Tilt-Shift Lens: Any Experiences?

I rented the Canon 24mm TS-E tilt-shift lens for a week and before it
arrives I'd like to know if there are any tips or suggestions for using
this lens? Any subject matter that lends itself especially well to
it's features? Also, the lens may not come with instructions on it's
special uses, but I assume I can find info online somewhere. Anybody
got any tips?

Read "The Camera".
It will tell you all about tilt and shift.
Or just look at large format technique web sites and books.

Collin
KC8TKA
http://www.brendemuehl.net

Annika1980 wrote:
I rented the Canon 24mm TS-E tilt-shift lens for a week and before it
arrives I'd like to know if there are any tips or suggestions for using
this lens? Any subject matter that lends itself especially well to
it's features? Also, the lens may not come with instructions on it's
special uses, but I assume I can find info online somewhere. Anybody
got any tips?

The basics are very simple. If you want to shoot building and keep
the perspective from converging the vertical lines then keep the camera
pointing horizontal and frame the shot by shifting the lens up.

Using the tilt feature on a 35mm is going to be hard since it is very
hard to evaluate what is in good focus over the whole focus screen.
Tilt is not used for perspective correction, only focus. Mostly I
don't think I would mess with the tilt much for most of your shots,
more likely to ruin them then anything else, IMHO.

Scott

"Annika1980" wrote in message
oups.com...
I rented the Canon 24mm TS-E tilt-shift lens for a week and before it
arrives I'd like to know if there are any tips or suggestions for using
this lens? Any subject matter that lends itself especially well to
it's features? Also, the lens may not come with instructions on it's
special uses, but I assume I can find info online somewhere. Anybody
got any tips?


I'm having a hard time finding a reasonable explanation, but the scheimpflug
rule/effect/principle is what you want to understand:

http://www.trenholm.org/hmmerk/index.html#SR
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...rgeformat3.jsp

That's for the tilts. For shifts, just try lining up straight on at a tall
building and then shifting the lens up (not tilting it up, shifting it).
You'll be amazed at how much more of the building you get in your image.
You can also use the same effect for shooting products to get angles of view
impossible with any other camera. An easy book to read quickly (it's mostly
pictures, so you should get along well with it) is Steve Simmon's Using The
View Camera. Seriously, with the pictures you can see what's possible in a
matter of minutes. Maybe your local library has a copy? Of course, it does
talk about things like moving the camera back which won't be applicable to
you.

--
Regards,
Matt Clara
www.mattclara.com

In article .com,
Annika1980 writes
I rented the Canon 24mm TS-E tilt-shift lens for a week and before it
arrives I'd like to know if there are any tips or suggestions for using
this lens? Any subject matter that lends itself especially well to
it's features? Also, the lens may not come with instructions on it's
special uses, but I assume I can find info online somewhere. Anybody
got any tips?

Excellent for buildings, cityscapes, and interiors. Perhaps the best
lens you could find for these things.

You must meter before shifting. If you don't, the meter may lie by +/- 1
or 2 stops (in either direction, depending on situation). Don't forget
to focus - sounds daft, I know, but if you use AF lenses most of the
time it's surprisingly easy to forget, I have a few times.

If you don't have instructions you may miss the fact that the mount
rotates, so you can shift when taking portrait orientations shots.
Depress the little chromed button at the base of the lens to release the
lock.

Most people recommend using a tripod; I agree this is a counsel of
perfection. However, when this is not possible, because of crowds or
official disapproval, hand held use is perfectly possible outdoors. In
these circumstances I generally use the exposure lock. Thus:

(1) Focus.

(2) Press meter/meter lock button and hold it down.

(3) Shift (possible to do with left hand while right thumb holds down
exposure lock).

(4) Check framing, to ensure verticals both sides.

(5) Expose.

The point I mention in 4 is because, hand held, it is possible to get a
picture in which the amount of shift is not correct, and have one side
vertical and the other noticeably off. Needless to say, this looks
horrible.

