Featuring high-quality photographs on your website and marketing collateral is essential to stand out and be noticed in the highly competitive real estate industry. In fact, homes with great photos sell 32% faster.
For properties priced between $200,000 and $1 million, high-quality photography can also translate to a higher sale price. Homes within this price range that feature high-quality photos in their listings sell for $3,000 to $11,000 more.
In real estate photography, many professional photographers swear by the lenses they use. Like any other tool, it is important to use the best lens for real estate photography, which results in beautiful, high-quality images that will make your marketing efforts more effective.
In this article, we provide you all the best lenses for taking real estate photographs and videos to help you choose based on how you intend to use them, whether inside or outside the property, as well as your budget.
Please note: This post contains affiliate links for camera lenses that we have carefully chosen based on their quality and performance. However, the primary purpose of this article is to help you with your marketing strategy, not for us to gain commissions. By partnering, we are able to provide images of the products we feature and their links to make it easier for you to find these items online.
Best Lens for Interior Real Estate Photography
When choosing the best lens for interior real estate photography, it’s important to know which lens will best serve you, given your photo requirements. Focal length is one of the major considerations for taking photos of a home’s interior.
Canon EF 24-70mm F/2.8L II USM
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The Canon 24-70mm F/2.8 is a powerhouse all-around lens for real estate photography. It is one of the most widely used and versatile lenses preferred by professional photographers.
It offers a good balance between wide-angle and tight editorial-like photos. The added zoom range and longer focal length can also work wonders, especially for those straight-on photos of the living area.
Sigma 12-24mm F/4 DG HSM Art Lens
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The 12-24mm lens offers a longer focal length compared to 16-35mm and 14-24mm lenses. This focal length is particularly handy in locations where there is no option to take a few steps back, enabling you to capture a wider angle of the property.
The lens comes with Super Multi-Layer Coating (SMC) that suppresses ghosting and flares, as well as a hypersonic motor-powered autofocusing technology that ensures that the lens autofocuses accurately.
Best Wide-Angle Lens for Real Estate Photography
Wide-angle lenses are also ideal for real estate photography, allowing you to capture wide shots in confined spaces. With this type of lens, you can shoot an entire room even when space is tight.
Canon EF 11-24mm F/4L USM
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The Canon EF 11-24mm lens is one of the best lenses for real estate photography because of its rectilinear properties which present lines, walls, and straight-line features as straight lines instead of appearing curved, for a more accurate and appealing representation of a home.
This lens’ crop factor produces better photos as it suppresses some of the shine. In addition, this ultra-wide-angle lens pushes the background farther away, making it appear smaller in relation to the subject.
Jeannine Rashidi’s Review of the Canon EF 11-24mm F/4L USM:
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The Sigma 14-24mm F/2.8 is one of the best lenses for real estate photography because of its focal range and wide aperture. If you’re using an APS-C sensor, consider crop factor to make this lens a 22mm-38mm.
For a more affordable price, this lens boasts comparable image quality and sharpness to the most expensive lenses. Also, the Sigma works great across the major camera brands like Canon and Nikon.
Check the price of this product at Amazon.
Best Lens for Real Estate Photography Crop Sensor
Compared to the standard 35mm size, a crop sensor is smaller and introduces a crop factor to the photos taken. As a result, the edges of your photo will be cropped for a tighter field of view. Here are our recommendations for the best lens for real estate photography with crop sensors.
Sigma 10-20mm F/3.5 EX DC HSM ELD SLD Lens
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If you’re using a crop sensor camera, the Sigma 10-20mm F/3.5 is one of the best lenses for real estate photography you can use. Thanks to its capable zoom range, you’ll have no problem shooting in even the smallest of spaces.
This lens is also perfect for beginner real estate photographers because of its affordability. And because this is a third party lens, you can use it for a Canon, Sony, Nikon, or Pentax mount.
Sigma 18-35mm F/1.8 Art DC HSM Lens
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Another great option for crop sensor shooters is this Sigma 18-35mm F/1.8 lens. It has the perfect focal range for interior shooting and an incredibly wide aperture. Another advantage of this lens is, it doesn’t have as much distortion as other wide-angle lenses since it sits among the longer end of wide-angles.
This lens is made available with Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Pentax mounts. And yes, it is pretty affordable, too!
Best Lens for Real Estate Video
Video marketing is a vital tool in generating leads. Aside from presenting impressive photos of you and the properties you’re selling in different perspectives, it is also important to feature videos of you and your tours inside the homes as well as those around the neighborhoods.
Here are some of the best lenses for taking amazing real estate videos.
Samyang SY12M-FX-BK 12mm F2.0
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The Samyang SY12M-FX-BK 12mm F2.0 Ultra-Wide Angle Lens’ optics are specially designed for Fujifilm X-Mount Cameras. This lens emphasizes on details rather than making everything look sharp. As a result, you get videos that have a more natural and softer look.
This lens is the ultimate tool for taking amazing video footage of real estate agents and residential properties.
Photo from Amazon
The Samyang 14mm F2.8 AF is a wide angle, full frame Auto focus lens for Canon EF. This professional grade lens can zoom in to 2.8 inches (70mm) while shooting videos, resulting in clear and sharp videos and images.
Best Canon Lens for Real Estate Photography
This reputable brand may produce a wide range of imaging products, but it’s best known for its cameras and lenses. With Canon’s long history of making high-quality lenses and cameras, it has grown to be a trusted favorite among professional photographers, including those in real estate photography.
