When you first start photographing spaces, whether for real estate photography, architectural photography or interior photography clients, you quickly realize that the gear you use can make a big difference. If you don’t have a wide angle lens, you realize that those listing photos are not showing enough. If you don’t have a light of any kind, you realize that there are areas that could use a pop of crispness. The question then becomes - what ARE the best lenses and cameras for interior photography?

The hard truth

I hate to say it, but at the end of the day it really is NOT about the gear. Yes, having the right gear will make your job easier or make some technical aspects much better. Having the “perfect” gear, though, will do nothing if you don’t know how to compose, light, and edit. Likewise, you can make beautiful images with simple inexpensive gear if they know how to use it! This is why it’s always a good idea to start with what you have, learn it inside-out so that you can use it to the most of its capabilities, and then upgrade when you’re able to.

So rather than give you a long list of cameras or lenses, let’s cover the qualities to consider when looking for your next camera or lens. Then I’ll give you a few specific models to check out that may fit the bill perfectly! Let’s dig in.

Lenses

I’m starting with lenses because they actually will have a much bigger impact on the image than the camera body. The lens will determine things like depth of field possibilities, sharpness, and focal range. If you’re looking at where to focus your investment, I recommend getting a camera body that is more than sufficient for you and then really investing in great lenses to give you the composition options you need. So let’s review what to look for in an ideal lens for interior photography.

Wide angle

Especially if you’re going to start with real estate photography or vacation rental photography, you’ll want to make sure to get a wide angle lens. Wide angle lenses will help you show an entire room for listing photos, and at times it’ll also come in handy for architectural and interior shoots, too! It’s especially crucial when you photograph tight spaces, which will happen often as you start shooting more properties. You’ll want to avoid the ultra-wide lenses that give a fish-eye effect. Fish-eye lenses distort everything far too much for client use, and the distortion is so much that it’s tougher to correct this distortion in Lightroom afterwards! For a cropped sensor camera, a lens that goes to 10mm is ideal. For a full frame camera, a lens that goes to 16mm is ideal. If you’re not planning on doing work for real estate or vacation listings, you could look at lenses starting at about 20mm+ for a better fit for the needs. Although I will say that having the option to go to a wider focal length comes in handy in smaller spaces on interior shoots as well (think about hall baths or small guest rooms)!

Details Lens

Especially when doing vacation rentals, architectural, or interior photography shoots, there will be details that you want to capture. For these, you’ll want a tighter lens than your wide angle. My go-to focal length is a 50mm, but others may prefer an 85mm or even longer! Besides the focal length, the aperture range is crucial, too. You’ll want a lens that can open nice and wide (f2.0 or lower is ideal) so that you can get the shallow depth of field for some of those details. The choice comes down to preference, but the 50mm f/1.8 is a very affordable and versatile option.

Zoom

Eventually, you’ll most likely turn to using prime lenses only. Prime lenses are at a fixed focal length, so they tend to be purchased after you’ve gotten to know the lengths that are the best fit for your needs. When you’re starting, though, having a zoom lens is perfect! The main benefit to a zoom lens is that you can adjust the focal length easily as you learn what works best for you. It also means that you can have one zoom lens that can meet a range of needs, and this translates to you investing less to get a big bang for your buck. Sounds pretty great, right?!

When you’re selecting a zoom lens, keep in mind that it needs to start at a pretty wide focal length (see the notes above about wide angle lenses). For a cropped sensor camera, you’ll most likely land on lenses that have a range of 10-22mm. For a full frame camera, you’ll probably end up with one in the range of 16-35mm. For this type of lens I recommend investing as much as you can for quality because this lens will be your main workhorse for a while. And when it comes to lenses, having quality glass really does help make a difference!

