Tilt shift lenses
Discussion
I've been hankering after a tilt shift lens for years, but as they're quite specialist and bloody expensive I don't have one yet.
Could those of you that do use them give me some more information?
On a full frame camera would 17mm or 24mm be better for cityscapes etc? Obviously one is a lot wider but would you still get distortion due to the width even though you can correct the verticals?
Do you use it a lot or is it a once in a blue moon lens? Or the go to for landscapes?
Anything else I should know before waiting for the wife to forget I previously mentioned the price while saving up?
Could those of you that do use them give me some more information?
On a full frame camera would 17mm or 24mm be better for cityscapes etc? Obviously one is a lot wider but would you still get distortion due to the width even though you can correct the verticals?
Do you use it a lot or is it a once in a blue moon lens? Or the go to for landscapes?
Anything else I should know before waiting for the wife to forget I previously mentioned the price while saving up?
I have a Photex 80mm f2.8: http://araxfoto.com/specials/tilt-shift-80/
It's manual-everything and I find it tricky to use on a crop sensor DSLR, but it's an interesting diversion and relatively affordable. They also make 35mm and 50mm versions.
(Note that they can do more than the rather cliche 'toy' effect)
It's manual-everything and I find it tricky to use on a crop sensor DSLR, but it's an interesting diversion and relatively affordable. They also make 35mm and 50mm versions.
(Note that they can do more than the rather cliche 'toy' effect)
johnymac said:
Are they still used much now? I would have thought that some clever software would be available by now to create the same effect. If so I imagine it would be far cheaper than a lens, but maybe software can only go so far.
I would be interested to hear more on the subject.
This isn't a dig, but what could you create with software apart from the toy town effect?I would be interested to hear more on the subject.
Every time you use softwasoftware to fix something you hit resolution.
Lensrental blog tested distortion correction and regardless of how much distortion you had resolution drops about 10-15pc. That's just normal lens distortion.
Perspective correct stretches the image so you about halve the resolution.
I have canons 24tse mk2, use it mainly for landscape, shift mostly for pano stitches but sometimes for perspective correction. Tilt I use for dof.
I love it, fantastic lens and probably my most used. I would get the 24 on ff before the 17.
Lensrental blog tested distortion correction and regardless of how much distortion you had resolution drops about 10-15pc. That's just normal lens distortion.
Perspective correct stretches the image so you about halve the resolution.
I have canons 24tse mk2, use it mainly for landscape, shift mostly for pano stitches but sometimes for perspective correction. Tilt I use for dof.
I love it, fantastic lens and probably my most used. I would get the 24 on ff before the 17.
17 is really wide. even for buildings you have to be up close or they have to be huge.
17 also has filter issues but that is solvable to some extent.
The 24 can be as wide as 14mm if you shift stitch, but doing that you cant use shift for perspective fixes.
Here is some bad photography to demonstrate
24mm on 5d2 normal
3 image shift, camera in portrait, shifted horizontal. This needs 3 images as you are shifting 12mm across the 24mm side of the sensor, result is about 17mm
Camera in portrait, shifting vertical 12mm either way, 2 frames
Landscape shifting horizontal, 2 frames, 14mm width/fov
17 also has filter issues but that is solvable to some extent.
The 24 can be as wide as 14mm if you shift stitch, but doing that you cant use shift for perspective fixes.
Here is some bad photography to demonstrate
24mm on 5d2 normal
3 image shift, camera in portrait, shifted horizontal. This needs 3 images as you are shifting 12mm across the 24mm side of the sensor, result is about 17mm
Camera in portrait, shifting vertical 12mm either way, 2 frames
Landscape shifting horizontal, 2 frames, 14mm width/fov
Thanks, that's a great help.
It'll take some time to get my head around the different ways this can be used. This started because I wanted straight buildings!
So for landscapes I take it you shift/stitch for essentially a wider view that isn't distorted (as it would be on something like a 17mm) and use tilt for better depth of field?
It'll take some time to get my head around the different ways this can be used. This started because I wanted straight buildings!
So for landscapes I take it you shift/stitch for essentially a wider view that isn't distorted (as it would be on something like a 17mm) and use tilt for better depth of field?
Shift for easy stitching in 2 or 3 shots. Technically you should shift the camera and leave the lens in position to avoid parallax issues.
Tilt you can lay the plane of focus down so it runs along the ground out to the background objects. Only works if you dont have tall foreground stuff. Also tricky. Really need measure the height of the camera and dial in the right amount of tilt then focus, its often a pain to work out
Tilt you can lay the plane of focus down so it runs along the ground out to the background objects. Only works if you dont have tall foreground stuff. Also tricky. Really need measure the height of the camera and dial in the right amount of tilt then focus, its often a pain to work out
Speed addicted said:
and use tilt for better depth of field?
The DOF is the same, only angled as required insread of the usual vertical. The 'toy' effect cuts across the subject, whilst for something like a sloping watch face you'd lay it along the subject to keep front and back sharp while 'above' and 'below' go out of focus.If it helps I use a 17mm TS-E lens with a 1.4 extender to bump the lens to 24mm when needed.
The extender does reduce the image quality, but it really is a very very tiny amount. I doubt anyone would be able to spot the different without really studying the images.
The downside to the 17mm is the limited number of filters available for it, as they need to be huge!
The extender does reduce the image quality, but it really is a very very tiny amount. I doubt anyone would be able to spot the different without really studying the images.
The downside to the 17mm is the limited number of filters available for it, as they need to be huge!
)
RobDickinson said:
. I would get the 24 on ff before the 17.
/\ this.But it depends on your own shooting style preferences. What focal length wide angle lens do you use and like the results of at the moment?
I don't like the artificial looking exagerated perspectives of ultra wide lenses and would choose the 24 every time but each to their own.
I use the 24-105 pretty much all the time (on the 5d mm3), I did have a 10-20 on my previous 7d giving about the same view as the 17mm would on full frame.
I found that for the 10mm end to be useful you needed to either be really close or looking at something huge! Looking at the shots I liked 15ish was the most common.
So I'd like a 21mm TS-E please!
I think the 24mm may be the most use for me, even while shooting architecture.
One of my wife's mates is an architect and has asked me if I could get some shots of things they've built. It's as good an excuse to get the lens as I've ever had!
I found that for the 10mm end to be useful you needed to either be really close or looking at something huge! Looking at the shots I liked 15ish was the most common.
So I'd like a 21mm TS-E please!
I think the 24mm may be the most use for me, even while shooting architecture.
One of my wife's mates is an architect and has asked me if I could get some shots of things they've built. It's as good an excuse to get the lens as I've ever had!
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