[Closed] STW Camera Massif - Which DSLR for taking pictures of properties

don't really need a dslr for that, decent compact would do the job - but then I guess it wouldn't look so "pro"

I've thought that, but I've tried getting pictures of living rooms with it and you really need wide angle. The other thing is the quality needs to be high in case go any disputes come check out time, if we can get good quality it can be zoomed in etc to prove damage etc..

Get a Panasonic LX3, the lens is nice and wide and good quality. Should be able to pick one up cheap these days.

How much are you willing to spend?

If it were me, I'd get a mid level Nikon (D5200) with a Sigma 10-20 for wideangle.

You'll need to know how to use it reasonably well to get the benefit though, otherwise you'd be better off with a decent compact.

I have a Nikon D3100 with the 18-55 kit lens. It isn't wide enough for advert and brochure shots of rooms. I have a compact that goes a bit wider, but can't remember the number on it.

I think you'll probably want to go dslr so that you can get a wide enough lens, but you're primary purchase is the lens, with the camera body playing second fiddle.

Keeping it cheap, this http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-canon-10-18mm-f4-5-5-6-ef-s-is-stm-lens/p1553465 and any APS-C canon body.

**choice of canon only because I have a vague idea of canon models
***I've not even looked at a review for that lens

How much are you willing to spend?

Don't want to be spending more than £600 for lens and body

If it films videos then even better

flyingmonkeycorps - Member
If it were me, I'd get a mid level Nikon (D5200) with a Sigma 10-20 for wideangle.

This. And perhaps a tripod or monopod at least. Light levels can be surprisingly low inside houses, so you might need a stable platform to shoot from and avoid blur. Or just whack the ISO up a bit...

For really good shots, you may benefit from a wide angle tilt and shift lens.
Not sure how much they would be 2nd hand. I used to hire them if I ever needed interior shots of buildings.

Buying new JPR has the best answer here on your budget

Tilt/shift would be best for getting a wall or somesuch flat plane in focus. But the lesne will probably be more than your budget, and if you're new to cameras then contorling a tilt shift lense won't be the easiest skill to learn at the same time!

Indoors there's low light, so you're going to want good lenses. But to get the whole room in focus and be usefull for zooming in on any damage then you'd want to stop the lense down which further limits light. Compact cameras with smaller sensors tend to give much deeper depths of field so the whole room can be in focus.

Then there's the problem that images straight out the camera often don't look very 'expensive', all the sharpening, colour saturation and generaly making them look good is added later in photoshop/lightroom etc, which kinda ruins their validity as 'evidence'. Whereas compact cameras usualy do all that for you in camera (that's what the mode dial on top is for, it makes a reasnoble set of guesses for the settings based on what you tell it you're doing, i.e. indoors).

Basicly if you use a DSLR like you would a compact, the results will on average probably look worse than they would have with a good compact. With the added dissadvantage that the DSLR result will very more with your skill/luck each shot, and the compact will always produce the same consistent quality of results.

If you do go down the SLR route, my money went on Pentax K-5 (k-5ii should be under budget now) as the manual functions are much easier to access than anyting similar from Canon/Nikkon so functionaly it's closer to their Pro cameras even if the internals are the same tier as the direct competition, that and the magnesium body and weatherproofing.

For really good shots, you may benefit from a wide angle tilt and shift lens.
Not sure how much they would be 2nd hand. I used to hire them if I ever needed interior shots of buildings.

OOps caps sorry

I'll re-iterate the any basic DSLR (I'd say Canon, but I'm a Canon fan) and a proper wide lens answer: I've the Sigma 10-20 and it's great - at full wide you have almost 90 degrees field of view so you can actually get an entire room in one shot.

As endorsed my the surprisingly good agent who sold our old house, they had a decent camera and lens, and actually processed the images to make them look good too. Very rare as http://terriblerealestateagentphotos.com/ demonstrates...