Tilt-Shift

In an ideal world, tilt-shift lenses would be really affordable. In the real world, though… not so much. If you’re starting out with shooting spaces, I would not recommend going to a tilt-shift lens. Here’s why - it’s not versatile. A tilt-shift is amazing for architectural work and can be amazing for interiors (I’ll be doing a side-by-side comparison of tilt-shift vs non-tilt-shift soon!), but it’s not a good lens for doing small and faster shoots like real estate or vacation rentals. The reason is that it takes quite a bit of time to get the settings on the lens just right for each setup, so it slows you down. When you’re doing a shoot with a designer this is not a problem. When you’re trying to fly through a shoot that you’re charging $200 for, it’s a problem. Also, tilt-shift lenses are all prime, meaning there are no zoom tilt-shift lenses. This means that you’re committing to one focal length, and as we mentioned above, the versatility will be to your benefit early on!

So I recommend a tilt-shift lens once you’re specializing in architecture or interiors, and furthermore, once that specialization is going really well for you. It’s a large investment with very specific uses, so you should be sure that it’s going to pay for itself in the work you’re doing!

If you do decide to go for a tilt-shift lens, the top recommendation is a 24mm. It’s a good focal length that is not too wide and not too tight.

Distortion or Chromatic Aberration

Distortion is when things in the frame gets stretched and look distorted. This happens more with wide angle lenses, and is especially noticeable with ultra-wide lenses. It’s also most noticeable on the edges of the frame. The closer your main subject is to the center of the frame, the lower the distortion. Some lenses also distort more than others, so it’s important to read a bit about the reviews or features of the lenses you’re interested in. Typically, more expensive lenses and leading brand lenses do have better quality glass and mechanics, so they tend to distort a bit less. I noticed this when I made the leap from an off-brand lens to a Canon lens, so the differences will be noticeable once you make the switch!

Chromatic aberration is when you have that bit of color on the edges of things in the frame. Often it’s seen as a pink or purple tint along an edge, and there’s also a bit of fuzziness to those edges. The inability to fully focus and create those sharp edges is actually what causes the colors to split and appear tinted! This is another quality that is often mentioned in product reviews and feature lists. This is also another thing that tends to get minimized with higher quality lenses.

I don’t want this section to scare you into buying a more expensive lens than you can, though! These are the sort of qualities that you don’t really notice until you’ve been shooting for some time and upgrade, and then you think “Huh. There really IS a difference!” But the last thing I want is for you to overextend your budget for this. Look within your price range, compare product reviews, and select from there. Once you’re ready to upgrade to a better quality lens, do the same with those lenses!

Lenses to Consider

For full frame:

• Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM - For Canon users, great glass. A bit of an investment, but not too bad
• Nikon Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 - For Nikon users, also top notch. Price point same as Canon lens above
• Tokina AT-X 17-35mm f/4 ProFX - Available for Canon or Nikon mounts. More affordable price range
• Any 50mm lens is great for details. I use an f/1.8, but an f/1.4 is fantastic too (although much pricier)

For cropped sensor:

• Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 - Ideal focal range at a good price point
• Tokina 12-28mm f/4 AT-X ProDX - Slightly tighter than the Tamron, but great quality for a low price point
• Nikon Nikkor 12-24mm f/4G IF-ED - Expensive, but good for Nikon users who don’t plan to go full frame later on
• The 50mm f/1.8 lens actually works on both cropped sensor or full frame! And it’s super affordable. A perfect investment for detail shots

Cameras

I started with the lenses because I really do believe that it’s the most important piece of gear for interior photography. Of course, your lens will need a camera to mount to, though! So let’s talk about the qualities to consider in a camera and then mention a few worth checking out.

Cropped Sensor vs Full Frame

This is a big decision you’ll have to make at the very beginning because it will affect the lenses you can use and the accessories you can invest in. For most, this decision will come down to cost. Cropped sensor cameras start at lower price points. The consumer level cameras are all cropped sensors, and so there are also lots more options!

