What camera lens would you recommend for interior photos?

[Andy M.]

I just bought a Nikon 5100 and it comes with a stock 18-55 mm lens. I have an interior design friend who uses a 10-22 mm lens to capture more of the room.

Anyone have suggestions before I go buy a Nikon 10-22 mm lens?

[Jon Holdman]

Guess its too late to suggest buying a Canon, eh? :-)

Not too familiar with the Nikon lenses, but your friend is on the right track. You want a wide angle (short) but non-fish eye lens for good interior shots. Do you mean the Nikon 10-24 zoom lens? I don't think they make a 10-22. You might think about renting a lens like that first. If there is a good camera store in your area, they may rent lenses. If not, there are numerous online places that do. You might also consider the aftermarket lenses. I see B&H has a Tamron 10-24 with a Nikon mount for about half the price of the Nikon lens. I doubt you could tell the difference in the photos.

The site photography on the net has a lot of lens reviews. Canon focused, unfortunately for you.

[Andy M.]

Thanks for the advice, Ill make sure to stay away from the fish eye lens. I didn't know you could rent them so I'll go down to a local shop and check it out.

[Aly W.]

Hi Andy, I'm a professional photographer and a Nikon Girl :) Good choice! I use a 17-35mm lens for my interior shots. At 17mm, you have to be careful of the slight skewing at the edges, where the image will start to "curve", like a slight fisheye. I try to stay at the 25mm mark. This makes the rooms look larger but not distorted.

I think the lens you have is fine, you should invest in an on off camera flash as well, lighting is what makes or breaks the image. Look for a used SB80 or SB600.

[Jon Holdman]

Did your camera come with software? If so, learn how to use it, get a good sized memory chip and shoot in RAW format. White balance can be tricky inside a house where you have different colors and lighting types. If you're shooting during the day, you have bright exterior light from windows. Shooting RAW and then adjusting white balance on your computer can make a big difference.

I think both Nikon and Canon make great cameras and lenses and an honest side-by-side comparison would end up a coin flip.

[Andy M.]

I'm really new to the slr world. I just decided it was time to take better pictures. So my 18-55 lens should work? It just seems like I can't capture enough of the room sometimes. I feel like I wish I could back out more so I thought a wide angle lens would so the trick. That said, I'm a total lighting rookie as well. I have a friend who when to photography school, I should pick his brain. I didn't know that there was so much that went into taking a good picture!

[Justin S.]

You can find good amateur photographers that take great pics. Find a local club and ask around.

[Aaron McGinnis]

Tokina 11-16 works very well for me. Virtually no barrel/distortion on it, and it can take a really nice, sharp picture.

It is, however, quite spendy.

[Silver A.]

Go for as wide zoom lens as you can. I have used Sigma 10-20 on an older Nikon D40, it was a fantastic body/lens combination.

Doesn't matter much - Sigma, Tamron, Nikon, ...
Most of the photos will be resized and used only on-line I imagine, so while sharpness is important, every lens is good and sharp enough to produce photos for use on-line.

Why not http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sigma-10-20mm-F4-5-6-EX-DC-HSM-Wide-Lens-Nikon-w-3-Piece-Filters-Case-/130602758272?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item1e6887f080

[Mark D.]

If you already have the 18-55mm use that until you KNOW you need a different lens. At 18mm it will work just fine.

Lighting is far more important than a different lens for shooting interiors. Save your money, get a reflector (or not) and practice shooting interiors until you know how to get the result you want. There are some helpful groups on flickr for this as well.

[Mike G.]

I'm not a professional photographer, but 18mm does not cut it for me when taking interior photos. You just can't get enough of the room in view. Rent the 10-22mm lens and try it out. It's a world of difference.

[Andy M.]

Thanks to everyone for the replies, this Is why I love BP! Great forum for any question. ;)

[Gene Hacker]

I have had decent luck with stitching interior pics together. MS ICE is free and pretty amazing. I have stitched up to 14 shots together for an interior shot where I wanted to emphasis the wood ceiling. There is rarely obvious joints...the program dose a pretty great job.

I am going to be getting a wider lens but for now stitching seems to work fine.

For editing I like GIMP. Its full feature, very stable, and free.

Also keep in mind that unless you have one of the few high end DSLRs with a full size sensor, your effective wide angle is greatly reduced.