Looking for a digital camera with wide angle lens (equivalent of 28mm on a film camera)...

.... for shooting interiors (for real estate webpage)

I know this can be done with a digital SLR, but would prefer not having to go to
that expense. Are there any other options??

 

5MP Nikon Coolpix 5000; add the wide convertor and it goes to 19mm
equivalent.


Frank ess

 

Nikon 5400 and new Canon S60 both have 28mm wide angle coverage

 

I have a Canon G2 which is about 28mm on the wide end. But my experience
with interiors is that you need WIDE, as in as wide as you can get without
fisheye effects. You can get many P&S types that will let you put an
adapter that you take a quality hit, plus the cost you might as well invest
in a dslr.

 

28mm is NOT wide enough for a large percentage of interior shots.
Also...If you want to create images for ads that really show off the size of
the room...then the wider the better.

If you change your mind about SOME additional expense, then I would
recommend you consider spending about $1500. --This would get you the Canon
Digital Rebel, and the excellent 17-40mm f4 L lens. This combination would
be ideal for your needs in my opinion.
It would also be worth purchasing the 420EX shoe-mounted flash. Built-in
flash will simply not present interiors well.

Bottom line:
While it may be a slightly large outlay in the short term, the long term
RESULTS of presenting high quality, appropriately wide angled shots that
truly show off your properties will TRULY repay the cost many times.

In the real estate shopping world, pictures are everything in terms of
actually getting people to visit the property. Crummy pictures mean very
short lists of visitors or potential buyers.
Invest.
You won't be sorry.

Canon Digital Rebel: $799
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=297500&is=REG
Canon 17-40 f4 L lens: $689
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=279582&is=USA
Canon 420EX flash: $179
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=206436&is=USA

Total cost (no flash): $1489.90
With flash: 1669.85

Mark M

 

Those are 33 mm equivalent. Not so wide.

No - for interiors for a real estate page you will need
more than that. If you have time you could do some stitching,
i.e. taking several picturs and combine them. Rather hard
work for interiors though. Almost for free if you have the
time. But time is money

Now - real estate? Is that not very expensive in US? Would
not a more expensive solution be well worth it?


/Roland

 

but the 17mm lens on the eos300d is equivalent to 27.2mm - very close to
28mm.
I'd suggest a far cheaper alternative would be a Nikon 5400 (28mm), one of
the little ricoh's (28mm), or even get pretty much any small digital with a
wide angle adapter - saw a generic .45x wide adapter the other day which
would take most digitals out to about 15mm.

 

No, the wide end is equivalent to 35 mm, not 28.

Dave

 

Oops.
I was thinking in terms of a 28mm on a DSLR as not being wide enough.
A 28mm lens on a DSLR is like trying to shoot interiors with a 45mm lens.
I guess he's talking about a cheap point and shoot with an equivalent of
28mm.

 

digiboy wrote:
[]

Have you looked at the Nikon Coolpix 5000 with its wide-angle 19mm
adapter - it not nearly as bad as the cheaper wide-angle cameras.
Programs such as Paint Shop Pro can easily correct a small amount of
residual lens distortion.

Cheers,
David

 

This is a quick example of what the CP5000 and its wide adapter will
give you:
http://www.fototime.com/65CB82517402CA6/orig.jpg



Frank ess

 

A few suggestions:
The compact mid size Canon S60 does 28-100 mm equivalent.
The previous 5 MB prosumer camera, Minolta A1, (28-200 equivalent) is sold
at attractive prices these days
The new prosumer Olympus Camedia C-8080 Wide Zoom does 28-140 mm
equivalent.
/per

 

Frank ess wrote:
[]

Thanks, Frank, clearly a very wide-angle view. The netting is
distracting, though!

Cheers,
David

 

Yes; I thought it would show the kind of dof and distortion you could
expect.


Here are three more that may play more into the real estate interiors
milieu:
from the center of a room about 12 by 16 feet; CP5000 with wide adapter
(to ~19mm equivalent); program exposure; no adjustments whatsoever;
reduced from 2560x in 10% stair-steps; saved at Photo Shop 30 quality.

A more serious product would involve leveling the camera, locating it as
far from the subject wall as possible, bracketing and Photo Shopping the
blowouts, and all that kind of thing.

Again, this is just quick work for demonstration of the wide-angleness
of the CP5000 with wide adapter:
http://www.fototime.com/228639E8DA4E614/orig.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/C20A6B32E2DA51A/orig.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/8D9CAA0CEEE431F/orig.jpg


Frank ess

 

Frank ess wrote:
[]

Good demonstrations, as you say. A snip to correct the geometry.

Thanks,
David