Wide angle for Real Estate

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StevenN

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I'm planning to do some Real Estate photography, and the widest lenses I have for my Z50 and D750 are both 24mm.

If I use my Z50, I would consider buying Nikon's AF-P DX NIKKOR 10-20mm f/4.5-5.6G VR Lens for $306.95. I know this will be a 15-30mm equivalent on my Z50. I already have the FTZ adapter.

If I use my D750, I would consider buying Nikon's AF-S FX NIKKOR 20mm f/1.8G ED Lens for $796.95.

Obviously, the 20mm f/1.8 is the faster lens, but I will be using a tripod for interior shots, so the maximum aperture is not that crucial.

Now some will say that the Z50 and D750 are not in the same league, but I've gotten some pretty good quality shots with the Z50. Heck, I've made great 20" x 30" prints with my Micro 4/3s cameras.

Thanks.
 
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I’d get the 10-20 regardless. 10 MP is enough for most real estate, especially starting out. It’s cheap, optically good and will work for either body.
 
Whatever you get, you want to have at least 15-16mm (FF equiv) on the wide end. 14mm would be even better.

For either of your cameras, a zoom makes more sense than a prime for real estate.

Assuming you can use a tripod, F4-F5.6 is fine.

The Nikon 10-20 DX on your Z50 is good. A used Nikon 16-35 F4 would be a good choice for the D750. If you want to spend more, the Tamron 15-30 F2.8 is a good lens (ver. II for FTZ compatibility.)

I have a Sigma 12-24 F4 which has been great for architectural work here in New York City and in Dubai (tight spaces both inside and out!)

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The AF-P 10-20mm should be just fine for real estate photography. If you are shooting strictly for MLS listings, you'll be able to provide far more that enough resolution even using the lens on the D750. The Z50's 20mp is plenty even for fairly large prints.

A zoom is far more versatile for real estate work; you will likely find that not all spaces necessitate the widest angle of view possible, yet 20mm might be a bit too narrow at times. Small bathrooms are always a challenge, no matter how wide a lens you have you'll feel that something a bit wider is needed!

For real estate, I would want a lens that has low distortion and vignetting (or is easily corrected without much work), resistant to flare, and resistant to CA and fringing around high contrast areas (such as windows). A lens with a high level of sharpness alone (often just in the center) is not as important as even sharpness across the frame.
 
Has anybody used the Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 EX DC HSM ELD SLD?

It got great reviews on Amazon. $320.00.

--SN
 
Z DX 12-28 is hopefully on it's way soon, should be a very affordable option.

M
 
I like the 20mm f/1.8, especially in low light. This is a much better lens than the 10-20mm but it doesn't have the same field of view other than at 20mm obviously.

I'd say both the 16-35mm and the 14-24mm are better suited than either the above and if cost wasn't an issue would chose the 14-24mm over the others listed - of the 4 lenses note, that's the only one I've retained while in transition to the z9.
 
The Rantel house I’m staying while on vacation gave me an offer for a discount if I can provide interior photographs for his website. My shortest glass is 50mm f/1.8 I don’t have my tripod with me. I’m thinking to shoot vertical and stitching them in post. If only I would know before, I would have taken along the 20mm.



But interesting enough, the ranter complained about the wide shots he has does not accurately represent the size. Beds are longer and cabinets out of proportion. The house is big and spacious. I will try to capture some with the 50mm
 
No idea what your requirements are but around here almost everything above a certain price point is providing a video walk through. The only properties getting stills only are very cheap and likely shot on a cellphone by either the owner or the agent.

The 14-30 on a gimbal fills a lot of needs.
 
Well, this sounds like quite the endeavour. I'm afraid that you'll need equipment to compensate for the rather long focal lenght that most people dont lug around, that is, a tripod with a panoramic head and a nodal point (or "no parallax point") adapter, in that case, one that also allows for vertical rotation of the camera around it's nodal point.

With that you can make panoramic shoots in both axes and just have to stitch the images. Given that rotation is done around the nodal point, there should be no problems with using for instance LR's autostitcher.

The FOV angle of your 50mm is 39.6 degrees; a 14mm has a FOV angle of 104.3mm (and a 10mm comes to 120mm)

So you'll have to combine nine shots to get an equivalent of the 14mm, and sixteen shots already to get the equivalent of the 10mm (with lots of leeway to compensate alignment errors).

