I am only a real estate agent and not an expert photographer but in my opinion 35 mm or greater is best for exterior photography. For interior shots of small rooms, 24 mm is much better than 28 mm.

The good folks on this forum taught me long ago the importance of shooting RAW. It took me a while to follow the advice but after a couple of years of reading here I got Lightroom, took a photo with bright highlights and dark showdows, slid the sliders in Lightroom and was amazed to see things come out of black shadow. I suppose the same thing can be accomplished by increasing sensor size. It would be interesting to learn something about how much shooting in RAW increases dynamic range as compared to shooting JPEG with a camera with a larger sensor.

well done, as usual




Life is full of little trade-offs.

It would be interesting to compare photos from two cameras that were introduced about the same time, Sony a7S II (12 megapixels) and Sony a7R II (42 megapixels). The S has larger pixels and was designed for low light and I suppose greater dynamic range. The R would be better for cropping. It would be interesting to take a variety of shots in different conditions and different purposes and see. I speculate that the S would be best for me and for most people.

This topic makes me wonder about Topaz AI Gigapixel. I don't have it but I have watched videos of photographers using it and claiming that it is a game changer. Perhaps software that allows for a 600% upscale while perfectly preserving image quality might alter camera buying decisions.

I use LR as first step for RAW files before exporting to other software. For whatever reason, other RAW processors didn't work for me. They were a mess. Lightroom can take a photo shot in a dark room with no light and bring out an image from complete darkness. The attached image is a good example. This house had no electric service. The green bathtub on the left was completely black darkness out of the camera. Lighroom pulled out an image that I could work with. My sensor size is four thirds. I wish that I could afford full frame. I think that the ability to work with difficult light in Lightroom would be even greater.

I am no expert and have learned a lot from the experts who post here. Maybe you are not an expert and don't know how much difference shooting in RAW will increase your camera's dynamic range for handling dark and light areas in the same shot. As a realtor, I shoot the type of shot you describe as well as interior shots with a window; even more difficult.

appreciate you CHG_CANON

Thank you burkphoto. I always look for your smiling, at an angle, face :-)

Thank you CHG_CANON, Sony FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS looks like a perfect choice for what I was asking. What about the other mirrorless choices that use less than full frame? Is .16 achievable with those systems?

I wish that I better understood the lens situation for these cameras. I have never owned an interchangeable lens so no need to try to use something currently owned. For interior real estate shots, it would be nice to have .18 capability. As for as I can determine, the Sony full frames have some limited choices. What about the others? I am really pretty ignorant about this but I read this forum almost daily and I know that burkphoto knows :-) What would be a good lens choice for full frame and less than full frame for someone NOT trying to salvage an existing lens collection to achieve .18 - .35?

About five years ago it was pointed out here by Armadillo that the P mode can be set up to allow the camera to control the exposure and flash independently. That was a very helpful tip for me when shooting interior room photos with a bright window included. I have always been grateful for his post:

2. Pick a manual ISO where the flash output will illuminate the entire room ahead of the camera. (ISO = 200 - 400).
3. Set the camera mode control to "Program". This will allow the camera to control the exposure and flash independently.
4. Point the camera out the window, with the center spot exposure box targeted to the bright area (not the sky), and press the back button for exposure lock. This will set the shutter duration for correct exposure out the window.
5. Point the camera "Center Spot Focus" square on the wall to be included in the composition, depress the shutter button half way. This will set focus lock for the scene and set the flash output for the room. The flash output will be controlled by the light measurement of the flash coming (TTL) through the lens.
6. Re-compose the scene in the viewfinder, make sure the center spot metering square is not near the window. Press the shutter button all the way down to capture the scene.

The above recommendations are based on decades old photographic practices with film cameras, but with the addition of modern camera electronic measurements and controls.
Michael G

https://www.youtube.com/user/AnthonyMorganti Anthony Morganti was helpful to me.

I chose the non cloud version of Lightroom after discovering that the trial versions of some of the other options didn't work well with my camera; the images had rounded cropped corners, images were difficult to work with. Also, Lightroom has two powerful sliders for pulling data out of the light and dark areas. I suppose that a more knowledgeable user might have accomplished something better but for me I have been happy with my decision.

Raw gives a photographer much more power to control highlight and shadow. I am not knowledgeable as are many on this forum. After years of reading here about raw I eventually bought Lightroom and switched my camera to raw and saw the power of being able to take an interior shot with a bright window in background and pull out the hidden data and have a finished photo that is much superior to what I could accomplish in jpeg. I speculate that the larger the sensor size, the larger the improvement of switching to raw. My sensor size is 18 x 14.

I'll be darn. I do see masking in Clarity from Topaz Studio. Thanks Dngallagher for your post! I did just now update; maybe it wasn't in the old or I just didn't see it.