Admin

The perfect real estate camera

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Turn-Key Properties LLC, Missouri and Kansas Real Estate

One of my pet peaves is looking for a property for a client and finding that the agent only posted one or maybe three photos. It really baffles me that so many never even bother to post one photo on the MLS.

horse farm panoramic photograph

I know, your busy but really the single most common question from a prospective buyer is always... "Do you have more pictures" !

Many MLS services will allow as many as 25 pictures, some sites allow more. In some cases we are working with properties where it is very difficult to get a decent shot of the property due to its condition or the clients living standards.

In one such case I hired a photographer to shoot the property, I told her focus on the positives of the property and try to find the best shots you can. Unfortunately that meant few shots of the house and a lot of shots of the property, trees, foliage and the little pond out back.

home on acreage, with a pond

For many years I just bought whatever camera I could afford, just go to wally world and grab a basic digital camera off the shelf and away we go. One camera I even bought because it was waterproof and I could use it on float trips, nice feature but hardly a useful feature in glamming your newest listing.

I started doing some research, I wanted something I could keep in my pocket, that wouldn't break the bank but would give me three very important features; zoom, wide angle and panoramic! I found just that camera in the Sony DSC-H55, while they had pricier models that offered GPS and Compass to tell you exactly where and at what alignment you took the photo I really didn't see any need for that stuff.

With a 25 mm, wide angle lens (the smaller the number, the wider the angle) I can capture an entire room even if it is only 8x10.Dream Home on Acreage With the 10X optical zoom I can zero in on a homes features from the street. (useful if shooting an occupied home for a lender about to foreclose).

With the amazing one touch panoramic feature I can point to the left, hold the button and pan to the right; creating a perfect panoramic shot without having to stitch them together on my computer.

I can also shoot some really great video for using in advertising videos, all of this in a pocket camera is simply amazing! Although the although the Sony DSC-H55 has an impressive 14.1 Mega Pixels it is really of little importance since most photos taken are downsized significantly for Internet use.

I love this little camera and $197.00 at Amazon it beats the heck out of a lot of others I've tried.

Show All Comments Sort:
Joan Whitebook
BHG The Masiello Group - Nashua, NH
Consumer Focused Real Estate Services

I've been researching cameras and AR seems to like the Kodak  ... I'll have to check this out further.

Dec 18, 2010 02:08 PM
Liz Flint
Century 21 Hardee-Team Realty - Houston, TX
Houston\Tomball Realtor (832)816-8066

Hi Ben, I am always on the lookout for a good camera.  The price on yours doesn't seem at all bad.

Dec 18, 2010 02:34 PM
John Pusa
Glendale, CA

Ben - I will check the Sony "DSC-H55" camer. The photos are beautiful and good quality.

Dec 18, 2010 04:02 PM
Rob Smith
Rob Smith Property Investigations - Jefferson City, MO

Hello Ben.  Photos are worth a thousand words, and if you are looking for positive words then great pictures are a must.  I use 60 - 70 photos in my inspection reports to document the details of the property.

Great panoramic pic. in your blog!!

Dec 21, 2010 03:27 AM