Following on from part 1 where i talked about entry level options, in the second part we will move onto to semi-pro and pro camera choices for real estate photography.
Canon
Canon Eos R
Canon 6D Mk2
Now let’s go up a notch and see what a bigger budget can buy. Starting with Canon the choice becomes between DSLR and Mirrorless, do you start with a 6Dmk2 or 5Dmk4, or do you start with an EOS R or EOS RP? Essentially every camera will be mirrorless in the future and if your start with the EOS R or RP then you can still use legacy EOS lenses with an adapter and also take advantage of new lens releases for the R system as they arrive. If you start with a DSLR then you are starting with a camera system that will eventually be superseded, but you still have a massive array of lenses for the EOS mount which you can still adapt to the new R mount, and let’s face it, the real estate agents we work for only care about the photos we give them, and not about the cameras we used to get them! Trust me when I say that sensor performance and lens choice are far more important than mirrorless or DSLR when it comes to choices. With that being said though I’d personally steer clear of any Canon DSLR prior to the 6Dmk2 or 5Dmk4 as the Canon sensors in earlier models didn’t stack up as well as Nikon or Sony when it came to pushing the raw files in post-production. So in order of prices your have the 6Dmk2, EOS RP, EOS R and 5Dmk4 and I think any of these bodies will be an excellent choice and will serve you well for many years and you have to decide which is best or which you can afford. And Canon, Tamron and Sigma have an excellent range of ultra-wide zoom lenses for the EOS mount that are perfect for real estate photography. Canon also has an excellent range of on-camera flash units including a remote flash trigger which is very handy when you need to move your flash position or fire a flash in a different room. I’ve used Canon professional speedlight’s in the past and they are extremely reliable and produce a nice consistent colour. You can also buy an extensive array of third party flashes that have Canon triggers which work on both DSLR and mirrorless cameras interchangeably so there should be no issues of compatibility in the future if you buy into a DSLR system today.
Nikon
Nikon D750
With Nikon I would recommend either the older D750 or the newer D780 or the D850 if you are looking at a DSLR system with the F-mount, or if you are thinking of going straight to mirrorless the Z6 is a fantastic camera with exceptionally good video capabilities that could serve you well if you often cross over into video production. Nikon has recently discontinued the D600/610 line of cameras so for pro full frame the choice is smaller however Nikon still doesn’t look like its fully done with the DSLR format just yet so a new body or two could be in the works. Also for real estate photography the venerable DSLR is still an excellent and more than capable choice, even in 2019 and it’s a tried and proven system that should be overlooked just because of the mirrorless craze that is taking over the consumer camera sector.
Nikon Z6
Nikon also has a higher resolution Z7 mirrorless body which has the same megapixel count as the D850. Both of these bodies have too many megapixels for 99% of real estate photography jobs and the large file sizes soon fill up your hard drives, but they are still excellent performers if file size is not an issue or if you are doing more high end properties and detail is paramount for you. As with Canon, Nikon’s mirrorless system also allows you to adapt their legacy DSLR lenses so if you start with a DSLR you will always be able to use your lenses when you move on, so any investment in professional F-mount lenses can still serve well for real estate photography if you move to mirrorless down the track. Don’t be put off by internet trolls and zealous salespeople who would rather sell you the latest and greatest gadget! For speedlight’s Nikon has some excellent choices however they have never produced a useable radio flash system so for Nikon I would never recommend buying their own units. You are far better off using third party flash systems for Nikon such as Godox if you’re on a budget or Profoto if money is no issue. Personally this is one area where I think Nikon could do a lot better as I prefer their flash units to the much cheaper Chinese brands that are so popular now, but I do currently shoot with Nikon cameras and Godox flash units and they are fairly reliable but colour temperature quality is an issue from time to time.
Sony
With Sony you have the A7 full frame system as their professional offerings with the A7mk3 being the obvious choice for real estate photography with a 24 megapixel sensor. They also offer the A7Rmk3 and A7Rmk4, both of which have high megapixel counts which make them more unsuitable for regular real estate work, although again you may be shooting high end properties where detail is important for you. Personally, I prefer to have file sizes I can handle rather than more megapixels that I very rarely need.
