Englert

Interesting comments, thanks. I was just asking him what an FX camera is? But he's been in a much higher level of photography for many years real estate and architectural photographer so it must matter in that realm but I tend to agree with you. I don't really need high end equipment right now but I still like to know as much as I can. Thanks

Englert

Thanks for responding. I did look at those brands with fixed lens and felt like with my lack of knowledge and not knowing what size and type of interior's I might be shooting I didn't want to limit my flexibility of range at this point. But I appreciate the suggestions and links. I don't know if that's a valid point of view but it seems to make sense to me. Thanks

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Please use the “Quote Reply” button to respond as I have done. That way we know whch post you’re addressing.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

I use this lens a lot. It is currently available as a refurb from Canon for $239.99

https://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/ef-s-10-18mm-f45-56-is-stm-refurbished

Slightly better build would be the Sigma 10-20mm F3.5 EX DC HSM for $399 or as a refurb at their outlet for $299.00

https://www.sigmaphoto.com/10-20mm-f4-5-6-ex-dc-hsm-refurbished

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

10 - 24, in my experience, is too wide angle for Landscape photography. You will be tempted to get the "Big Shots" and encompass everything and really see nothing. For Landscapes you should start with an Canon 16 - 35, or the Sigma 18 - 35

BebuLamar

I don't see the advantage of FX camera except that you can have wider angle lenses for FX than DX. But I think 10mm on the DX is wide enough. Any wider it's better to do stitched panorama. The FX has narrower DOF which is not an advantage in real estate photography. The FX has lower noise or more pixels but since houses don't move you don't need to use high ISO. Real estate photography generally not produced in large size images so a lot of MP isn't needed.

User ID

BH and Adorama do plenty of government business.
So use their pricing in discussions with your sponsor.

As to the utility of a 10-20, or 10-24, for ASPC wide
angle use, thaz a perfect range and it tends to steer
clear of exotic pricing. The Canon 10-22 is my fave.
I use it for APSC, and also M43. But it's $600 street.
It's rather free of the wide zoom gremlins that would
likely be problematic for real estate/architecture work.

------------------------------------------------------

IOW, it has only quite minimal distortion. The corner
shadowing is minor wide open, disappearing quickly
on stopping down slightly. Speed is sufficient for any
poorly lit situations: 3.5-4.5. If your sponsors go for
it, it will do 95% of your work and do it verrrrry well.
I really USE it. Not reporting stuff I read somewhere.

Below is the edge distortion at 10mm, and you can
also see the corner shadowing is already minimal at
f/4.5 [improves even more, by f/6.3 close to zero].

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Canon 10-18 is optically a very good lens with IS, the construction is much on the level as a kit lens but the lens performs very well. if build quality is an issue the 10-22 is also excellent, if you need speed you may want to look to the Tokina lenses some of the best performing wide angle lenses for the buck.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

An ultrawide lens is not a good choice for real estate photography, though there are some very specific circumstances when one is necessary. The two biggest issues are severe extension distortion and volume deformation. Look these terms up with a google search and you will see what I am talking about. By ultra wide I mean 14mm on a full frame, or 10mm on a crop sensor. These wide lenses will portray a room deeper and wider, and any furnishings will look weird due to the two wide-angle specific distortions I mentioned.

Better to learn your panorama stitching and use a longer lens for a more "normal" rendition of a room.

Also, just getting a single remote (exterior) flash without understanding the nature of light and how to make it appealing will be frustrating. You need to look at examples of outstanding interior and real estate photography, so you have some basis for self-critique.

This is a guy that I worked with on and off for a couple of years, helping him with some issues specific to his market - lighting, composition, post processing, using a nodal rail for better stitched panoramas, using post processing techniques to blend the color on a wall and remove blotchiness, how to deal with ceiling fan shadows, overly bright windows, how to set up lighting to enhance the ambient rather than replace it and so on.

Visit his site to see what good interior photography should look like.

http://ronnachtwey.com/

miked46 Loc: Winter Springs, Florida

I have the Sigma 10-20 and also the Cannon 10-18 STM, both are excellent

dreamon

I'm wondering why the Tokina 11-16 2.8 wasn't mentioned. It's a DX lens, which makes it nearly perfect for your Canon. While it does have distortion (an issue with pretty much every ultrawide), that's correctable to a large extent with post processing. With this lens, the maximum aperture will give you a brighter view, and that will make the actual shooting easier.

Of course, I recommend looking for a used one. New, I think they're a tad over $500.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

The most excellent Canon 10-18mm can't be beat for price and superb image quality.
I have one and love it. Make sure you get the Canon hood for it and a protective filter.
You can compare it to all other lenses in its focal range and it is as good or better than most. Yes the mount is synthetic, don't worry, unless you abuse it durability should be in the 50-60 year span or longer than the electronics.
Just get it and never look back.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

It sounds like you're trying to leapfrog the learning curve. Not a good thing if you're trying to go commercial. Back up and take a more deliberative approach to it.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

You're in luck! Canon themselves make one of the most affordable wide angle zooms available: EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM for $279. It's also one of the smallest and lightest. Lens hood EW-73C for it is sold separately for $25. This lens is a bit plasticky, but is capable of making fine images. It's also one of the few ultrawide zooms that's image stabilized, nice to have although it's not as important on a lens like this as it is on a telephoto.

