28mm you tend to find in compact cameras and DSLR 'kit' lenses.

You could consider the Ricoh GX100 or the Kodak P880, both of which have 24mm lenses. Whether you'd get 'professional looking' results is another question. If you were clever with Photoshop perhaps, and used a tripod and low ISO to start with.

An entry level DSLR will probably be best. But the lens it comes with might not be wide enough. Proper wide angle lenses tend to be expensive, even ones from Sigma or Tamron.

--
Androo
http://Androo.smugmug.com
 
Another option is a camera like the Canon G7 that takes a wide-angle accessory lens. Not sure how wide they go, but many Canon cameras can accept these lenses, as can others from Nikon et al.
--
Androo
http://Androo.smugmug.com
 
Bruno,

She is well versed in photography, and very capable. She just didn't have the means or time to get the camera before. Now she does. I'm pretty sure she knows the importance of the photos considering her job and art background. She wouldn't jeopardize her reputation.

-Jen
 
Kodak has a WA auxilary lens for the P850 and P712 cameras and they will take the P20 external flash unit for bounce flash.

That said the P880 would still be a better choice because it's lens is 24mm equiv. vs. 25.2mm equiv. for the WA attachment on the other two. Additionally the P880 has an external flash sync connector giving it greater flash versatility.
 
Canon's Photostitch program for example will lace together two or three shots with hardly any effort for those times when 18mm on a DSLR and 28mm equivalent at 35mm won't do.

It will usually be said that only a DSLR will do, and this is quite disengenuous as I regularly use a Fuji 9100 at the 28mm mark and get results good enough to publish. Generally, there will be less vertical and horizontal distortion on a pupose made wide angle lens. Maybe we struck lucky here then:
http://www.pbase.com/johnfr/image/77833563
--
John.
Please visit me at:
http://www.pbase.com/johnfr/backtothebridge
http://www.pbase.com/johnfr
 
Brunobl said:
Brunobl said:
She'd like to do something relatively professional and
is tired of hiring people to do the work.
Any suggestions for a camera for her needs?
Click to expand...
Jen,

A friend also tells me he's tired of hiring dentists for taking
care of his teeth. Any suggestions of good drill bits for his needs?
Click to expand...
I use silicon carbide, as they last longer.

--
Charlie Davis
Nikon 5700 & Sony R1
CATS #25
PAS Scribe @ http://www.here-ugo.com/PAS_List.htm
HomePage: http://www.1derful.info
'I brake for pixels...'
 
babyteach101 said:
Bruno,

She is well versed in photography, and very capable. She just
didn't have the means or time to get the camera before. Now she
does. I'm pretty sure she knows the importance of the photos
considering her job and art background. She wouldn't jeopardize
her reputation.

-Jen
Click to expand...
If she knows all this and knows what she needs then why the question?

A DSLR is what she needs along with a decidated flash. She must already know this (according to you). So, tell her to go get it!

--
Doug Walker
 
Amazon has one at the moment, and I found 22 of them on the net in Germany. Probably many more out there on the net...
And anyway, what's wrong with a second hand camera?

Lots of people bought the R1 just because it was a new gadget and barely used their cameras.
--
Just passing by...
 
john farrar wrote:
Maybe we struck lucky here then:
john farrar said:
http://www.pbase.com/johnfr/image/77833563
Click to expand...
Don't get me wrong. The following won't imply that it isn't a nicely done picture, which it is.

The luck bit is related to the fact that the shop shape (long and narrow), coupled to the end-on point of view, lends itself nicely to not-so-wide lenses.

And while the caption says "Good detail in this one. Probably sharper than the DSLR version too", it should be noted that the image is (as in most compacts) sharp but flooded with artifacts, quite a different outcome than would have been the case with a DSLR, where sharpness would have not been determined by the camera, but chosen after the fact during PP yielding a much cleaner, and as sharp, image.

--
Best regards,

Bruno Lobo.



http://www.pbase.com/brunobl
 
A budget might give us an idea. If she's looking for professional quality photos, and an SLR, I might think something along the lines of a Canon 5D (wide, full-frame) and a 17-40mm lens. If she doesn't want to spend that much, a Canon 30D with the 10-22mm... But could also try a Nikon in the same price range...

For a pro-sumer camera, a G7 or S3 or S5 IS with the wide-angle adapter.

Also a decent, stable tripod (Manfrotto or something like that) as the light isn't likely to be good for shooting f/8 or f/11 indoors, hand-held, even with Image Stabilization. Diffused Flash, strobes, etc. can be used -- jsut depends how expensive and complicated you want to make it...
 
Hi, Bruno. Thanks for the discussion. I have now put the DSLR version of that shot next to that picture in the gallery, so it is easy to compare. I won't embed the image here: please click on link if interested. Both were shot at 28mm equivalent. The DSLR 18 and the Fuji 9100 6.7mm. Fuji appears sharper, Minolta has nicer colour. Curves used on both and dodging/highlighting in similar areas.
http://www.pbase.com/image/80127883

--
John.
Please visit me at:
http://www.pbase.com/johnfr/backtothebridge
http://www.pbase.com/johnfr
 
Do you know all of the cameras out there and have the time to check them all out? I thought that's why this forum was around was so people who know can recommend what they feel would be best. I researched my camera, but the bottom line was what I read and questions I asked on-line. I don't think it's unreasonable for her to be unsure regardless of her photography background.

-Jen...not sure why I have to defend this question to people. how sad.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Keyboard shortcuts

f
Forum
m
My threads
Mobile site
About
Editorial content
Cameras & Lenses
Community
All content, design, and layout are Copyright © 1998–2025 Digital Photography Review All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium without specific written permission is prohibited.
When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.
©GPS Media - Guides, Products, Services.
Back
Top