Archive for the 'Photo Equipment' Category

Announcing Major Improvements to The PFRE Blog Camera Page

July 11th, 2010

I’m pleased to announce a major improvement to the PFRE Blog’s camera table. I’ve decided to team with Snapsort.com to automatically generate the table on the camera page.
I used to update this table manually and as a result it was always little behind. As of today the table is generated from the snapsort.com camera database. [...]

Sony Alpha NEX-5 Has Real Estate Photography Features

May 27th, 2010

Thanks to Russ Freeman for calling my attention to the new Sony Alpha NEX-5. David Pogue, Technology columnist for the New York Times, did an article and a video on the NEX-5 last week.
The NEX-5 is one of the new mirror-less digital cameras with interchangeable lenses. Besides it’s small size it has several features that make it [...]

Choosing a Entry Level Camera For Real Estate Photography

March 14th, 2010

I’ve promised several readers that I would update my popular two year old post that talks about what the important considerations are for choosing best entry level camera for real estate photography. Here are what I think are the most important considerations:

Consider ultra wide-angle glass first: For real estate photography the range of effective focal [...]

5D and 7D Canon Rebates Going On Through April 3

March 13th, 2010

In case you are thinking about purchasing a Canon 5D MkII or 7D Canon has some instant rebates that are effective through April 3, 2010 that you should look at. Here is the link to Canon’s current promotions.
It looks like you can save about $250 if you purchase a 5DMkII, 16-35mm wide-angle zoom and a [...]

Newly Announced Fujifilm FinePix HS10 Suitable For Real Estate

February 15th, 2010

McAllen,TX Realtor, Lee Jinks pointed out to me that the newly announced FinePix HS10 would be a great camera for real estate shooting. Indeed, it does! It seems like the toughest thing to find in compact cameras is a wide enough lens. The HS10 has a 24mm, effective, lens; very workable for shooting interiors.  In [...]

The Top 20 Best Selling DSLRs

December 6th, 2009

I like to track the best selling DSLRs because retail sales are in many ways like a voting mechanism. It’s a way to tap into the collective wisdom of camera buyers. When you think about it, there is a lot of brain power going into analyzing features and price. This is a way to see [...]

So What’s In Your Real Estate Photography Gear Bag?

October 28th, 2009

Scott Hargis has a good video that walks you through what he takes to a real estate photography shoot. He covers cameras, lenses, and all his lighting equipment. Very informative!
The one bit of gear that Scott doesn’t explain in this video is how his shirt works. Scott’s wearing a state of the art optical camouflage [...]

Save Some Cash On A 16-35 f2.8L II Wide angle Zoom Or Other Canon Gear

October 27th, 2009

If you’ve been browsing around on B&H you may have noticed that there’s some instant cash rebates for a lot of Canon gear. Here’s an example. There is a list of all the cash rebates on the Canon site since they are all manufacturer rebates. The rebates are all good 10/12/2009 through 1/16/2010.
Since my friend [...]

Alternative For The Old Classic Nikon Manual Flashes

October 19th, 2009

I was having a discussion with reader “Uncle Louis” the last few days about alternatives for inexpensive manual flashes. Louis was complaining that he was having trouble finding the old Nikon classic manual flashes (SB-80dx and SB-26) that are so popular with real estate photographers.
For the new comers, these flashes are popular because they have [...]

Promote: A Remote For The Serious HDR Shooter

September 22nd, 2009

Marcus Newey pointed out an interesting new remote device that will do HDR bracketing the way you want. Some of the features are:

Replaces and extends manufacturer-specific remote controls.
Allows for unparalleled flexibility with automatic >30 second exposures in “bulb mode” – even in HDR sequences.
Advanced easy-to-configure “Time-Lapse Mode” with optional sequence start delay.
Optional user-defined Mirror-Up timeout [...]

What You Need to Know About About Micro Four Thirds

September 20th, 2009

You’ve probably heard about micro four thirds style cameras. There is a lot of anticipation of the Lumix GF1 that will be out soon.
Micro Four Thirds is commonly referred to as a 4/3″ type or 4/3 type sensor (inch-based sizing system is derived from now obsolete video camera tubes). It’s area is 30–40% less than [...]

Is The Leica DL4 Different Than The Panasonic LX3?

August 20th, 2009

In response to my post on compact cameras where I was extolling the virtues of the Panasonic LX3 , NY photographer Peter Brandt, pointed out that he believes  the Leica D-Lux-4 is better than the LX3. Peter says:
“The Leica D Lux4 version is a little better. The Lumix is a copy of it. It has [...]

Does Real Estate Shooting Require A Full Frame Body?

August 18th, 2009

John Gilder, posed a great question after reading my bare essentials post. John says that, “over the past year I have slowly built the starter set you described a few posts ago (Canon Rebel, Sigma 10-20mm, 580EX and tripod). Now my question is why and when should I upgrade to a full frame DLSR camera [...]

Compact Camera’s For Real Estate Photography

August 16th, 2009

I promised a post on compact cameras for real estate photography in my last post so I’m delivering on my promise because I don’t want to be scolded by my friend Sabrina Huang who is a Realtor in San Jose and teaches local Realtors how to choose cameras for real estate photography.
I have to thank [...]

Real Estate Photography Weekend News Items

August 15th, 2009

Review of the Canon 17mm f/4 TS-E L: Michael Riechmann just put up the first review that I’ve seen of Canon’s unique 17mm tilt/shift lens. Michael calls it a “remarkable optic”.

Monoslideshow Version 2.0: Monokai has updated Monoslideshow to version 2. I used the old 1.0 version a lot from Lightroom via the free code from [...]