What Nikon Do I need?

darkosaric · Aug 4, 2019

Just be prepared for crappy viewfinder of cheap digital SLR cameras. But picture quality even of low entry cameras are great.
If you want to save money, then used D90 is ok, but used equipment in digital world is not the same as used in all metal nikon film world.

Theo Sulphate · Aug 4, 2019

Real Estate photography in the late 1800's must've been harder: dragging an 11x17 camera into all the rooms, firing off flash powder, making three filtered exposures to recreate the color... When clients rode in to view the MLS book, it was probably huge and had glass plates...

removed account4 · Aug 4, 2019

you can probably do it with a good phone and a tripod mount. get the plug ins so you can adjust your aperture and shutter speed
as well as the 360º VR... realtor friends i know say they don't really want good photos just something to spark interest.
you might consider farming it out... around here MLS does all the imaging for the realtors, it surprising they don't do it for you too ?!

firemachine69 · Aug 5, 2019

KN4SMF said:
Is this lens any good? I was never a fan of the third party lenses in 35mm. I just don't want to sink any more money in this camera than I have to. Thank you.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tokina-12-...179979?hash=item44422f6b0b:g:mqEAAOSwT8FdPemL

Ken Rockwell seemed to like the Tokina.

Personally, the Nikon 12-24 is cheap everywhere, and what I own. Very satisfied with it.

Or the 10-24 (more plastic, but wider range).

IMO, auto-focus is incredibly overrated on these wide-angle DX lenses that are used almost exclusively for landscapes and architecture. Consider the MF Rokinon/Samyang as well.

j-dogg · Aug 12, 2019

Nikon D7xxx and Tokina 11-16 f2.8, was my setup for a while before I moved to a Df and 15-30 Tamron

blockend · Aug 12, 2019

Canon do a good wide combo for interiors, a digital Rebel with the 10-18 EFS lens. I've heard it's the standard set up for estate agent photography.

KN4SMF · Aug 13, 2019

Well my Tokina 12-24 lens came today. So I went out to the very same house that my partner has listed, took my laptop, and went through the house attempting to duplicate the MLS photos as exactly as I could. My partner's present photographer is VERY good. I think he's using a Nikon D-800, and what lens I don't know. But I can tell you that this Tokina can't compete. I'm posting the results here. 2 shots from his MLS photos, and my 2 shots. What the reader here are looking for is angle of view, not lighting. I can come close to his work on the lighting, but don't have nearly the width as him. So tomorrow is an auction for a Tamron 10-24, which I'm afraid still won't do it. But the next possibility is the 8-16 Sigma, but I can't afford that. I wonder if 10mm is going to get the job done, because 12mm isn't going to cut the mustard.

firemachine69 · Aug 13, 2019

KN4SMF said:
Well my Tokina 12-24 lens came today. So I went out to the very same house that my partner has listed, took my laptop, and went through the house attempting to duplicate the MLS photos as exactly as I could. My partner's present photographer is VERY good. I think he's using a Nikon D-800, and what lens I don't know. But I can tell you that this Tokina can't compete. I'm posting the results here. 2 shots from his MLS photos, and my 2 shots. What the reader here are looking for is angle of view, not lighting. I can come close to his work on the lighting, but don't have nearly the width as him. So tomorrow is an auction for a Tamron 10-24, which I'm afraid still won't do it. But the next possibility is the 8-16 Sigma, but I can't afford that. I wonder if 10mm is going to get the job done, because 12mm isn't going to cut the mustard.

Are you running your pictures through Lightroom at least? I think that's the key here...

KN4SMF · Aug 13, 2019

No. I don't have Lightroom. I'm on a learning curve here. How would that make the pictures wider angle?

Chan Tran · Aug 13, 2019

Theo Sulphate said:
My friend has been house shopping for a few years; I've seen hundreds of interior and exterior photos. In 35mm equivalent terms, the photos all look like they've been shot with 16mm to 24mm lenses. Really wide!