Canon also makes another excellent ultrawide.... EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM... about 2/3 stop faster, a bit more sturdily built/somewhat less plastic and with higher performance USM autofocus, though not stabilized... But it sells for around $600 (+$25 for lens hood) and is a bit larger size.

When it comes to image quality, these Canon are two of the very best ultrawides made by anyone... sharp from edge to edge, highly flare resistant, great color rendition, minimal vignetting and well corrected for lenses of this type. Google will find a lot of reviews online of each lens, if you want more info.

There are a number of other excellent ultra wide zooms and primes available... but they all cost more than Canon's 10-18mm and none of them will give you better image quality. The two Canon lenses are among the versy very best in that regard.

HOWEVER, all very wide lenses have some inherent effects on images, which can be particularly noticeable and may be problematic when shooting photos of buildings. They exaggerate space and cause verticals to "tilt". There are tricks to using them.... including try not to zoom to wide, and take care to set up so that camera and lens aren't tilted upward or downward. Due to the inherent exaggerations of ultra wide lenses, some people instead use a less wide lens, take multiple shots and stitch them together like a panorama. When used with a polarizer, the ultrawide angle of view also can make for the filter's effect to be uneven.

Ignore the discussion of FX and DX cameras and lenses... Those are Nikon's terms for "full frame" and "crop sensor" cameras, respectively. Your T5 is a Canon APS-C/crop sensor camera and the lenses recommended above are designed for and fully compatible with it. (Tamron 10-24mm, Tokina 11-20mm & 12-28mm, Sigma 10-20mm are alternatives.... All are more expensive than the Canon 10-18mm and none offers better, or in some cases as good image quality as the Canon lenses. Sigma even makes a wider 8-16mm, but it has very strong wide angle exaggerations that would be a problem for real estate photography.)

There are specialized lenses for architectural photography.... lenses than have built in tilt and shift movements to help counteract some of the inherent optical effects. Canon makes five Tilt-Shift lenses, three of which would be particularly useful for architecture: TS-E 17mm f/4L, TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II and TS-E 50mm f/2.8L (there's also a previous model TS-E 45mm f/2.8). Something to think about for the future, though... since these are expensive lenses and to take fullest advantage of them I'd recommend using them on a full frame camera. All the TS-E lenses are built like bricks and are manual focus only.

There are also some perspective correction features in some post-processing software. Photoshop which I use has it, as do some other editing programs. A key to using this is to not shoot the image too tightly.... to allow some room for cropping which will be necessary after making perspective adjustments.

EDIT: You DO NOT need to spend your money on "protective" filters now. The lens caps provided and hoods bought to fit these lenses will do a good job protecting them. Adding a protective filter will merely degrade image quality unnecessarily and increase flare in extreme lighting conditions such as you're likely to encounter shooting real estate interiors. Eventually you might want to get high quality, multi-coated "protective" filters to put on your lenses when out shooting in sandstorms or any other situation where the filter might actually serve some purpose... But that will probably be a tiny fraction of the time, so I would make protection filters very low priority.

It would be much better use of your money to instead get a high quality, multi-coated circular polarizing filter (reduces reflections, helps saturate colors and deepen the blue of the sky or water, and more).... one of the MOST useful filters for digital photography (pretty much the opposite of "protection" filters). I recommend B+W MRC, F-Pro or XS-Pro for their very high quality and excellent value... 67mm size (which the 10-18mm uses) B+W C-Pol cost between $70 and $90, while their 77mm size (that Canon 10-22mm uses) sell for $100 to $110. As mentioned, with ultrawide lenses like these, it can be a bit tricky to use a polarizer. It's just that the lens' wide angle of view makes it easy for there to be uneven effect from the filter. It's not necessarily a bad thing... just something to be aware of, watch for and adjust for if necessary.

P.S. There are a number of books on real estate and architectural photography that you might find very helpful. The good news is that digital has made real estate photography much faster and easier than it ever was shooting film! For example, there are some image editing "tricks" that greatly reduce the need for complicated, time-consuming lighting setups.

Gifted One Loc: S. E. Idaho

If in fact you do need an Ultra Wide Angle lens (UWA) and you most likely will I think the following is the most cost effective solution. Full disclosure I am a Canon shooter but have added a Sony crop sensor. That's a DX in Nikon speak. Full frame is DX in Nikon speak.


Native glass Canon as has been mentioned EFs 10-18 Canon store Refurbished is 189.99 USD and carries an extended warranty. https://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/ef-s-10-18mm-f45-56-is-stm-refurbished

There is so much free info out there it's staggering. Linda from Main made a good recommendation. Google is your friend. Find out who is a best in the USA/World. Look at magazines to see what the best looks like and how they got there.

J. R.