I have that lens too and I agree it would be ideal but I'm not sure you can get it (and a body too) for £600 ???

Basicly if you use a DSLR like you would a compact, the results will on average probably look worse than they would have with a good compact. With the added dissadvantage that the DSLR result will very more with your skill/luck each shot, and the compact will always produce the same consistent quality of results.

That isn't true with Nikon DSLRs

Although you might need to sit with a set of online instructions and set the picture controls once.

although new in budget Canon is the only option

johndoh - you are right, but maybe start as mentioned above, with a decent enough slr with manual functions. Once on top of that then maybe add in a 2nd hand tilt/shift later as the OPs skills progress. It's the sort of thing that will make his letting ads look far better than the competition.

I would have thought that a bit of time invested in photography skills at this stage will pay back with a bigger property turnover later.

What fmc said. You really, really don't need a tilt shift lens for estate agent schedule photos 😀

pah - just me then. Can't stand distorted pics and verticals not vertical etc.... 🙂

(grump, yadda.... bring back film etc... 5x4" ftw 😉 )

And Top Tip - if you do get a DSLR with a wide-angle lens, don't be tempted to whack it right down to the widest setting - you'll get loads of distortion (fish-eye) and the pictures will actually end up appearing smaller. You still need to spend time getting the right shot rather than just assuming that the camera will work magic for you.

10-18mm wide lens, tripod, a copy of Adobe Lightroom and then use the Lens Correction to get the lines/walls straight. 😉

Here's an excellent website posting examples on how [u]NOT[/u] to shoot estate agency pics

[url= http://terriblerealestateagentphotos.com/ ]http://terriblerealestateagentphotos.com/[/url]

wooowwwww
this thread is getting way out my depth! 😆

a bit over budget but JPR's suggestion of the lens and maybe a Canon Eos120D looks good to me.

Wex offer trade in too so my Sony A300 may bring the bill down a little

If you've got the Sony A300 then you can get a Sigma 10-20mm for that - a decent lens. You're not going to get any wider angle unless you go full-frame and get a 12-24mm, and that'd be outside your budget.

I do lots of interiors - for urbex not selling places, but the principles are the same.

Lots of good advice on the DSLR route and lens options. Just to add you don't have to buy new. A lot of camera obsessives are always changing their kit and take great care of their equipment. Forums on places like [url= http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/ ]TalkPhotography[/url] often have good equipment or specialist second hand retailers like [url= http://www.mpbphotographic.co.uk/ ]MPB Photographic[/url] sell graded kit with a warranty.

As others have said - choose the camera based on the lens, not the other way around. For photos for a letting agents, the final images are going to be fairly small and either printed on a sheet of A4, or displayed on the web so there isn't much point splashing out for any fancy camera body. Bencoopers suggestion of just getting the Sigma 10-20 for your current A300 sounds best. Spend any remaining budget on a decent, solid, tripod, and possibly a flash and you will have pictures just as good for what you need than spending more on a body. Houses don't move so use a tripod for every shot you can and you won't have to worry about having a fast lens or a body with good high ISO performance.

Make sure you read up on taking 'real estate' photos - as others have said, it isn't just a case of putting the lens as wide as possible and pressing the shutter. I'm looking at buying a house at the moment and some photos are absolutely terrible - if the photos are bad I am much much less interested in the house; a potential foolish approach, but the quality of the images (as in composition not image quality) will make as much of the sale as the description.

Good tutorial here:

[url= http://digital-photography-school.com/real-estate-photography-a-guide-to-getting-started/ ]Digital Photography School - Real Estate Tutorial[/url]

thanks for the advice guys, i spoke to Wex who recommended a Canon 1200D and a Sigma 10-20mm lens and two local suppliers both tad me to stick with the A300 I have. Went to one who had a lens in for the A300 and as well as talking me out of buying a new camera they gave me a great deal on a Sigma lens and showed me how to use the new lens on my existing A300.

Quite pleased with the results and thanks to you all for your input