ecurb1105

Level your camera. The first rule of architectural photography is level your camera! Use a tripod. Keep the film/sensor plane parallel to the uprights in your image. This keeps you from introducing distortion. A good tripod will be cheaper then a 14mm lens.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

The EF 14/2.8L is a great lens... but it's not really what you're looking for. It will still have perspective exaggeration and keystoning effects.... in fact more than your 16mm lens.

The ideal lenses for this purpose are Canon's Tilt-Shift... in particular the TS-E 17mm f4L, TS-E 24mm f3.5L II and TS-E 45mm f2.8.

The tilt and shift movements give means of correcting distortions and controlling plane of focus. These are all manual focus only lenses, rather bulky and certainly not cheap! They work much like a classic view camera did... though the Canon TS-E lenses don't have as many movements or as much range of movement as were often possible on those cameras. Because of the lenses' limitations, it's often only possible to partially correct distortions, some additional adjustment is commonly needed in post-processing (what you're already doing... just a lot less of it).

It takes a little while to learn to use Tilt-Shift lenses, but architectural photography is precisely what they're designed for.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Sigma 10-20mm is a "crop only" lens... it will fit, but won't work on a full frame 5D Mark III. It would give very heavy vignetting.

Also, these types of wide angle distortions are inherent to the focal length, not really "correctable".

OP seeing "too much" perspective distortion with a 16mm lens would see even more with 10mm!

Sigma does make a 12-24mm that's full frame capable. However I haven't used it and would recommend researching it carefully. It not only has the unavoidable strong perspective exaggeration and keystoning effects, reportedly it has considerable "complex" distortions, too.... Perhaps barrel or pincushion distortions... or maybe even "mustache", which is a lot harder to correct. I think there are three vesions of the Sigma 12-24mm... maybe the newer one has solved some of the issues of the earlier one.

A Canon lens I might try is the EF 16-35mm f4L IS USM... Sometimes "large aperture, f2.8" also means "more distortions" and less even sharpness edge-to-edge. And f2.8 really isn't needed for interior or exterior architectural photography.... stationary subjects and it's easy to use a tripod (not to mention the 16-35/4 has IS, so is probably handholdable at least a couple stops beyond what's possible with the non-IS f2.8 version).

OP, I highly suggest you check out some of these lenses at The-Digital-Picture.com There you can compare various sample and test images taken with them, side-by-side with your current lens.

I just did a quick distortion comparison there of 16-35/2.8 III, 16-35/4 and 17/4 Tilt Shift. It looks to me like both the zooms have some barrel distortion at 16mm... the f4 lens maybe a tiny bit less. The TS-E 17mm appears to have no barrel distortion (but of course it's only 17mm.... not as versatile as a zoom's range of focal lengths). At 16mm, the latest Sigma 12-24mm "Art" lens appears to have less barrel distortion at 16mm.

Also, do you need to use filters? If so, the TS-E 17mm and Sigma 12-24mm both have protruding, convex front lens elements that prevent standard screw-in filters from being used upon them. I know there are special filter holders available for the TS-E 17mm. But it's rather pricey for the holder and for the extra large filters to use in them. There might be something similar for the Sigma.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8L Mark II USM.... various reviewers have said it's one of the sharpest, best corrected zooms they've seen.... comparable to a "bag full of primes".

Personally I still use the original EF 24-70mm f2.8L and it's an excellent lens too (though the II is even better).

If you don't "need" f2.8, Canon EF 24-70mm f4L IS USM is smaller, lighter and less expensive. It also has stabilization, which the f2.8 lenses don't have.

Or, if you need a bit more reach, there's EF 24-105mm f4L IS USM... both an original version and a new II (mostly with improved AF and IS). But, personally these never impressed me all that much... the L-series are better built, but for a lot less money the EF 28-135mm IS USM can pretty much match the original 24-105L for image quality, focus speed, close focusing capability, image stabilization effectiveness and even durability.

There's also a lower cost EF 24-105mm STM IS.... slower autofocus. I think it might be discontinued now that the new 24-104L II has "Nano USM" that supposed to be usable for both video and still photos. (The primary reason for the STM version was video.)

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

The 16-35 is a popular lens among real estate photographers. You would better serve yourself if you would use a tripod with a geared head like a Manfroto 405 or 410. If you are not going to use strobes I suggest you bracket 3 to 7 images shooting aperture priority at about f/8 using your cameras timer and blend them in Enfuse. Your verticals are way off and your composition is suspect showing the door jams. You will need to adjust your verticals on most every shot.

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

Using a tilt-shift on a standard real estate shoot is really over-kill. It is better utilized on architectural photography. He's much better off with the 16-35. It will do everything he needs.

whitewolfowner

Most of the distortion you are showing is from you having the lens tilted of the 180 degree axis of the wall. If you shoot totally flat into the shot, a lot of that will be gone. Also, why shoot so far from the door; move up closer and include more of the room.

WillieC

Yes they do, I took a picture of it but can't figure out how to post it. But they do. It is a "CANON ZOOM LENS EF 28-80MM 1:2.8-4 L ULTRASONIC"

WillieC

Yes they do, I took a picture of it but can't figure out how to post it. But they do. It is a "CANON ZOOM LENS EF 28-80MM 1:2.8-4 L ULTRASONIC"

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Sorry, not only did Canon never made a 28-80 as an L version, they never made a 28-80 period!

MEB540 Loc: New Jersey

I'm sorry, but you are mistaken, I own a 28-80 mm L lens ( the mini drainpipe) , they were released in the late 1980's at the same time they released the 80-200, f2.8 L lens ( the magic drainpipe) these two lenses along with the canon 20-35mm 2.8 lens were the original ef holy trinity for canon. The were also arc focus not ultrasonic. They do not have full time manual focus, you have to switch between manual focus and auto focus. They other odd item for the 28-80 is that the manual focus is focus by wire and uses the motor to do the manual focusing. I actually own all three of these lenses.

Mike

davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

Your date is off a little but here's the rest:EF Lenses
STANDARD ZOOM Lens
EF28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 IV USM

Specifications
Marketed September 1996
Original Price 30,000 yen
Lens Construction (group) 10
Lens Construction (element) 10
No. of Diaphragm Blades 5
Minimum Aperture 38
Closest Focusing Distance (m) 0.38

From the Canon Museum web site.

MEB540 Loc: New Jersey

This is the standard 28-80 not the l lens.

https://youtu.be/UHVeJYOiexg for those who don't think it exists.

Mike

davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

Here it is Mike,

EF Lenses
STANDARD ZOOM Lens
EF28-80mm f/2.8-4L USM

Specifications
Marketed April 1989
Original Price 160,700 yen
Lens Construction (group) 11
Lens Construction (element) 15
No. of Diaphragm Blades 8
Minimum Aperture 22
Closest Focusing Distance (m) 0.5
Maximum Magnification (x) 0.2
Filter Diameter (mm) 72
Maximum Diameter x Length (mm) 84 x 119.5
Weight (g) 945
▲
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speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Yes, I stand corrected, I have a list of all Canon lenses ever produced ( that list is actually from Canon), but it does not list any 28-80 lenses, it lists a couple of 28-90, but that's it! Obviously that list is incorrect, I'm sorry, since the list is made by Canon, I assumed it was right!