Last Updated on January 22, 2024 by Sharon Advik
I often ask what lenses you need for shooting real estate videos, and here are my recommendations.
A common question on my website is what camera you shoot that video on.
It is a natural question, but I think a better question would be what lens or lenses you shot that video.
Cameras and brands have slightly different visual aesthetics or features but never forget that image comes through your lens first.
So, for shooting a real estate video, I would always recommend using these 5 best lenses for real estate video.
Let’s drive in:
Which is the Best Lens For Real Estate Video?
Here are my top 6 recommended the best lens for Real estate video:
Samyang 12mm F2.0: (Best Fuji lens for real estate video)
So, the first best video lens for real estate I used, which was in my budget kit, is the 12-millimeter Samyang lens, which I still use today, and it works incredibly well.
It is a very tight aperture ultra-wide-angle manual focus lens for mirrorless cameras, only with APS-C-sized sensors.
It’s a lens that’s enjoyed popularity since it came out with plenty of Sony, especially Fuji camera owners, picking them up.
You can find lots of good reviews online from some outstanding photographers.
I first saw this lens when I visited Samsung’s factory in Korea a few years ago.
If you own a mirrorless APS-C camera, this is the widest-angle lens you can get with an aperture as wide as F2.
The 12-millimeter focal length is the full-frame equivalent of 18 millimeters, a nice ultra-wide angle.
That’s not crazy wide, and the wider maximum aperture of F2 means lots and lots of light for shooting indoors or in the dark. And I found it helpful for video work, too.
What’s also lovely is that the lenses are small and low in weight.
It comes in at around 250 grams but also feels nice and solid.
It’s fully manual focus manual aperture control.
The aperture ring turns smoothly with some gentle clicks at half-stop intervals.
The focus ring turns smoothly and precisely with just the right amount of weight to make it enjoyable. Manual focusing is pretty easy with an ultra-wide-angle lens.
All in all, the build quality is everything you could hope for.
But what counts, of course, is image quality.
I also tested it on a Sony A6300, a mirrorless APS-C camera with a challenging 24-megapixel sensor.
The resolution is incredibly sharp in the middle of the image, with good contrast and slightly warmer colors.
So, the lens is impressively strong for an ultra-wide-angle lens with a fast aperture.
You might want to try and remove that chromatic aberration on editing day, and it will show up slightly in video work, too.
The lens can focus slightly closer than 20 centimeters, which is handy for some lovely artistic images.
Even straight from F2, image quality remains bitingly sharp.
So, every lens can be measured in three ways: its build quality, optical quality, and the character of its images.
The Samyang 12-millimeter F2 has excellent build quality. Its optical quality has its ups and downs.
The chromatic aberration vignetting and poor work against bright lights count against it.
It’s undeniably sharp with good contrast, low distortion, low coma, and excellent close-up image quality.
The character of this lens is perhaps its most vital point, and it quickly gets fantastic, evocative, punchy images.
The 12-millimeter focal length is easy but dramatic, and it’s cool to be shooting at F2.
It’s been a hugely helpful lens for me, and it’s enormously enjoyable to use with its small size and low price.
No wonder this lens has already become a classic; with almost every reviewer touched, it is highly recommended.
Samyang 14mm f2.8: (Best Sony lens for real estate video)
So, the Samyang lens is the phenomenal best video lens for real estate.
I did a couple of video shoots where I used this specifically just for a video with Sony A7iii for some clients, and I liked how it looked. I love this lens.
It’s a 14-millimeter ultra-wide; when I mean ultra-wide, it’s ridiculously wide, absurdly wide like you wouldn’t need anything wider.
And so the purpose of a lens like this is for architectural or landscape photography; in my case, I do real estate photography.
I put this on about three weeks ago, and I would give it a whole week of shooting only this and nothing else. I was going to use this and then afterward do this review.
The angles you get with this are incredible.
You can get all four walls practically when you’re shooting, which is fantastic.
So, the 14 millimeters in this space makes it huge.
14 millimeters is honestly the best architectural lens, in my opinion.
What I love about this lens is that it is weather-sealed. I’m impressed with its sharp quarters, and the images look great.
What I love about this isn’t tiny bathrooms or small rooms.
