Cheap FX lens for professional real estate?

noz03 said:

I currently use an 18-35 D on my d610 but am a little disappointed with the image quality... Is there anything that might be better for around €300 or less second hand?

Also is 18mm considered wide enough on an FX for interior real estate photography? Or should I go wider? Maybe a 14mm prime?

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16-35 is a bit better but not in your budget. I personally don't like to go wider than 18 for interiors and 24 for exteriors but I do architectural portfolio work where you want the perspective to look as natural as possible. For real estate photography I see a lot of people using wider to make the rooms look bigger though. Maybe the new 15mm Irix would fit the bill.

Cheap may be a nifty fifty, the AF-S 50 1.8G. On a 600-610 maybe a AF 50 1.8D.

I always answer this question with the lens that has worked so well for me: the Tokina 17-35 f/4. I wrote a small review on it in the reviews section. Best value in a real estate/architecture lens, all the photos in my gallery were taken with this lens (http://paulvachier.500px.com/real_estate) and BandH has a special on it right now for only $350. This lens built like a tank and will last a life time.

By the way I will mostly be shooting hotels, which is why I am thinking 18mm might not be enough.

Tokina 17-35 looks ok but quite hard to find a second hand copy where I live.

Was looking at the samyang 14mm 2.8 MF, would be a bit limiting not being able to zoom but was thinking the extra sharpness would give me options to crop more later.

Any more opinions/suggestions are much welcome though!

Have u considered Tokina 16-28?

CSGM said:

Have u considered Tokina 16-28?

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Unfortunately is a little above my budget at the moment

What about a used 20 or 24mm Nikon D prime?

The corners are limited wide open though at f11 or f16 on a tripod you should get good results.

Maybe I'm just a bit new to real estate but aren't these a bit too narrow for interior, especially if the room is small? I've struggled before even at 18mm. That, along with image quality was also one of the reasons to consider a change.

Other than that I would love to have a 20mm D, it's definitely a very nice lens and super cheap.

Check out the newer version of the 18-35. It's a G lens. It's not hugely expensive to begin with, for what you get, but I bet you could find a good deal on one used.

noz03 said:

I currently use an 18-35 D on my d610 but am a little disappointed with the image quality... Is there anything that might be better for around €300 or less second hand?

Also is 18mm considered wide enough on an FX for interior real estate photography? Or should I go wider? Maybe a 14mm prime?

Click to expand...

When you say "image quality," what precisely do you mean? Somebody above mentioned a 16-35 f/4 which I had for a time but it has terrible barrel distortion at 16mm that's not entirely correctable.

I know it's likely unreasonable but I think you should bet the new PC NIKKOR 19mm f/4E ED.

What exactly are you unhappy with in shots taken with your current lens? Are you looking for more width? More detail? Less distortion?

In architectural shooting, you need to worry more about distortion than detail (in my opinion). If shooting landscapes with houses in the background, not so much.

I don't know there is anything 'cheap' for 'professional real estate' shooting in FX, unless you are ok with not-wide focal lengths where you can use a decent 35mm or 50mm prime. Going wider than 35mm gets you into some issues, particularly in regard to price. Perhaps the newer 20mm and 24mm primes would be good for you, but I can recommend against two lenses that I own:

1. 16-35 - big issue here is a large amount of distortion on the wide end, not just perspective distortion

2. 24f2.8 AF-D - it's just not a great lens, particularly in the corners on FX. (You can see, perhaps, why I don't like it based on some test shots here: http://www.cjcphoto.net/lenstests/24f2.8/index.html

For a zoom, I'd recommend the 14-24, which I assume is out of your budget. After that, probably the Tamron 15-35.

For a prime, the way to go is a tilt-shift lens, which I'm pretty sure is the opposite of 'cheap FX lens'.

noz03 said:

I currently use an 18-35 D on my d610 but am a little disappointed with the image quality... Is there anything that might be better for around €300 or less second hand?

Also is 18mm considered wide enough on an FX for interior real estate photography? Or should I go wider? Maybe a 14mm prime?

