Best Camera for Listing Pictures?

Question

Paul Sandhu · Answer

@Lucas Carl

It's not the camera that takes a good picture, it's the person behind the lens.  The people you rent to are going to look at pictures on their phone or their computer before making a decision.  The screen size is small enough that the image quality is not going to be important.  What will be important is the quality of the image, the staging of the content and lighting and balance of the picture.  I'm not an expert, but when I try to do a job an expert does I look at the quality of their work and emulate it myself.  I do this with welding, dozer work, row crop farming, carpentry, gunsmithing and waterfowl hunting decoy placement.  Oh, and other peoples attempts at STRs in this town.

So look at other peoples ads that look professionally done and try to emulate that work yourself.

Andrew Wong · Answer

You don't need a great camera to take good photos. If you're already at 100% occupancy, why do you need a better camera than your iPhone? :P

Michael McKay · Answer

Hiring a professional is worth the cost. You may be at 100% occupancy, but what if you could increase your nightly rate by $10/night with better photos?

The cost of a professional photographer (about $200/night in the NYC area) would pay for itself in 20 nights.

Bettina F. · Answer

You want better photos? Then take the $10 dollar Udemy course on Photography for Real Estate Agents -- before you buy an new camera.  You will learn so much.  You will want a tripod and a wide angle lens.

Emily Powell · Answer

It's not the camera that matters, it's the lens and the lighting, as @Michael Greenberg says.  You want a wide angle lens.  That combined with great lighting will make all the difference in the world.

Nancy Bachety · Answer

Airbnb hires photographers to snap photos for hosts at no cost. You choose which ones, if any, to publish. You don’t own them.

Michael Greenberg · Answer

I bought an Olympus Pen e-pl8 about a year ago (probably a newer one now), a wide angel lens adapter, and tripod.  Total package was under $500 and it works great.  HOWEVER, you've got to have really good lighting (not just for this camera but any camera) to create really great photos.  I bought a couple of really bright portable lights and use them to back light.  They're not photo lights, but they certainly provide lighting that gives a great shot for web pages.

Mike

JD Martin · Answer

You answered your own question; what's the point of taking pictures other than to show the unit and ensure interest? If you maintain 100% occupancy, why change what is already working?

For what it's worth: I use my Android phone and also maintain 100% occupancy. Most of our tenants find our properties on their phones. Magazine-quality photos aren't necessary for our strata.

Luke Carl · Answer

@Paul Sandhu fantastic info as usual. Glad to know you’re in you’re in to Guns. But you did everything but answer my question :)

Best Camera for Listing Pictures?

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