Real Estate Photos - Micro 4/3rds vs New Smartphone with flash? Tips appreciated!

[bizaro86]

I have a somewhat unusual situation where I'm going to need to take some interior pictures of some real estate. In similar situations in the past I've hired someone, but that isn't workable for this specific situation unfortunately.

I'm hoping to get some advice on what to use for equipment.

Things I own now:
Olympus E-PL1 (micro 4/3 from 2011)
Olympus E-510 (dslr from 2007)
Samsung S23Plus (smartphone from 2023)

I don't mind spending some money on this to get better results, but would prefer $500 vs $1000, which I think takes buying a new mirrorless with wide angle off the table. Realistically spending a couple hours practicing/learning will be the biggest improvement (which I plan to do) but I'd like to give myself reasonable quality tools if I can.

In all cases I'd need a tripod, and I think if I go with the smartphone I'm going to try and buy a big flash as well.

For the cameras I have good flashes already, but only kit and zoom lenses, so I think for them I'd try and buy a good wide-angle lens.

Any thoughts on the best bang for my buck here? Things I'm completely missing? Resources that will help me become a C- level real estate photographer in only an hour of study? All appreciated!

Edited to add: I'm hesitant to spend much on the E-510, I feel like micro 4/3 is more still around so at least if I bought a good wide angle and liked it I could separately upgrade the body later.

[PepsiFree]

Just use the phone (assuming it has a wide angle lens). You don’t really need anything else. You could get a tripod for it if you wanted but I wouldn’t bother with some big flash.

Make sure you understand the basics of composition like the rule of thirds and framing.

Then put the entirety of the rest of your time and energy into learning how to edit.

The shooting and editing skills make up 99% of the quality of the photo. The equipment is lucky to achieve 1%. Gear up when you’re good enough to know what you’re missing.

[Fuzz]

Don't forget to stretch everything horizontally about 30%. That seems to be a thing to do.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Don't forget to stretch everything horizontally about 30%. That seems to be a thing to do.

Real estate photographers should just go fully into 90s style fish eye lens.

If we gonna bull#### the size of a room let’s at least make it art.

[topfiverecords]

If you really want to fit in with the real estate pros you need to take all the pictures from 7' off the floor, and HDR the hell out of that ####.

[bizaro86]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate all the great advice on what not to do!

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Just use the phone (assuming it has a wide angle lens). You don’t really need anything else. You could get a tripod for it if you wanted but I wouldn’t bother with some big flash.

Make sure you understand the basics of composition like the rule of thirds and framing.

Then put the entirety of the rest of your time and energy into learning how to edit.

The shooting and editing skills make up 99% of the quality of the photo. The equipment is lucky to achieve 1%. Gear up when you’re good enough to know what you’re missing.

Thanks! That seems to make sense. I might still try and get some sort of flash, as Samsung has determined that the wide angle camera and the flash can never be used together. I assume it's because who would ever want to take a picture of a small bathroom in low light conditions...

[sa226]

Also, if you don't call the backyard, "your own private oasis" I'm not interested.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by sa226

Also, if you don't call the backyard, "your own private oasis" I'm not interested.

"Welcome to your forever home"

No. It's not a casket.

[Jimmy Stang]

No flash. It will only create shadows, glare, and reflections.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

No flash. It will only create shadows, glare, and reflections.

A property manager used to say he'd do a fisheye or phone camera from the corner of the room.

"Slightly grainy when blown up isn't a big issue. It helps people imagine and understand the size of the space so that they can imagine themselves in the space. You just want something good enough to pique their interest in checking out the place. Just don't provide pictures that are totally different than what the place looks like (ie: Pre-reno pics of a post reno place or old pics post reno and the reno took place 10-20 years ago)."

[badradio]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Thanks! That seems to make sense. I might still try and get some sort of flash, as Samsung has determined that the wide angle camera and the flash can never be used together. I assume it's because who would ever want to take a picture of a small bathroom in low light conditions...

You shouldn’t need a flash… just drop your shutter speed and use a tripod also have it on a timer so you don’t bump the camera/phone