best lens for shoot indoor architecture

[steven_brown3]

I'm getting ready to start a portfolio of interiors of restaurants and kitchens

for my company. I have a canon 30d. What are some recommendations for

reasonably priced lens to best capture the interior of kitchens, bars, dining

rooms, etc. I was looking at the canon ef 20mm 2.8f usm and the ef 24mm 2.8f.

Any advise on the lens and additionally on capturing the best picture possible.

My experience level is pretty basic. I've taken a b&w film course and

primarily shoot outdoors. Thanks.

[morthcam]

A 24mm on a 30D is a moderate wide-angle, equivalent to a 38mm or so field of view on a full-frame camera. Even the 20mm is equivalent to a 32mm full-frame field of view. To do interiors you'll probably want wider, one of the digital-only zooms -- Canon has a 10-22mm, Tokina has a 12-24 that gets good reviews, all the usual third-party suspects have their own version.

[jim r]

Unless you like working in PS or other software environment and correcting for converging lines etc...move up to a larger format film camera w/movements, or try a rangefinder in 35mm.

[mark u]

Neither lens is wide enough on 1.6 crop camera. My weapons of choice would be the 24mm TS-E and a Sigma 12-24 on a full frame camera, with maybe a macro lens for details on furniture. You might try the Canon 10-22 on a 30D. However, the big expense will probably be in the necessary lighting - certainly if you aim to do this for promotional material. Lighting interiors or furniture is not trivial:

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00LLWn

 

http://www.photo.net/learn/architectural/interior

[m_barbu1]

I say it depends on where you will be positioned, and what you want to capture. Can you point to any example photos that you're trying to emulate? If you don't necessarily want all three walls (four if in a corner) in the shot, 20mm or 24mm won't necessarily be bad on a 30D.

[steven_brown3]

Just for a little clarification. My main goal is capturing as much of the space in one frame as possible. I will not be focused on detailed close ups. Thanks for all the advise thus far.

[mark_chappell]

I concur with Mark U regarding the Sigma 12-24. That lens is not perfect by any means but

it has astonishingly low distortion. Apparently it suffers from some sample variation but my

copy is quite sharp if stopped down to f8 - f11 or so. Color rendition is not as nice as with

my 17-40L, but that's what Photoshop is for....

[jim_d5]

Well, I have the 30D as well, I also have the Canon 20 f/2.8. The 20 2.8 is a fine lens and has been one of my main lenses for about four years now. It has good image quality, on par with that of my 17-40 f/4L and is very reasonably priced. However, on the 30D it is a 32mm. What I say to that is...whatever. That still seems wide to me, but I certainly do not use it for interior shots.

 

I think the 20 2.8 would be your best bet if you want to shoot hand held due to the faster 2.8 max aperture. And assuming you do not what to spend loads of money, which is my conclusion from reading your post. I can commonly get sharp shots with this lens at 1/15 sec with around ISO 200 indoors.

 

But if you will be shooting with a tripod, which you should be if this is serious work then the EF-S 10-22 is your best bet. The image quality is surprisingly good and on par with the 20 f/2.8 and the 17-40 f/4L. My personal conclusion is the 17-40 edges all of them out in overall image quality but it is a 27mm on the 30D.

 

Luckily, I own two of these lenses the 20 and 17-40 and have at least tried the 10-22. Keep in mind if you ever decide to get a full frame camera like the 5D or its successor or, heaven forbid, you shoot chromes (recommended for your application) with a film camera then the EF-**S** 10-22 will not work with it. For the widest possible shot your only option is the 10-22 but the other two are there if you are willing to compromise and all are relatively affordable in this field.

[William Michael]

>>> reasonably priced lens to best capture the interior of kitchens, bars, dining rooms, etc. [ . . .] My main goal is capturing as much of the space in one frame as possible <<<

 

1. Do the maths or

 

2. if you have access to the kit lens, do a practical experiment:

 

1. the maths: a 20mm on an APS-C (30D), rough maths in my head; in a room at 18ft viewpoint you will get 15ft of horizontal coverage, not a real lot in a kitchen and my guess is you would be up against the wall of the kitchen at 18ft viewpoint.

 

But it depends on the actual dinning room and kitchen sizes.

 

2. The kit lens: My suggestion about the kit lens is twofold: 1. you can experiment (looking through it at 18mm) to decide if you need to go to 10mm or 12 mm lens 2. why not consider the kit lens and get the lighting right: shoot at F8 and a tripod.

 

WW

[m_barbu1]

<p><i>My main goal is capturing as much of the space in one frame as possible.</i></p><p>Fisheye! ;-)</p>

[brad_smith3]

Steven,

 

I own the 30D and the 10-22, and shoot interior architecture for realtors, painters, and other tradesmen.

 

I've gotten great reviews from the clients i've worked with thus far, and I feel that this lens is the best for the job. I've tried others, the canon is sharp and wide.

 

It's a little more than you may want to spend. In my view, it's a perfect fit for the job.

 

Brad.

[JDMvW]

I got the Sigma 10-20mm and I've been very pleased. In regard to the reviews of it: Although it tests out as having a little more barrel distortion than some of its peers, this is actually not obvious in actual pictures, since the lens is quite rectilinear until it gets out to the very edge. For quite a lot less money than the Canon, it provides an alternative. Whatever you get, you probably need to get (and, the hard part, learn how to use) DxO software.

 

Just as a minor note, the Sigma like the other 10-20 bunch is a 'digital only' lens, but it actually has a regular EOS/EF mount, not the EF-S mount. I have tried it on full-frame EOS film cameras, and although there are circular borders on the sides at 10mm (and you can't use the lens shade), there is only tiny bit of vignetting at 20mm which is barely noticeable in the viewfinder. It would be a little more obvious in a full-frame print, but it is pretty good to have a nearly 10-20mm rectilinear wide angle with just a modest amount of cropping. I wouldn't buy it for a full-frame camera, but I wouldn't throw it away if I got a digital full frame either.

[james_sigle]

The lens used by many pros for interiors is the Canon 14mm f2.8L. But since it costs $1800 USD, I would do a lot of research and rent this or one of the others before buying. The 14mm has little distortion which recomends it for this purpose. However on your 30D it"s field of view is only 77.6 degrees.

Jim

[jan_willem_maltha1]

I have gained some experience using Tokinas 12-24mm lens on my EOS 10D. It's a very useful lens for indoor architecture, exhibiting among others a very modest amount of distortion and good sharpness. Beside this it is very comfortable to use: not to big or heavy, quite nice clutch system to quickly switch between autofocus or manual focusing. Lat but not least I like its very solid construction.

I would not be without it.