Is Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8 unavoidable for interior/architecture photography?

fredlord wrote:

Texchappy wrote:

fredlord wrote:

The prevailing real estate method in my area is to use HDR exclusively. The aperture recommended is f/8. A tripod is also generally easier although, if you are really steady, you could do it handheld. The camera should always be leveled up completely so it's easier with a tripod.

I have used the EF 17 TS-E, EF 16-35, and EF 11-24. The wider the better for some of the really tiny powder rooms. That said, the company I worked for wanted either 16mm or 17mm on a full-frame camera or 10mm on a crop-sensor camera.

The problem with HDR is the number of frames involved in each property. A simple shoot might be 3–400 frames. We often had eight properties to shoot in a day. That came to 3–5,000 frames per day. Many of the shooters picked up a less expensive camera along with a spare since they might shoot over 100K frames in a month. The cameras wore out fast and a spare body was always a good idea.

To simplify, all you need is something in 16mm for a FF camera. Wide apertures are not necessary as f/8 is the best aperture in most cases. The lens does not need to be top of the line, as one poster stated, so checking 3rd-party brands can really pay off as far as cost goes. Most lenses are just fine at f/8.

Would the little RF16/2.8 stm work in these instances?

Absolutely! Yes. It's light, small, relatively inexpensive and, reading the review, not that bad for IQ. Real estate photography doesn't require any more especially since it's generally shot at f/8 and manually focused. The barrel distortion mentioned would not present any impediment to a home sale.

https://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-RF-16mm-F2.8-STM-Lens.aspx

There is effectively zero distortion (barrel or pincushion) with this lens if used with a profile.  DXO, DPP and even Adobe have profiles for the RF 16/2.8.  As a rectilinear ultra wide it will still show stretched corners, which is an unavoidable consequence of the rectilinear projection, and if “corrected” then horizontal straight lines will be curved.  A lot of people seem to think rectilinear=no distortion, but this is incorrect.  However rectilinear is exactly what you need for interiors.  Just don’t place circular objects near the corners, they will become oval and look wrong.