How about the voigtlander E mount 15mm, not a zoom but small and inexpensive used (picked one up a few weeks ago for £299), optically excellent and takes 58mm filters
old-gregg wrote: Kevner wroteConversely, over the past 30 years I’ve assisted almost every photographer we’ve hired to photograph our projects and I rarely recall any of them using a CPL and none used zoom lens for exterior or interiors.Probably depends on the subject. When I was photographing my place for sale, I had to use a polarizer to mute reflections on hardwood floors and make them appear richer. Maybe it's different with commercial properties, but with residential interiors you're often shooting against the (natural) light, it's coming at you not only from the windows but also deflected from the floors, countertops, etc. A CPL helps.
Thanks old-gregg.
If you look at the images I shared above you will see we deal with the same issues. If I were taking those images to be finals I would set up with a tripod and take 2-3 images to capture the different luminance levels found in the scene. These would be composited in post processing depending on the capabilities of my software. If the scene is too wide I would do a panorama as @freaklikeme suggests or use a T/S lens. A CPL won’t adjust for the full contrast that you see in the images above which is why multiple exposures is the preferred approach.
If primes are of interest to you I have some Voigtlander ultra wides (10 and 15mm) and Loxia 21 for sale. I had the 12-24 gm and recently sold it. I’m just not using my wides much at the moment. Let me know if you’re interested and I can help you out and make you a good deal.
My private uwa zoom ranking,basing on the real life experience of a person that likes to photograph in often dim interiors of the historical buildings and such type of architecture,handhold, is as follows:
1.Sony GM 12-24/2.8 - a clear winner to me by all relevant practical measures
2.Sigma 14-24/2.8 DG DN in FE mount - IQ and built quality virtually the same,but the widest angle is only 14mm,which sometimes matters
3.Any kind of Sony GM/G or Sigma C 16-25/28/35f2.8 zoom