Photography For Real Estate

Steve Fuller of Kelowna, BC recently pointed out to me that after many years of using the Sigma 10-20 f/4-5.6 that he was moving to the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8. The Tokina 11-16mm  lens is specifically designed for APS-C sensors (cropped sensor DSLRs). It’s been on the market since about 2008. This lens is available in [...]

There are a bunch of folks purchasing the Lighting Interiors e-book by Scott Hargis since it was David Hobby added it to his Strobist Bookshelf. In the book Scott talks about using SLK SVD-20 video tripods as lighting stands. He also mentions that the SLK tripods are not manufactured any more. So I thought it would [...]

Thanks to Richard Lamb who pointed out this bluetooth remote control for your DSLR. It’s a bluetooth gadget that plugs into your DSLR and will let you use your iPhone, iPad, and iPodTouch (Android coming soon) as a remote control for your DSLR. The Supported DSLRs, starting Dec 20, will be about Nikon models and [...]

At 8 AM Eastern today (Thur, Dec 9) the guys at snapsort.com, the site behind the PFRE camera page, is launching a new site designed to give photographers a way to research all available lenses for any give DSLR. First of all here is a YouTube video describing the basic operation of LensHero.com. You can [...]

I was watching a live.twit.tv re-run this morning and Leo Laporte was ranting about a new App he was using that creates 360 cylindrical panoramas on the fly as you pan your iPhone around. As a long time 360 image hacker that has spent 100s of hours stitching 360 images, I couldn’t help myself. I blew 99 cents [...]

For years Cactus radio triggers have been the cheapest radio flash triggers for use in manual flash triggering but it looks like Meike has managed to make some triggers that are slightly cheaper and have several features that appear to be a a significant improvement over Cactus triggers. Vince SeStefano has done a nice little [...]

When purchased my Canon 5DMkII  I was I was naive about video. I didn’t realize that when shooting video in LiveView autofocus is disabled so you have to focus manually. Woa, big surprise and what a challenge. Luckily, when shooting most real estate subjects you’re using a wide angle lens with a lot of depth of [...]

Thanks to Jonathan Dixon from the PFRE flickr group for pointing out that Sigma now has a another ultra wide lens in it’s line up that is appropriate for real estate photographers that use cropped sensor DSLRs. It is the  Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM FLD AF Ultra Wide Zoom. Probably the first thing that comes to mind when [...]

PFRE reader Jukka Töyli of Tampere, Finland sent me some images from a pre-production Sony Alpha A55 that he is testing for Sony of Finland. This Sony model was announced in late August. The feature that Jukka’s images demonstrates is a new implementation of in camera “HDR”. The press release describes this feature as follows: [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

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 [...]