Sony A73
Sony also has a good array of lens choices although sadly not as many as Canon or Nikon as they just haven’t been in business as long. They do have a nice broad range though, it’s just for ultra-wide-angle lenses Canon and Nikon are the kings, but the important ones you need for real estate photography are there and they do have a 12-24mm F4 lens now although its fairly expensive. Tamron and Sigma do round out your lens choices for the Sony E-mount system though and they both offer affordable and quality ultra-wide zooms, the Tamron 15-30mm F2.8 is a particularly good example although the Sony model of this lens lacks image stabilization, which is a shame as the Sony in body stabilization is not very good. But as a real estate photographer with your camera on a tripod for most of the time in bright light this rarely matters.
For flash units, Sony does produce several models equivalent to those made by Canon and Nikon, plus Sony also includes radio trigger functionality which is a big bonus for them. I personally have no experience with Sony branded flashes, so I couldn’t say either way whether they are good or not, but I doubt that they are not good quality units. Then you also have compatibility with Godox and many other third-party manufacturers who provide dedicated Sony triggering via the hot shoe or a remote radio trigger system. This is also a benefit of buying a third-party flash system, it allows you to have more than one camera brand and only purchase a specific trigger to use any of your flashes on any camera system you may own.
Panasonic S1
Panasonic
And lastly there some newer offerings now from Panasonic that fall into the $2,000-$5,000 price bracket, notably the S1 and S1R, although being a new system as of August 2019 there will be a limited range of lenses for this system and you may not find the lenses you need for real estate photography. However, they have slated a 16-35mm F4 lens to be released either late 2019 or early 2020 so maybe it’s better to hold off this system until this lens drops. And even when it is released, Sigma who is also producing lenses for this system, has so far only produced a list of prime lenses which is not much to anyone I would suspect. Even people I know who are seriously into video, which these cameras excel at, use zoom lens quite a bit so Sigma might just be re-mounting their prime lens range instead of developing entirely news lenses for this system. And lastly 16-35mm, while a good focal range, is still limiting in many circumstances when it comes to shooting tight spaces in many average homes. I often find myself around the 15mm mark on my Nikon 14-24mm, especially in bathrooms and ensuites. It would be nice if Sigma would re-mount its 12-24mm lens, and maybe they will but don’t count on it. As for lighting, I don’t know if Panasonic is going to produce a suite of speedlights for the S1 system, but you are covered again by the third-party manufacturers with many including Godox and Profoto offering a Panasonic compatibility.
Flagship Cameras
The last category I will mention is the flagship camera body, and you may have noticed already that I have not recommended either Canon, Nikon or Sony’s professional DSLR/Mirrorless camera bodies, the 1DX, the D5/D6 or the A9. Simply put all these bodies are overkill for day to day real estate photography in my working opinion, as they have been designed for the ultimate high-speed, extreme usage environments where the latest and greatest features along without unmatched durability are paramount. Think of someone shooting sports matches or wildlife at 15-20 frames per second, or someone shooting thousands of photos per week at weddings, or someone shooting in -25 degrees. That’s what these cameras are designed for, and the slower much more methodical way we shoot real estate just doesn’t take advantage of almost all of the features these cameras offer.
However, if any of these bodies is your choice then they will definitely serve you very well, and if money is no concern and you want the best than you can’t past any of these. Also, if you do shoot other genres where some of the features of these cameras are critical then it’s a no-brainer to go down this route. As for preferences, I think any of these cameras are going to do the job for very well, however there are some pros and cons.
Firstly the Canon has the best combination of durability, features and price, and its unmatched in this regard. Sure, the Sony can shoot faster but there’s no denying that the Canon is probably as far more durable camera if hard wear and tear is going to be an issue. The Nikon is the worst value in my opinion and is probably about $2,000 over priced compared to the other two and although I would prefer it for overall image quality and access to F-mount lenses, its just not worth the price premium over the Canon, sorry Nikon! The Sony on the other hand is probably the best value of the three, but it’s just not as durable and Sony just doesn’t seem willing to produce a body which will match the durability of the Canon and Nikon, probably because it would result in a larger camera and they seem to be obsessed with producing cameras that barely fit in your hands! At the end of the day the balance between features and durability is one you will have to decide yourself based on your own needs and budget.
Summary
Now that we have looked at an array of cameras suitable for real estate photography in almost every price bracket, I want to leave you with some final thoughts.
