gregcoad

I did perhaps provide more exposition than was perhaps required but I also asked several very specific questions about lighting equipment, set ups and modifiers. I didn't anywhere in my post ask "should I hire a pro, or try to do it myself." thanks for your advice anyways.

If I was looking for advice on how to run my business I would have posted in another forum altogether. Besides being a professional general contractor, I am an avid amateur photographer with a great interest in learning more about how to successfully shoot interiors and so I chose to post on photo.net where I thought I might find helpful advice in that pursuit. I may very well decide in the end to hire a professional, but for now, I am looking for lighting tips and advice. If you have some, please share. If you want to offer more advice on how I should run my business, please restrain yourself.

I hope I'm posting this question in the right forum... I am a residential renovations contractor specialized in basement development. I am trying to decide what my best option is for photographing our completed projects for the gallery section of our website. Hiring a pro is probably the best option but also probably the most costly. I have worked out budgets of between $4-6k to have 8 basements professionally photographed. I am a fairly competent amateur photographer and I have a very solid understanding and decent amount of experience with off camera lighting. I have done a fair amount of interior real estate type photography as well, but mostly relied on natural light and some HDR techniques as well to deal with lighting challenges. I recently sold all of my Canon bodies, lenses, and speed lights to join the mirrorless revolution a la the Sony a7. So armed with my a7 and the new FE 16-35 F4 I am contemplating tackling this interior assignment myself. Keeping in mind that these are typically smaller rooms (150-200 sqft) and bathrooms, with generally not much natural light, and often some pretty wild color temperature combos (think LED, CFL, halogen and natural light) My questions are: 1. Do I really even need strobes? I hate post processing so I always try to keep that to a minimum. Will the in camera HDR function achieve decent enough results? If I'm going to just available light, I don't want to be spending hours in post blending exposures. 2. If strobe lighting of some kind is an absolute necessity, what's the simplest set up that I might get by with? Is it realistic to think that one 250ws strobe and a wireless trigger will be adequate? Will a couple Sony hotshoe flashes using their integrated IR triggering get the job done? I'd certainly find more use for a few hotshoe flashes in other situations whereas a self- powered strobe would not find a lot of other use for what I normally shoot. 3. If I'm going to use flashes/strobes, are there some quick and dirty setups that anyone can recommend. Tips/tricks of the trade? Modifiers? Thanks for any suggestions or advice.

I am going to Vegas next week (first time) and I am excited to take my relatively new a7. It will be a new experience for me to travel with such a lightweight and compact camera. In the past my old 1Ds and L-series glass often got left behind because they were just too heavy and bulky. I am trying to make the most of this new found size/weight advantage and have decided that I am only going to take one lens. I don't plan on checking any bags... Going carry-on only so when I say that I plan to travel light, I mean that I am going to be travelling light! I won't even be taking a camera bag! I'll stuff a few spare batteries in my tablet/carry on bag and share my phone's micro USB charging cable in case I need a bit more juice. I have all of the new FE lenses (except the 16-35 f4 that has been proving hard to find so far). I will probably be mostly shooting "street". It is not a discipline that I have experimented much with, but what else are you going to shoot in Vegas right? Street scenes at night and inside hotels and casinos are probably going to make up most of the subject matter and settings. I am leaning towards just taking the 35 f/2.8 to stay with my ultralight/compact plan, but I am also tempted by the wider angle and image stabilized 24-70 f/4. Which would you take?

Specs say 14 bit raw but I think the specs on the original A7 said the same thing. The fine print revealed the compressed nature of Sony raw files if I am not mistaken. I am not usually one to live on the bleeding edge and I have only owned my a7 for 4 months but the ergonomic improvements, and sensor shift IS are reasons enough for me to upgrade. And at half the price of most similarly capable FF options, why wouldn't I? I knew when I bought the a7 that I was investing in a system and that the body upgrades would be frequent and tempting... I was right! Now, Sony, where's the weather sealing?...