Which super wide for m4/3?

[antara]

I want to do some real estate photography, and need wiiiiide!

I can't afford the wide zooms available for 4/3.
Is there a legacy lens available in another mount
that will give me somewhere between 16 and 24mm after conversion?
Is there such a thing as using a fisheye that can be rectilinear?

Hope this stimulates some good discussion or refers to some already posted.

Antara

 

[Godfrey]

There are no better performing wide angle lenses for Micro-FourThirds than the Panasonic 7-14.

If you can't afford that, do multiple exposures and stitch.

Five exposures with Konica 40mm f/1.8 lens on Panasonic G1.
Composited with Photoshop CS4.

Click to see full size image​

That one was just a 'happy snappy' done hand-held without much prep or attention to detail for a friend.

 

[antara]

Thanks, Godfrey.
What software did you use?
I just dug up an old nikon wide and stuck it in front of the 14-42 with a cardboard cylinder.
It worked except for the quality of the image, soft corners, not very contrasty and fisheye distortion!!!!:thumbdown:
Think I'll take your advice and use one of my newly acquired manual lenses.

 

[Riley]

most pans are quite useless for real estate photography as the net format that dominates the industry is predominantly 800x600. I have only used a pans twice for newspaper feature articles. This one required that the furniture be managed into place to minimise distortions and was shot on an E300 with an 11-22 at 22mm

I shoot real estate with an E3, and I can have any lens I want. Mostly I use the 9-18 indifferent to the 7-14 as its plenty wide enough at 88 degrees FoV (horizontal) and it takes filters.

 

[Godfrey]

Thanks, Godfrey.
What software did you use? ...

For the compositing, Photoshop CS4 as I mentioned above. Nothing special. Preparing the panorama composite took about five minutes: import from card with Lightroom, minor adjustment to tone and color, then export into Photoshop and run the stitching, cropping. Back into LR for minor final touch up, and export to a finished image.

I don't know what you were expecting sticking a front element wide converter onto a slow zoom lens ... those things are always miserable performers in my experience.

 

[Godfrey]

most pans are quite useless for real estate photography as the net format that dominates the industry is predominantly 800x600.
...
I shoot real estate with an E3, and I can have any lens I want. Mostly I use the 9-18 indifferent to the 7-14 as its plenty wide enough at 88 degrees FoV (horizontal) and it takes filters.

I tend to agree, actually. I use the 11-22/2.8-3.5: it suffices for most work very nicely. I've also used simpler two-three exposure pans with that lens at about 18mm to create nice interior views too.

I only suggested a composited panorama technique if one wanted an ultra-wide field of view and couldn't afford the ultra-wide zoom to do it with. I have sold several composited exteriors (a little more sophisticated capture than the quickie hand-held one I showed as example above .

 

[Riley]

The view I've come to over time, is that you can actually go too wide. In more common circumstances views like that of 14mm EFL show a lot more ceiling and push the far walls more distant, elongating the space.

While in commercial arts like real estate photography we are supposed to be shooting the architecture and the spaces, the furnishings are undeniably useful as 'props', but with so wide a view the detail becomes tiny and its effect is lessened.

Most of the spaces I shoot have 90 degree corners and I find it less problematic to keep near to that envelope.

 

[Godfrey]

The view I've come to over time, is that you can actually go too wide. In more common circumstances views like that of 14mm EFL show a lot more ceiling and push the far walls more distant, elongating the space.

While in commercial arts like real estate photography we are supposed to be shooting the architecture and the spaces, the furnishings are undeniably useful as 'props', but with so wide a view the detail becomes tiny and its effect is lessened.

Most of the spaces I shoot have 90 degree corners and I find it less problematic to keep near to that envelope.

Agreed. This is why the Hasselblad 903SWC was such an excellent camera for interior work and the 11-22 provides a similar capability ... both are about 90 degrees FoV on the diagonal , with excellent sharpness edge to edge. I only rarely want anything wider than that, and usually a little narrower is easier to deal with.

 

[Jonas]

--

 

[Riley]

well as he says "I want to do some real estate photography, and need wiiiiide!" ...but as yet I still have no idea how deep into this adventure he wants to go.

Given we just had a thread with no successful replacement hes stuck with whatever he can resource himself in a 4/3rds mount

Quite frankly if you cant afford even a 9-18 you will be against the wind b/se for a minimum requirement he will also need flash and maybe a filter or two anyway.

Not for me to decide at what point are you working with nothing and what ends that is serving, but to me a level of investment is a foregone conclusion.

 

[Godfrey]

... another example, interior pan

Yeah I know.

But to see what can be done fast and cheap, I did this multi-frame panorama composite of living room with the 11-22mm lens at 18mm focal length:

(click to get to the high resolution images)​

Not commercial grade work ... I spent no time managing three different light sources, blowout on the lamp fixture etc. Just shot six frames with 40% overlap on the tripod, composited in PS CS4, and then fast touch up in LR before outputting. Took about ten minutes. Coverage is about 130 degrees horizontally.

 

[antara]

Thanks, Godfrey, you've been helpful.
Riley, I'm a "she" not a "he" and I'm here reading, so you may address me directly.
This post was to find out information and create a helpful discussion in a friendly forum, so doesn't seem appropriate that my motives or finances should be questioned.

The 9-18($700) seems a way to go when money is available, or price goes down.
I do own a Canon and the Tamron 10-24 looks nice for $450 after rebate.

 

[Riley]

well!! sorry about the reassignment

im not 'questioning' anything, but a little more information (that you now seem to see as necessary to provide) would have been useful