FunkyGibbon Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 (edited) I am currently browsing properties on Rightmove and the number of EA's that seem to have a fish-eye lens attached to their cameras when taking property photographs is astounding. It is particularly annoying because I can't even find any easy way of correcting this to have an accurate representation of what a property looks like. Could we start a petition to have this banned? It is quite clearly a material misrepresentation. See examples attached: Edited August 3, 2008 by FunkyGibbon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OLDFTB Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 It's further proof of just how dishonest,incompetent and unprofessional Estate Agents really are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patfig Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 OO OO OO the funky gibbon, we are here to show you how! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muswell Hillbilly Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 I am currently browsing properties on Rightmove and the number of EA's that seem to have a fish-eye lens attached to their cameras when taking property photographs is astounding. It is particularly annoying because I can't even find any easy way of correcting this to have an accurate representation of what a property looks like. Could we start a petition to have this banned? It is quite clearly a material misrepresentation. I have no sympathy with EAs, but I’ve defended this before on a similar thread. Have you ever tried photographing the interior of a room, even a good-sized room, using a regular camera lens? I have tried many times in the past, and I can assure you that you’ll be lucky to fit in half of one wall. The only way to fit a whole room in one shot is to use a wide-angle lens – not a fish-eye lens, which really would distort things, but a wide-angle lens with a focal length of about 10 mm. Inevitably this leads to distortion in the image, and can, admittedly, make a room look deceptively larger, but it at least gives a flavour of what the room looks like. It is up to the reader to make sense of the images in conjunction with the floorplan (if the EA belongs to the small proportion that has the decency to provide one) or room dimensions, and not just to look at the pictures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corevalue Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 This came up before in another thread. Some flats in Barnet ISTR. The agent hadn't used a fish-eye lens, but had photoshopped the images, stretching the horizontal axis by 60% or more. The giveaway was the unnaturally oviod washine machine. The interior picture in the posting above has been treated the same way, note the proportions of the furniture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Havoc Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 I have no sympathy with EAs, but I’ve defended this before on a similar thread. Have you ever tried photographing the interior of a room, even a good-sized room, using a regular camera lens? I have tried many times in the past, and I can assure you that you’ll be lucky to fit in half of one wall. The only way to fit a whole room in one shot is to use a wide-angle lens – not a fish-eye lens, which really would distort things, but a wide-angle lens with a focal length of about 10 mm. Inevitably this leads to distortion in the image, and can, admittedly, make a room look deceptively larger, but it at least gives a flavour of what the room looks like. It is up to the reader to make sense of the images in conjunction with the floorplan (if the EA belongs to the small proportion that has the decency to provide one) or room dimensions, and not just to look at the pictures! I agree, these are shots I took with a Fisheye. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Once in a lifetime Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 Hips have floor plans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huw Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 This came up before in another thread. Some flats in Barnet ISTR. The agent hadn't used a fish-eye lens, but had photoshopped the images, stretching the horizontal axis by 60% or more. The giveaway was the unnaturally oviod washine machine. The interior picture in the posting above has been treated the same way, note the proportions of the furniture. This doesn't make sense to me, the pic above looks like a wide-angle lens and not photoshop; such pics, complete with wide-angle distortions, were around long before photoshop was commonplace (or even invented). Think about it -- how many EAs have photoshop skills and if they do why are they still in the job? and why would they fire up photoshop when they can achieve the desired effect at the click of a shutter release? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sortofsilver Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 I agree with this point. It may not be a fish eye lens but their is some trick photography being performed. Look at this picture below. It is a house round the corner from me. The drive looks large but when you actually stand and have a look their is barely enough room for the Citroen C1 and fiesta that actually park. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Bart' Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 I have a feeling that this is a happy coincidence for the EAs. As others have pointed out, you do need a wide angle lens to fit in a decent proportion of a room (I'd say between 21 and 24 mm for film or full-frame digital) especially the smaller rooms found in luxury shoeboxes (sorry flats). Luckily for them this has the advantage of converting a modest room into something that looks as if it ought to come with free semaphore lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huw Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 I agree with this point. It may not be a fish eye lens but their is some trick photography being performed. Look at this picture below. It is a house round the corner from me. The drive looks large but when you actually stand and have a look their is barely enough room for the Citroen C1 and fiesta that actually park. Not so much trick photography IMO, as needing to use a wide-enough angle lens to get the house in from that particular vantage point. Avoiding such lenses which would severely limit what could be shown -- I'd rather have a distorted representation of what a space is like, than perfect reproduction of one corner! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Bart' Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 They should start using 360 degree photography Link (Flash required) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ah-so Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 You are not going to buy a property based on a photograph in Rightmove, however distorting it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewP Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 Hips have floor plans. Never seen a HIPS with a floor plan. Not saying they can't but its not a requirement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Once in a lifetime Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 Never seen a HIPS with a floor plan. Not saying they can't but its not a requirement. Oh I didn't know that, I've seen many. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corevalue Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 This doesn't make sense to me, the pic above looks like a wide-angle lens and not photoshop; such pics, complete with wide-angle distortions, were around long before photoshop was commonplace (or even invented). Think about it -- how many EAs have photoshop skills and if they do why are they still in the job? and why would they fire up photoshop when they can achieve the desired effect at the click of a shutter release? They use a wide angle lens to fit in the whole room, but then they stretch the horizontals. It's trivial to do with photoshop (or paintshop, which I prefer). I'll try to dig up the Barnet example again, because I corrected the EA's photos by shrinking the horixontal axis only until I got a sensible shape on the washing machine door. I needed x 0.6 I recall, to recover correct perspective. 1/0.6 = 166%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Havoc Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 With a Fish-eye lens you can see the curvature of the Earth from an altitude of 3 inches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Bart' Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 You are not going to buy a property based on a photograph in Rightmove, however distorting it is. Unless you're a BTL investor buying flats in a city you've never visited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pootle Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 Hips have floor plans. Pelvic floor plans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Professor Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 What a huge bedroom! http://leeds.gumtree.com/leeds/36/27150236.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Bart' Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 What a huge bedroom! http://leeds.gumtree.com/leeds/36/27150236.html You're going to have a job on wallpaper those tubular walls. I would not have wanted to hang those curved doors either. Who would want to live in a giant air conditioner anyway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britney's Piers Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 We're through the looking glass here, people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Bart' Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 We're through the looking glass here, people. Isn't that what happens to something as it approaches the speed of light? Ahead fact warper 7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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