You can open up the shot without making things look overly distorted or too big, a problem that I see many photographers and videographers often have.
So, the excellent budget lens can’t recommend this enough.
Sigma 10-20mm f3.5: (Best wide-angle lens for real estate video)
I was super excited to quit my job to become a full-time creator in the real estate industry.
I went into the real estate industry and had to learn how to shoot photos and videos.
Its 3.5 aperture is pretty badass, to be honest. It is designed for a DSLR mirrorless crop sensor camera, so I use them.
So, why do we need a wide-angle lens for real estate to ensure that we capture the total size of the room, to make sure it looks spacious and ample for the buyer?
Remember, a wide-angle lens for real estate videos and photos is necessary.
So the significant benefit is that this lens is cheap; relatively speaking, you can pick it up for a reasonable price secondhand, but you get a wide field of view.
It’ll come into 14 millimeters and then into 20 millimeters, giving you that flexibility; also, the focus ring is nice, smooth, and easy to use.
The lens is relatively small and lightweight, and it’s pretty cheap to buy.
But the best thing about it is you can get such a wide field of view with such a small lens, but not only that, you can go wide, and then you still have the option to zoom in right at 20 millimeters.
I’ve used it on a few interior shots, which was perfect. It’s a sharp little lens, and it’s sharp; it’s versatile. It’s got an excellent zoom range.
This is a 3.5 is a safe bet.
This is everything I’ve needed to do in real estate video work.
Canon 17-40mm F4: (Best Canon lens for real estate video)
One of my best video lenses for real estate.
Why do I think it’s such a good value for this lens? And why should it be?
So, this lens has an excellent range of about 17 to 40.
A full-frame camera has an ultra-wide-angle focal length until almost an average focal distance of 40 millimeters 50 would be around that area good ultra-wide to the standard lens.
This is a versatile lens you can use for video and photography projects.
And if you’re currently shooting on a crop or APS-C sensor camera, 17 to 40 offers a pretty good full range.
It doesn’t have as much reach as your kit lens, but it maintains a constant aperture of f4, which is nice if you’re shooting video.
And you don’t want to see exposure in your video change when you zoom in and out on APS-C lens cameras.
It will be cropped in closer, around 27 to 64 millimeters, for the full-frame equivalent.
It’s still a very versatile focal range and the L series lens. This lens is very robust.
This lens is weather-sealed, meaning it seals through the lens, specifically at the focus ring, the zoom ring, and the lens mounts.
As for the size and usability of this lens, this lens is tiny and light for an ultra-wide-angle zoom lens, making it an excellent choice for traveling or bringing it around daily.
It also features a relatively fast USM autofocus motor that is generally quiet.
It also has a focus window to check the focus distance; you can guesstimate accurate manual focus.
Overall, this is a great value lens.
If you’re using this for video as an ultra-wide-angle lens, Muse digital stabilization for your camera body supports it.
However, the lens itself does not offer any image stabilization.
When I started using this lens, I found some strong barrel distortion on the wide end at 17 millimeters, which means the image is stretched quite slightly.
But the lens profiles on Lightroom do an excellent job of cleaning this up.
Regardless of the distortion, I like the image quality coming out of this lens, just because it is pretty short in the center.
Canon 10-18mm F/4.5-5.6: (Best budget ultra-wide-angle lens for real estate video)
I had to invest in gear to further my business, often in filmmaking.
There are a lot of things that you need to get into filmmaking.
So, what helped me most this year in my filmmaking journey was the Canon 10 to 18 ultra-wide.
As I started shooting listing videos for some realtors in my area. I ended up needing an ultra-wide lens.
I needed something comprehensive to get the entire field of view, real estate, and often in real estate.
You want to see both ceiling and floor and make the area of your filming field larger than it might be. So that is where this guy comes to.
It is a 10 to 18-millimeter lens made exclusively for an APS-C size sensor.
So if you shoot on a full-frame, you must crop it to get an average 16 by 9 readout of this lens, that realistic video I’ve done this far.
It is sharp, and it is sufficiently wide.
And the best part about it is it’s pretty cheap.
Some plastic build quality, and the barrel moves slightly when you sit down.
It’s not much, but keep it in mind if you want to rebalance the gimbal.