Click to expand...

i have a fair amount of strictly part-time experience in real estate photography; it is a pretty simple niche to work if you have the right contacts. I used a d600 for three years, so, yes, your body is fine.

i am presuming that you are interested in my comments; forgive me if you are not. i would say the following:

• You don't need AF or, really, a zoom; you do need corner-to-corner optical quality and flash automation/cpu integration. A few well chosen primes with cpu integration (and that lets out my shelf of AIS lenses) will do just fine. I use the Rokinon 14mm f2.8 w/chip along with 28mm and 50mm f1.8Gs. i want no more. I certainly use the 14mm most; the 110 degree FOV works for interiors.
• Lighting, lighting, lighting is the key concern. Particularly as the lens FOV gets wider, multiple wireless flashes are all but mandatory. Balancing those with natural light is a real art and, frankly, is the core of your value-added compared to realtor cell phone images. You will need at least two off board units; i have four and routinely use them all. Godox now makes excellent, cost-effective, third party Nikon CLS-compatible units (which i wish were available when i bought).
• Think carefully about your post-capture workflow. You are going to be doing a lot of it; just a little bit of streamlining pays off when facing, say, taking 320 images from a day's shooting three properties down to 36 deliverables (12 each). i use DXO, but many obviously do well with LR and PS; work out your batch features though. Learn to use a light touch on perspective control; it eats resolution.

Good luck.

-- gary ray
Semi-professional in early 1970s; just a putzer since then. interests: historical sites, virginia, motorcycle racing. A nikon user more by habit than choice; still, nikon seems to work well for me.

noz03 said:

Maybe I'm just a bit new to real estate but aren't these a bit too narrow for interior, especially if the room is small? I've struggled before even at 18mm. That, along with image quality was also one of the reasons to consider a change.

Other than that I would love to have a 20mm D, it's definitely a very nice lens and super cheap.

Click to expand...

Agreed. My 12-24mm at 12mm has led to some struggle on my D300 (1.5 crop factor) capturing tight interiors. YMMV.

Wahrsager said:

noz03 said:

I currently use an 18-35 D on my d610 but am a little disappointed with the image quality... Is there anything that might be better for around €300 or less second hand?

Also is 18mm considered wide enough on an FX for interior real estate photography? Or should I go wider? Maybe a 14mm prime?

Click to expand...

When you say "image quality," what precisely do you mean? Somebody above mentioned a 16-35 f/4 which I had for a time but it has terrible barrel distortion at 16mm that's not entirely correctable.

I know it's likely unreasonable but I think you should bet the new PC NIKKOR 19mm f/4E ED.

Click to expand...

The 16-35 is quite good at 18-24 stopped down to f/8 which is where I normally use it. The VR is also very hand for challenging positions where a tripod is not practical but you still want to keep your ISO low. Now that I have added the 19mm to my bag the 16-35 is pretty much benched unless I really need to handhold. I find the 19mm PC-E great for interiors and the 24 PC-E great for exteriors. If I need a slightly wider field of view I just stitch shifted images.

noz03 said:

I currently use an 18-35 D on my d610 but am a little disappointed with the image quality... Is there anything that might be better for around €300 or less second hand?

Click to expand...

Do you receive a commission on sales? Yes? Suppose you lose one sale as a result of your choice to use a cheap lens. How expensive did that lens actually turn out to be? Instead, are you a professional photographer looking to branch out? Yes? Suppose you lose one agency as client because you chose a cheap lens. How expensive did that lens actually turn out to be? Don't be eurocent wise and euro foolish. You don't have to buy every expensive toy the poseurs here wish they could afford, but you do need the tools which won't put you at a disadvantage with your competition.

Wahrsager said:

noz03 said:

I currently use an 18-35 D on my d610 but am a little disappointed with the image quality... Is there anything that might be better for around €300 or less second hand?

Also is 18mm considered wide enough on an FX for interior real estate photography? Or should I go wider? Maybe a 14mm prime?

Click to expand...

When you say "image quality," what precisely do you mean? Somebody above mentioned a 16-35 f/4 which I had for a time but it has terrible barrel distortion at 16mm that's not entirely correctable.

