© Peter Dressel Photography

Best Lens For Interior Photography

When I started shooting interior photography, I avoided tilt shift lenses because of the expense but once I started using the them I wondered how I ever did without them. You should have a 24mm and 17mm in your camera bag at all times.

Canon TS-E 24mm Tilt-Shift Lens

Why Are Tilt-Shift Lenses The Best Lens For Interior Photography?

Architectural photographers have been using tilt shift lenses forever. The main reason is to be able to shoot from any height without having to point the camera up or down which results in perspective distortion. Other times if I’m in a tight spot where I can’t get the camera exactly where I want it I can use the shift function to get the lens in the right spot or at least closer. And if you’re doing stitches tilt-shift lenses are a godsend.

Canon TS-E 17mm Lens

Can’t I Do All Of That With Photoshop?

That’s sort of true but…not really. If you shoot with a standard lens and point the camera up or down to get everything you want in the frame you’ll get perspective distortion. If you’re gonna fix that in Photoshop you have to make sure you give yourself extra room on both sides of the frame when composing the image because fixing it in Photoshop will cause cropping on each side. It can be difficult to always nail this and often the composition is compromised. This is why tilt-shift lenses are the best lens for interior photography.

But They’re So Expensive.

This is true. The Canon 24mm tilt shift is $1,850 and the 17mm is $2,149. You can find them used on Ebay for lower. Just make sure you buy from a reputable dealer. There are 3rd party brands like Samyang and Rokinon that are cheaper and probably work pretty well however I’ve never seen a 3rd party version of the 17mm.

Lens purchases are investments and unlike cameras there isn’t a new version of the lens released every year. If you take care of them you’ll never have to replace them. Showing up on an interior shoot without a tilt shift lenses is, in my opinion, unprofessional. If this is your business make the investment.

If you’re interested in working together call me for a free consultation 917-536-7277. If you’d like to see more of my work go to my website.

© Peter Dressel Photography