The main in-ring is a focus by wire, which is not my favorite. I prefer something a little bigger and stiffer.
So, let’s go over some of the pros of this bad boy.
One is a zoom lens that can be a con and feel the heat like superb sharpness. In my case, I think it is a pro.
Most of the time, I am zoomed in to about 14 millimeters on this guy, but sometimes, I need to zoom out to 10 millimeters to get everything in the frame.
And sometimes, I zoom back into the 18 for more walking and talking shots when shooting listing videos.
And number 2 is it is super sharp, and I think it can’t be beaten for this price.
Most of the time, on stopping somewhere between the aperture of 7 or 8 that like everything and frame and focus and tack sharp, three being if you’re shooting handheld, even on a gimbal.
It has built-in image stabilization. And lastly, it is super lightweight.
The build quality isn’t all that great, and that’s to be expected in that price range lens.
So, having a lightweight lens like this is perfect for the job.
And the last proof course is the cost of getting into the game of filming real estate videos.
People often think you need a lot of expensive equipment, and lenses are often one of them.
So cons, what are?
This guy won’t cut it if you’re trying to get super shallow out of the field. The minimum aperture is 4.5, which has been zoomed out, and it automatically closes on the aperture when you zoom in.
And that goes up to 5.6 automatically. And then you can stop down farther than that which I usually do, for real estate.
On here, there’s a lot of chromatic aberration and vignetting around the corners of the brain, nothing too terrible, but something to be aware of when you’re going for a more budget-friendly option like this.
So, in summary, who is this lens for?
If you shoot real estate and are just looking for an ultra-wide, more budget-friendly option, pick it up.
Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G: (best Nikon lens for real estate video)
You’ve been dreaming about taking your real estate agency to the next level with video marketing.
You want videos that leave viewers feeling an AWE phenomenon, but you know that inferior lenses will leave them not caring one bit about what they see and your property.
In real estate, the most important thing is a person’s perspective.
That’s why Nikon created the AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens for photorealistic video and photography in this industry.
This lens for real estate video is fast, compact, and excellent at shooting in low-light settings.
Its focus range can be quickly changed to suit the environment by using a M/a switch and features a helpful autofocus function.
The maximum reproduction ratio possible with this lens is 0.15X, so you never have to worry about your images appearing too big or small the next time you head out on a job!
They considered that by making it an affordable piece of equipment with a built-in motor to match perfectly with a DSLR camera or camcorder (Nikon D3400).
Additionally, since you’d be using it outdoors on sunny days–and under less-than-ideal conditions like rain and snow–the AF-SMote has been refined over time so that it can now handle these factors without any explosions of light.
This lens is best for shooting real estate videos because of the near-focus distance and beautiful bokeh.
With a focus distance of 1.6 feet to infinity, this video-producing lens is fast and ultra-sharp at an F1.8 aperture, which produces stunningly beautiful images in all types of light conditions – from low to high contrast scenes and even when you use filters!
With this product, homeowners can enjoy capturing sharp close-ups of the property for marketing purposes.
This lens from Nikon has an excellent reputation for quality and is perfect for videography because you can take slow-motion shots that look more professional than ever before.
CONCLUSION:
Alright, guys, that concludes all the lenses we will discuss today in this article.
Do you guys have any experience with these lenses? What are your thoughts on them?
Which is your best lens for real estate video?
Is there a lens I didn’t mention in this article that you love using for real estate photography?
Would you please leave your thoughts and comments below?
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I am a Professional and Certified Digital Photographer born in the USA. I have been in this field of photography for 22 years, and in these years, I have used many photography lenses and Cameras, which I want to share here on this website about my experience. The idea for Bestoflens.com is to provide honest information about different Lenses and Camera products in the format of a “Best lenses for AYZ” list. I want this website to be the last destination for people to pick the best Cameras and lenses to fit their needs. You can find our unbiased reviews here on Bestoflens.
I’m glad to see that there are so many great lens options for real estate videos! I’m looking forward to trying out some of these options!
I’m glad to see that there are so many great lens options for real estate videos! I’m looking forward to trying out some of these options!
I’m glad to see that there are so many great lens options for real estate video! I’m looking forward to trying out some of these options!