“Cropped sensor” and “full frame” refer to the size of the sensor. Image a negative film strip. One frame on that strip is a specific size and ratio. The term “full frame” means that the sensor in the camera is the same as a full frame on a negative strip. The term “cropped sensor” means that the sensor in that camera is smaller, or cropped, when compared to a negative strip. Essentially, the cropped sensor is a tighter shot. This is also why the lenses are different - a 10-22mm lens on a cropped sensor is the equivalent of a 16-35mm lens on a full frame camera.

Now that you understand the difference, which one do you choose?! Well, the first thing to consider is your budget. If you have the option of going to full frame, it’s always preferred. Why? Full frame sensors capture more light and generally perform better for dynamic range and sharpness. Like with the lenses, these are differences that you probably won’t notice too much until you’ve gotten more experience and upgrade to a full frame camera (and even then, the real game-changer is the quality of the lens!). Ideally, though, you want to aim for a full frame camera body.

Another thing to consider is your lens investment. Lenses for cropped sensor cameras typically do not mount to full frame camera bodies. This means that when you upgrade, you’ll most likely also need all new lenses. Crazy, right? It’s a pain, yes. But that’s just how it is right now. The mounts for the lenses are different, so it becomes something else to consider. There are some convertors and a few select lenses that work on both types of mounts, but the convertors don’t always work perfectly and the lenses that mount to both types of bodies are extremely limited.

All this leads to - go with full frame if you’re financially able to. If you’re not, go with cropped sensor and just know that at some point there will be another wave of investment in gear.

Consider Your Lenses

Since we’re talking about compatibility, you’ve noticed that this means you want a camera body that does allow you to change lenses. It may be tempting to start with a low-level consumer camera, but you’ll ideally want something that allows you to put a different type of lens on it. This also allows your camera to grow with you a bit! You can upgrade the lenses to boost the look of your images before investment in a brand new camera body.

If there is a particular lens that you’ve been dreaming of, then you’ll of course want to make sure that the camera body you choose is compatible with that lens. A quick look at the specs and features of the lens should tell you the type of mount that it has, and you can check the specs on the camera body to make sure it matches!

Video Compatibility

If you’re interested in exploring video, whether for real estate offerings or for architectural walk-throughs, you’ll want to consider a camera that has good video capabilities. Your best bet is to read a few product review articles to make sure that any test for videos have been successful. Unless this is something that you plan on focusing on in the future, I don’t recommend making the video capabilities a deal-breaker quality. Having a camera body that can handle both stills and video, though, can be a major benefit if you plan on starting out with real estate offerings!

A Note on Megapixel Count

There are some cameras that brag about crazy megapixel counts for their images, but I don’t recommend making this a top priority. Why? Because the naked eye will not see the difference! The reality is that unless you’re shooting for very large installations (like a billboard), for high-quality print runs (like a coffee table book), or for a very large client campaign… the investment in this just won’t make a difference. Quite simply, our eyes can’t tell a 20MP camera’s work from a 50MP camera’s work when it’s on a website, social media feed, or printed brochure. So please don’t give much attention to the megapixel race out there, and focus your investment on more important qualities.

The Importance of Touch

Let me explain. You can research a camera all day and night, but then hold it in your hand and it’ll just feel… off. So yes, do your research. Yes, have a list of your top 2-3 choices. But then go into a camera store or rent each camera body to get to hold it in your hands. Feel how the camera feels to you when you take a few photos. Feel the weight of it, the material, the ergonomics. You may be surprised that you feel drawn to a different model than you expected!

Camera Bodies to Consider:

• Canon 6D Mark II - good entry level with Canon
• Nikon D750 - good entry level with Nikon
• Fujifilm X-T20 - low price point, cropped sensor
• Sony a7III - full-frame mirrorless option, mid-range price point
• Canon 5D Mark IV - full-frame option, higher price point
• Nikon D850 - full-frame option, higher price point

Conclusion

At the end of the day, this is a decision that you need to make for your specific situation. The above products are a great place to start your research, but whatever camera or lens you do decide on, make sure to use it to its full potential by learning all the skills you can. Remember, it’s really about the magic that YOU bring to the shoot… and not so much about the machinery.

xo