Is there a basic function on the Canon SD400 for this?

[SD-Realtor]

I'm a realtor in San Diego, and I have a basic question relating to picture taking when photographing a house. I use a digital camera, the Canon SD400, and I'm not too bad with it, but I don't know all the ins and outs. More and more in the listings of home on the market, I'm seeing pictures that agents take which are a bit rounded (I'm not talking about panoramic shots). These are single still shots, but everything is a bit rounded/bowed from the outside edges of the picture so it creates depth, and makes a smaller room look better in the picture. I don't imagine too many realtors are that camera savvy, so I was wondering if this could be a basic function or setting on my SD400 that I don't know about. Just something that opens up the lens and creates depth... since I'm seeing it time and time again, I'm thinking it might be a basic setting. Thanks in advance, and please let me know if this makes no sense at all :oops: [/img]

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

A sample would be nice, but it's either a wide angle shot or a shot taken with a fisheye (which are wide angles in nature). It's something that'll require new equipment, usually on a DSLR. If you're looking to make small web photos though, you might get away with cheap low-quality 3rd party accessories.

[SD-Realtor]

I have a picture for a sample, but I'm not sure how to post it. I don't have a site to host it on, if that's necessary, but I can email it to anyone if you want to see a sample. I really appreciate you help, as I would really like to figure out how to take these pictures... and if I do need more equipment, exactly what's the minimum I can get away with. Thanks!

[Jason Dunn]

It sounds indeed like the photos you've seen were taken with a wide-angel lens, which isn't something you can do with your Canon camera. It will require a DSLR and a wide-angel lens.

I have a picture for a sample, but I'm not sure how to post it.

We don't allow direct photo uploads here, but you can use a free service like this:

http://imageshack.us/

Then come back here and post a link to the picture. :-)

[SD-Realtor]

Thanks for the hosting site link, Jason. You may or may not remember, but I found your sites after I purchased a Pharos Bluetooth GPS system from you through ebay a few years ago. I still use it today with my iPaq 4150! Thanks!

Anyways, there are two types of these shots I have seen. One with a curved look, and the other with straight lines (not curved) but still bowed.

Here's a link to the curved looking picture...
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/7176/curvedbowedshot0zq.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

And here's a link to the straight lined but bowed picture...
http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/6505/straightedgesbutbowed2kv.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Please let me know your thoughts on what equipment is needed for these, and what type of pictures each are. Thanks for your help!

[Jason Dunn]

You may or may not remember, but I found your sites after I purchased a Pharos Bluetooth GPS system from you through ebay a few years ago. I still use it today with my iPaq 4150! Thanks!

Hah! That's funny, what a small world. :-)

Please let me know your thoughts on what equipment is needed for these, and what type of pictures each are. Thanks for your help!

Lee can correct me if I'm wrong here, but I'd say your least expensive route for getting photos like this would be:

Nikon D50:
http://thoughtsmedia.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=8233716/search=nikon+d50
(Costco is selling the D50 in some markets as well, check there)

Tokina 12-24mm lens:
http://thoughtsmedia.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=8096689/search=tokina+12-24

(or maybe the 10-20mm Sigma lens since you need as wide of an angle as possible)

And then perhaps a polarizing filter for the 12-24 lens to get rid of the glare and punch up the images.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

First photo seems to be taken by a lens with terrible barrel distortion; second is a rectilinear wide.

Many ways to do this, I'll start with the cheapest.

The cheapest way to do this is to get a Cokin Magnefix accessory.
http://www.cokin.co.uk/pages/magnefix.htm

I have a knock-off (under US$10) and the image quality isn't great. I have no idea if the Cokin is any better. The Cokin is about US$50.

The next cheapest way is probably to find a Fujifilm Finepix E500/E510, and then get the adapter ring as well as the wide angle addon lens WLFXE01. Problem is I'm not sure if the Fuji is still as easy to get. The recently released E900 has a lens that starts from 32mm, so it's not as wide as the E500/E510's 28mm. This combination should probably cost about US$400, if you can find it.

After that comes the Olympus Wide Zoom series. Problem is I think they're as hard to find as the E500. The last released camera was the C7070WZ, which uses WCON07, I think. Total cost should come to about US$500-600.

What's still available though, is the Nikon 8400. The lens starts at 24mm, and with the wide angle lens WC-E75 it goes to 18mm. It'll probably set you back by some US$700, I think.

Finally there's Jason's suggestion.

Also, the above are also ordered from the lightest to the heaviest. :P

In the end, it does depend on what you want. If it's only for your job, and you don't think you'd use a DSLR much, the non-DSLR option is a better way to go. If you don't mind getting a new toy, the D50 (or better yet, D70s) is something that's worth the money.

[SD-Realtor]

You Two Are Awesome! Thanks so much for taking the time to put this info together for me. I'm going to study it, and figure out the best option. I really would like to take advantage of this type of technology, as my clients would be very happy, and now I know exactly what I need. Thanks again guys! :D