I know it's likely unreasonable but I think you should bet the new PC NIKKOR 19mm f/4E ED.

Click to expand...

Actually everything, distortion, sharpness, chromatic aberations. It just generally doesn't make very nice images :/

gear1box said:

noz03 said:

I currently use an 18-35 D on my d610 but am a little disappointed with the image quality... Is there anything that might be better for around €300 or less second hand?

Also is 18mm considered wide enough on an FX for interior real estate photography? Or should I go wider? Maybe a 14mm prime?

Click to expand...

i have a fair amount of strictly part-time experience in real estate photography; it is a pretty simple niche to work if you have the right contacts. I used a d600 for three years, so, yes, your body is fine.

i am presuming that you are interested in my comments; forgive me if you are not. i would say the following:

• You don't need AF or, really, a zoom; you do need corner-to-corner optical quality and flash automation/cpu integration. A few well chosen primes with cpu integration (and that lets out my shelf of AIS lenses) will do just fine. I use the Rokinon 14mm f2.8 w/chip along with 28mm and 50mm f1.8Gs. i want no more. I certainly use the 14mm most; the 110 degree FOV works for interiors.
• Lighting, lighting, lighting is the key concern. Particularly as the lens FOV gets wider, multiple wireless flashes are all but mandatory. Balancing those with natural light is a real art and, frankly, is the core of your value-added compared to realtor cell phone images. You will need at least two off board units; i have four and routinely use them all. Godox now makes excellent, cost-effective, third party Nikon CLS-compatible units (which i wish were available when i bought).
• Think carefully about your post-capture workflow. You are going to be doing a lot of it; just a little bit of streamlining pays off when facing, say, taking 320 images from a day's shooting three properties down to 36 deliverables (12 each). i use DXO, but many obviously do well with LR and PS; work out your batch features though. Learn to use a light touch on perspective control; it eats resolution.

Good luck.

-- gary ray
Semi-professional in early 1970s; just a putzer since then. interests: historical sites, virginia, motorcycle racing. A nikon user more by habit than choice; still, nikon seems to work well for me.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips.

The Rokina 14mm is the same lens as the samyang right? https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/859173-REG/Samyang_SY14MAE_N_14mm_f_2_8_Super_Wide.html

I am still not seeing anything that suits my needs better than this one. Extremely high quality for the price. I just cant afford a good enough zoom right now it seems. At least until I start earning a bit of money.

As for lighting I do have 2 triggered TTL flashes (and 2 manual) but I rarely use TTL to be completely honest, I just don't trust it. That aside... Is it really so important to use in real estate? I would more say that it is a style of doing things rather than the way to do it. I usually take multiple exposures and blend them together, painting in the places I want to add more light and enhancing the lights that are already there.

Vera Cognome said:

noz03 said:

I currently use an 18-35 D on my d610 but am a little disappointed with the image quality... Is there anything that might be better for around €300 or less second hand?

Click to expand...

Do you receive a commission on sales? Yes? Suppose you lose one sale as a result of your choice to use a cheap lens. How expensive did that lens actually turn out to be? Instead, are you a professional photographer looking to branch out? Yes? Suppose you lose one agency as client because you chose a cheap lens. How expensive did that lens actually turn out to be? Don't be eurocent wise and euro foolish. You don't have to buy every expensive toy the poseurs here wish they could afford, but you do need the tools which won't put you at a disadvantage with your competition.

Click to expand...

I completely agree with you but right now I am just starting on interiors and haven't really earned any money at all yet. I have 1 connection who has said they will send me work but I don't have any idea if they actually will, how often, or how much they will offer. I'm not sure what my income has to be to justify investing in a €1000+ lens yet but I'm definitely not at that point yet.

noz03 said:

Was looking at the samyang 14mm 2.8 MF, would be a bit limiting not being able to zoom but was thinking the extra sharpness would give me options to crop more later.

Click to expand...

If you are doing interior shots I wouldnt buy the Samyang, Too much difficult distortion to correct.....

Dont get me wrong, good lens, just not for this job..