In digital full-frame, it's the same lens focal length as 35mm format. That's like Nikon D700, D800, D810, etc.

In digital APS-C, the APS-C focal length times 1.5 gives you the 35mm equivalent:

18mm APS-C is like 24mm in 135-format
23mm APS-C is like 35mm in 135-format
35mm APS-C is like 50mm in 135-format
50mm APS-C is like 75mm in 135-format

Something like D90 is APS-C camera; it has a good reputation.

There's also micro-4/3, but Nikon is not really in that game.

But do you think those pictures make the houses look attractive to you?

Eric Rose · Aug 13, 2019

One of my biggest regrets in photography was selling my Nikon D700. The files from that camera are just so "juicy"! If you can find one buy it, you can thank me later.

bdial · Aug 13, 2019

The widest full-frame zoom I see in a quick look is about 15mm, that might be wide enough on a full frame sensor camera vs a DX sensor.
But, your partner's photographer may be stitching images together to get the width. I don't know what the images from those 15mm lenses look like but 15mm on a full frame camera is really, really wide. It's hard to get that wide without introducing distortion.

Ariston · Aug 13, 2019

KN,

I am in the real estate business, and I use a Panasonic Lumix LX7. It is really all you need, unless you are specifically wanting off-camera flash. It is great indoors because it has a f/1.4 aperture and a 24mm equivalent lens. It is about $200 on eBay.

I use Nikon for everything else, but I don't really want to lug an SLR/DSLR around when I'm working.

Eric Rose said:
One of my biggest regrets in photography was selling my Nikon D700. The files from that camera are just so "juicy"! If you can find one buy it, you can thank me later.

I'm with you, Eric. I will never sell my D700. It is the pinnacle of DSLR design, in my opinion.

blockend · Aug 13, 2019

The aim of property photography is to show interiors to best advantage, without compromising the expectations of a potential purchaser. There's no point shooting a box room with a fisheye, the buyer will expect a penthouse. Generally speaking any lens with a focal length lower than 28mm (in 35mm/full frame terms) will give distortion except in the perpendicular. 16mm is the widest before spatial proportions become misleading. On an APS-C sensor than equates to around 10mm.

firemachine69 · Aug 13, 2019

Eric Rose said:
One of my biggest regrets in photography was selling my Nikon D700. The files from that camera are just so "juicy"! If you can find one buy it, you can thank me later.

To me they are just worth so little on the used market, I'll be hanging on to mine for a long time to come.

KN4SMF said:
No. I don't have Lightroom. I'm on a learning curve here. How would that make the pictures wider angle?

I suspect he's got a really WA lens on a full-frame body, or more likely, he's using a fisheye lens and correcting in Lightroom/Photoshop/Nikon software (IIRC you can do it in there too).

Eric Rose · Aug 13, 2019

firemachine69 said:
To me they are just worth so little on the used market, I'll be hanging on to mine for a long time to come.

I sold mine when it was still worth something. Moved to M43. My 7-14 Panasonic WA is a dream to use (14-24 35mm equiv.)

KN4SMF · Aug 13, 2019

After considering it, there's no way he could have done that bahtroom shot with any lens. He has to be doing something else. He has Lightroom and I don't. So today I found a freeware stitching program and duplicated his work handily. Pulled it into Photoshop and worked out the kinks from stitching.

Ariston · Aug 13, 2019

I take bathroom shots like that on my LX7. I would think that if he photoshopped he would have taken out the blurry obtrusive door knob.

Eric Rose · Aug 13, 2019

It's weird the door knob is pointing upward and it's stretched. I would suspect he is using an ultra wide angle lens and letting Bridge correct for image distortion.

Ai Print · Aug 28, 2019

KN4SMF said:
My partner's present photographer is VERY good.

Why don't you hire him then? The definition of currency means to flow, if you stop the flow to others I assure you it won't come back to you. Stop futzing around and help keep the profession alive...

What Nikon Do I need?

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