Firstly, even though I currently use a Nikon DSLR and Mirrorless systems for my own real estate work I want you to know that most of the other brands out there are more than capable of capturing the photos you need to sell your professional photography business. And you may be disappointed that I didn’t recommend one particular camera and lens set up for real estate photography over another. But I what I hope you got from this guide is that there is no one perfect camera for real estate photography because of the way we shoot, slow and methodical in manual mode with manual ISO and almost always on a tripod. And pretty much any interchangeable lens camera system from APSC up to full frame is going to be able to do this. So even though I shoot Nikon at the moment, I easily be able to pick up a Canon or Sony or Fuji system and be taking professional real estate photos within an hour.
Secondly I do prefer using lenses with true mechanical focus assemblies over focus by wire and I also prefer to have actual focus distance guides on my lenses as well. The reason is that it saves me so much time being able to look and instantly see where my lens is focused without having to turn the focus ring to see an electronic marker which almost always changes my focus in the process. My Nikon 14-30mm lens on my Z6 is a focus by wire lens and its much slower to get the focus correct compared to my 14-24mm F2.8 on my D750, and speed is important when shooting high turn over real estate photos. This does limit me to what lenses I will buy and I do hope that manufacturers don’t give up on mechanical focusing or external distance markers on lenses.
Thirdly I do think that sensor performance is important long term and if you can get a camera body with better dynamic range than that will help you when it comes to stretching your files later on in post-production. I can often stretch the shadow areas of photos taken with my Nikon D750 much further than I ever could with my previous Canon cameras, without getting any noise or banding. If price though is an issue you need to get what you can afford now and worry about sensor performance later on. This issue does stop me from going back to Canon and today I would consider every other brand before them as I still don’t think they have considered this important, even in their latest EOS-R cameras. Now this will divide some people, and you may believe that this is a non-issue, and it very well may be depending on your style and the way you do your post production. But for me I will stick with Nikon and Sony for now unless Canon decides to re-engineer their sensors for better dynamic range performance.
And lastly here is a short list of camera and lens combinations that I think will serve you well as a real estate photographer.
My Camera Recommendations
Canon
For Canon I’d recommend any of there APSC DSLR’s with their 10-22mm Lens and for their full frame DSLR’s I’d recommend going with 6DMk2 or 5DMk4 with their 16-35mm F4 lens which is an excellent lens for the price. With the EOS-R/RP mirrorless bodies I’d recommend adapting the 16-35mm F4 lens for it’s value over buying the far more expensive 15-35mm F2.8. I wouldn’t recommend the 11-24mm lens simply because of the cost and the fact that anything wider than 14mm gets very problematic with image distortion.
Nikon
For Nikon I’d recommend the D5600 or D7500 as an entry level camera matched with the 10-24mm lens. And for their full frame DSLR’s I’d recommend a D750 with either the 16-35mm F4 if your on a budget or the 14-24mm F2.8 if you want the best sharpness possible, and the D750 with the 14-24mm lens is a killer combination, even in mid-2019 with all the latest mirrorless tech on sale. If you wanted to stretch to a D850 then I’d recommend going with the 14-24mm F2.8 over the 16-35mm. Why have 45MP and not go for the best lens? And last with the Z system you can go past the Z6 with the amazing and sharp and very well priced 14-30mm F4
Sony
For Sony APSC you could really buy any of the 6000 series bodies as the 24MP sensors aren’t really that different as far as I can tell. The A6000 is incredibly good value and for these cameras I’d recommend the 10-18mm F4 as an excellent and sharp ultra-wide lens. For full frame you cant go past the A73 or A7R3 if you want the higher resolution and either the 16-35mm or the newer 12-24mm lenses will do you well. The A7R4 is also a option if the very high MP count appeals to you and finer detail is what you’re looking for.
Fuji
For Fuji I would go with the XT-3or XT-4 with the 10-24mm lens or the 8-16mm lens if you wanted the wider perspective, but honestly the 10-24mm is wide enough for most applications at 10mm.
Olympus
For Olympus I have no recommendations and the choice is yours if you go down this route.
Panasonic
And lastly for Panasonic a G95 or G9 with their 7-14mm lens is an excellent choice if you buy into their M43 system, but if you want to buy the S1 then you will need to wait until they release their first ultra-wide but beware as it could end up being a very pricey lens if their others releases are anything to go by.