The front element of the lens is quite protuberant, so use of the lens
hood is a good idea.

One reason I find the lens good for dark interiors is that it makes it
possible to use the floor as a steady base, without having most of the
picture full of floor. Great for churches etc.

Hope you enjoy the week. Problem is, I bet you will want to buy one!

David
--
David Littlewood

Hope you enjoy the week. Problem is, I bet you will want to buy one!

Since I rented it using the name "Alan Browne" I may just keep it.

The 24mm TS-E is also supposed to be one of the sharpest lenses
available so I look forward to testing it against the 17-40 f/4L as
well.

Annika1980 wrote:

I rented the Canon 24mm TS-E tilt-shift lens for a week and before it
arrives I'd like to know if there are any tips or suggestions for using
this lens? Any subject matter that lends itself especially well to
it's features? Also, the lens may not come with instructions on it's
special uses, but I assume I can find info online somewhere. Anybody
got any tips?

Does it do closeups? That's one area where the limited DOF is a struggle
& it would be nice to be able to control the focus plane.

This was my jerry-rigged experiment using full frame 35mm lenses
dismounted & twiddled by hand:
http://www.edgehill.net/1/?SC=go.php...otography/tilt

Maybe the motion available to that setup equalled tilt+shift but I got
both change in focus plane and perspective flattening. What I did was
hold the lens at about the same angle to the subject then tilt the
camera so the sensor was more parallel to the desired focus plane to
make things worse or away from the desired focus plane to improve the
alignment of the focus and correct the perspective. It is backwards like
trying to back up a car with a trailer on it because the image on the
sensor is inverted. The corrected tilt has the feel of using a curved
tube for a lens where you sneak up on the subject from around the corner
& the lens appears to bend the light in a peekaboo periscope kind of way.

In article .com,
Annika1980 writes
Hope you enjoy the week. Problem is, I bet you will want to buy one!

Since I rented it using the name "Alan Browne" I may just keep it.

The 24mm TS-E is also supposed to be one of the sharpest lenses
available so I look forward to testing it against the 17-40 f/4L as
well.

It's certainly sharp, but I forgot to mention before that (rather
surprisingly for a lens with an extra-large image circle) it does
vignette noticeably at f/3.5 - f/4. Use at f/5.6 or smaller if this
bothers you (you'd probably be best at f/8 for DoF anyway).
--
David Littlewood

"Matt Clara" wrote in message
...
"Annika1980" wrote in message
oups.com...
I rented the Canon 24mm TS-E tilt-shift lens for a week and before it
arrives I'd like to know if there are any tips or suggestions for using
this lens? Any subject matter that lends itself especially well to
it's features? Also, the lens may not come with instructions on it's
special uses, but I assume I can find info online somewhere. Anybody
got any tips?
[SNIP]

An easy book to read quickly (it's mostly pictures, so you should get
along well with it) is Steve Simmon's Using The View Camera.
Seriously, with the pictures you can see what's possible in a matter of
minutes. Maybe your local library has a copy? Of course, it does
talk about things like moving the camera back which won't be applicable
to you.

Matt beat me to it: Steve's is not the best or most up to date book for view
camera technique, but the explanation of movements, and the very easy to
understand pictures still make a very good introduction.

As an explanation of how to use shift and tilt in the context of a 35mm
camera I couldn'y think of anything that would be more helpful (well, apart
from paying me a few grand for hands on tuition, that is ;-) )



Peter

Annika1980 wrote:
I rented the Canon 24mm TS-E tilt-shift lens for a week and before it
arrives I'd like to know if there are any tips or suggestions for
using this lens? Any subject matter that lends itself especially
well to it's features? Also, the lens may not come with instructions
on it's special uses, but I assume I can find info online somewhere.
Anybody got any tips?

John Shaw's "Landscape Photography" (pp. 67-71) book has a section on
35mm tilt lenses that seems pretty good. Might want to give that a
look.

I'm interested in what you come up with. Maybe you could do some
"before and after" shots to demonstrate the difference.