See here for more information on the nodal or no parallax point:




good light!
 
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Well, this sounds like quite the endeavour. I'm afraid that you'll need equipment to compensate for the rather long focal lenght that most people dont lug around, that is, a tripod with a panoramic head and a nodal point (or "no parallax point") adapter, in that case, one that also allows for vertical rotation of the camera around it's nodal point.

With that you can make panoramic shoots in both axes and just have to stitch the images. Given that rotation is done around the nodal point, there should be no problems with using for instance LR's autostitcher.

The FOV angle of your 50mm is 39.6 degrees; a 14mm has a FOV angle of 104.3mm (and a 10mm comes to 120mm)

So you'll have to combine nine shots to get an equivalent of the 14mm, and sixteen shots already to get the equivalent of the 10mm (with lots of leeway to compensate alignment errors).

See here for more information on the nodal or no parallax point:

https://wiki.panotools.org/No-parallax_point

good light!
Valuable info.
I’m not a professional interior photographer. And I never bought those equipment. I’ll try to get some shots whatever I can.
 
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I'm planning to do some Real Estate photography, and the widest lenses I have for my Z50 and D750 are both 24mm.

If I use my Z50, I would consider buying Nikon's AF-P DX NIKKOR 10-20mm f/4.5-5.6G VR Lens for $306.95. I know this will be a 15-30mm equivalent on my Z50. I already have the FTZ adapter.

If I use my D750, I would consider buying Nikon's AF-S FX NIKKOR 20mm f/1.8G ED Lens for $796.95.

Obviously, the 20mm f/1.8 is the faster lens, but I will be using a tripod for interior shots, so the maximum aperture is not that crucial.

Now some will say that the Z50 and D750 are not in the same league, but I've gotten some pretty good quality shots with the Z50. Heck, I've made great 20" x 30" prints with my Micro 4/3s cameras.

Thanks.
For indoor real estate such as small kitchens and bathrooms, even the 20 won't be wide enough. Get the UWA zoom, tripod, and better lighting for when you have to shoot in bad light.

While I haven't done real estate like people's homes, I used to do a lot of paid commercial hotel/restaurant photography, same concept...get the wide zoom!

Optimally you'd have something like the 24 PC-E tilt shift also to do a bulk of the key shots on, but that's an expensive piece.
 
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I used to shoot RE, and work in hospitality. It's a different mindset and you hit it perfect. In RE you want it to look big and spacious to get them in the door. They'll see it in person so a little perspective distortion is fine. I usually liked about 18mm for real estate, maybe a bit wider on occasion. It didn't get the crazy perspective of 14mm, but you also don't need to show the whole of the couch or the bed. Tell a more intimate story (while letting them know how the furniture fits) and you'll take better photos.

For hospitality, they won't see it till they get there. You can't go too far making it look big and spacious or you run into that exact problem. We usually try to stop around 24mm when shooting vacation homes except rare circumstances.

The Rantel house I’m staying while on vacation gave me an offer for a discount if I can provide interior photographs for his website. My shortest glass is 50mm f/1.8 I don’t have my tripod with me. I’m thinking to shoot vertical and stitching them in post. If only I would know before, I would have taken along the 20mm.

But interesting enough, the ranter complained about the wide shots he has does not accurately represent the size. Beds are longer and cabinets out of proportion. The house is big and spacious. I will try to capture some with the 50mm
 
I shot with a D750/Tamron 15-30 V2 combo for a couple of years. That's a great combo! The 2.8 isn't necessary but the range of focal length is ideal. The lens is pretty heavy though but since on a tripod, it didn't matter to me. If using your Z50, get a Z lens with a zoom range similar to the 15-30mm, IMHO. If you want a prime lens, get a wide one like a 14mm FF equivalent and just crop in post to create your compositions.
 
Any crop or full-frame SLR or mirrorless camera is ideal for this job.
NT...
That'll add a ton of processing time, and if you're doing this for profit a small investment in the right lens is a better choice.
You are right - I do it for fun/enjoyment mainly. I actually enjoy Post processing my shots so I get exactly what I envision.... My intention is to get 80% during the shoot and 20% from post processing.... this is how I learn more in the process...
 

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