Canon TS-E 24mm F/3.5L II Ultra-Wide Tilt-Shift Lens
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What makes this one of the best lenses for real estate photography is its capability to produce a wide array of perspectives and angles, without the need to move the camera. With just a turn of a dial on the lens, you can get a whole new photo.
With a tilt-shift lens, a real estate photographer can eliminate any distortion in the room by adjusting its angle.
Paul M. Provencher’s Review of the Canon TS-E 24mm F/3.5L II Ultra-Wide Tilt-Shift Lens:
Canon EF 16-35mm F/4L IS USM Lens
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The Canon 16-35mm F/4 lens’ lightning-fast autofocusing speeds and exceptional color balance in photos make it one of the best lenses for real estate photography. It also boasts optimized coating that eliminates ghosting and chromatic aberration. This lens is also fully weather-sealed and extremely robust, making it ideal for outdoor photography.
Best Nikon Lens for Real Estate Photography
Here’s another trusted brand that’s known for its excellent image quality and sharpness. Nikon lenses produce high contrast images with vivid colors, and feature a fast and accurate autofocus system. Nikon offers many lens options for real estate photography and here are our top recommendations.
Nikon AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm F/2.8G ED Lens
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The Nikon 14-24mm F/2.8 is one of the best lenses for real estate photography for Nikon shooters. It boasts superb image quality, ergonomics, and focal range, and it covers all the wide angles you could need while shooting real estate photography.
W.D. Howell’s Review of Nikon AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm F/2.8G ED Lens:
Nikon Nikkor 16-35mm F/4
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This full-frame lens is ideal for those who are shooting with a full-frame Nikon DSLR, who can take advantage of the large sensor and the field of view that comes with this lens and camera combination.
Some of the features that make this one of the best lenses for real estate photography include the Nano crystal coating eliminates ghosting and flares and the built-in image stabilization called “Vibration Reduction” that’s particularly helpful for hand-held shooting in tight corners.
Best Sony Lens for Real Estate Photography
Aside from the mirrorless cameras that made many photographers switch over to Sony, this brand is also known for its premium quality lenses.
Autofocus, low light performance, native lens range, third party lens support, dual card slots, exposure compensation dial, video, customization, and battery life – these are just some of the features that make Nikon one of the best lenses for real estate photography.
Sony FE 12-24mm F/4 G
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The Sony FE 12-24mm is arguably the best lens for real estate photography for those on the Sony E-mount. It is compatible with all of Sony’s E-mount full-frame camera systems, and the 12-24mm focal length is wide enough for real estate photography.
While distortion and aberration are some of the leading issues photographers have with full-frame lenses, those who shoot with the Sony FE 12-24mm F/4 G attest having very few aberrations.
Sony FE 24-70 mm F/2.8 G Master Lens
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The Sony FE 24-70mm F/2.8 is considered one of the best lenses for real estate photography because of its superb sharpness and clarity. At F/2.8, you can take photos in the dark and still get great results. This is the perfect all-around lens for taking photos of homes and realtors.
Best Budget Lens for Real Estate Photography
Tokina Opera 16-28mm F/2.8 FX
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This lens is designed for full-frame camera systems, with a focal length of 16-28mm, which is reasonable when shooting wide-angle photography for real estate. It has three aspherical elements that counter the effects of spherical aberration.
Canon 17-40mm F/4
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The Canon 17-40mm F/4 lens provides the perfect balance between price, functionality, and quality. This lens offers the ideal focal range for interior photos and little distortion. Whether you’re taking wide angles of the room or tight shots of amenities, this lens is all you need.
Summary
There you have it – our recommendations for the best lens for real estate photography. If you found this comprehensive guide to be a bit overwhelming, below is a more compact list for you.
| Brand | Price Range | Product Specifications |
|---|---|---|
| Canon 17-40mm | Below $500 |
|
| Sigma 10-20mm | Below $500 |
|
| Sigma 18-35mm F/1.8 Art DC HSM Lens | $500 – $1,000 |
|
| Canon EF 16-35mm F/4L IS USM Lens | Above $1,000 |
|
| Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm F/2.8G ED Lens | $500 – $1,000 |
|
| Canon TS-E 24mm F/3.5L II Ultra-Wide Tilt-Shift Lens | Above $1,000 |
|
| Canon EF 24-70mm F/2.8L II USM | Above $1,000 |
|
| Sony FE 24-70 mm F/2.8 G Master Lens | Above $1,000 |
|
| Sigma 14-24mm F/2.8 DG HSM Lens | Above $1,000 |
|
| Nikon Nikkor 16-35mm F/4 | $500 – $1,000 |
|
| Canon EF 11-24mm F/4L USM | Above $1,000 |
|
| Sigma 12-24mm F/4 DG HSM Art | Above $1,000 |
|
| Sony FE 12-24mm F/4 G | Above $1,000 |
|
| Tokina Opera 16-28mm F/2.8 FX | $500 – $1,000 |
|
| Samyang SY12M-FX-BK 12mm F2.0 | Below $500 |
|
| Samyang 14mm F2.8 AF | $486 |
|
In the table above, you can see the product details as well as the price range for each camera lens to help you decide which one to buy.
We also recommend you check out the Renewed category on Amazon and consider buying used camera lens if you’re on a tight budget.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the best focal length for real estate photography?
In real estate photography, the best focal length is between 16-35mm.
How can I get great discounts and the best deals?
Amazon provides you with the best deals on camera lenses for real estate photography. And, if you’re on a tight budget, you can try searching under Amazon Renewed. All the products sold in this category are used but are guaranteed to be in excellent condition.
Where can I find other lens articles?
You can also find great articles on wedding photography lenses, food photography lenses, and bird photography lenses.
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