Real Estate Photography - Should I go Full Frame?

umphotography wrote in post #15684197
Send Mike kelly an email. He is one of the best real estate guys ive ever seen,,,,,,,he would know whats best. He is on POTN

He shoots mostly Architecture stuff now.


Most RE photogs operate on the cheap (think $50 to $75 a home). You'll need to decide what market you're approaching, and figure out your gear needs from there.

I shoot mostly interior design stuff, and you'll find that the creative fields are likely to pay more for your work (with an equal increase in quality). Mind you, I'll spend 2 hours shooting a small kitchen; this also translates to another 8 hours in post, for a delivery of ~15 images (5 main, and 10 detail).

To paraphrase Mike Kelley: would you rather be shooting 100 homes, at $100 a pop; or 10 homes at $1000 a pop?

BUT, to answer your question:

The major advantage of full-frame in the real-estate and architectural markets, is the additional width whilst minimizing distortion.

Realistically, lighting is the biggest thing in RE photography and your money might be better spent on external flash.

Full frame has no distortion advantages, it can just access the widest primes and tiltshift lenses at their intended focal lengths that are wide enough for RE photography.

That quantity vs quality is the basic concept that the different classes of "good photos" I posted about are derived from. RE agents are generally very cheap people and make a poor target for earning good money off as another middleman vendor.

If RE agents are cheap people, would it be better to approach the people selling the home? They might be willing to spend a bit compared to the RE agent.

GerryDavid wrote in post #15691118
If RE agents are cheap people, would it be better to approach the people selling the home? They might be willing to spend a bit compared to the RE agent.

Why would I want to pay a realtor their 4%~8% and some third party photographer more unless it was so cheap that it's not going to be taking a huge bite out of my principal. Maybe if it's the high end market of million+ homes or a business but for the vast portion of home sales I just don't see a high paying market. Just check some of the big real estate sites, Zillow, Redfin/MLS, Trulia, Zip or Homes. For the most part the photography is a joke. Lots of wide angle with exceedingly heave distortion, lots of horrible HDR, under exposed, over exposed, and all kinds of other faults. Maybe there are areas where a photographer can make a decent living doing RE photography but I think it has to be a really hard market to do so.

gjl711 wrote in post #15691202
Why would I want to pay a realtor their 4%~8% and some third party photographer more unless it was so cheap that it's not going to be taking a huge bite out of my principal. Maybe if it's the high end market of million+ homes or a business but for the vast portion of home sales I just don't see a high paying market. Just check some of the big real estate sites, Zillow, Redfin/MLS, Trulia, Zip or Homes. For the most part the photography is a joke. Lots of wide angle with exceedingly heave distortion, lots of horrible HDR, under exposed, over exposed, and all kinds of other faults. Maybe there are areas where a photographer can make a decent living doing RE photography but I think it has to be a really hard market to do so.

You're right. RE is a one time sale, and agents are working on spec, they don't know if the house will sell or if it does sell whether or not they will have to split the commission . The owner isn't likely to foot the bill for good photography because the majority of people don't understand the value.

One possible exception is rental property as in large apartment or condo developments. The photography has a longer life and the potential to be used repeatedly.

I see no need for FF for RE photography used for web. Architectural photography used for print may be a different matter.

Indeed, IMO the only real estate/architecture/et​c. photography that is actually worth more than pennies to anyone involved is upscale stuff going in print display or elsewhere that demands really natural-looking, highly refined professional photos.