WORKING WITH TILT/SHIFT LENSES

[Trailblazer]

This topic is for the discussion of the Article category article, WORKING WITH TILT/SHIFT LENSES.

Having read the article, please add your thoughts and comments here.

 

[Mark Keefer]

I have and older Canon tilt/shift TS-E 24mm F/3.5 L MK I. Manual Focus, but I am experienced using it and do a magnification focus with the 5D MK IV to be sure I am tack sharp. The A7R3 using an adapter, I use the color focus peaking which is kind of cool. That lens is a keeper and comes out for special shooting like buildings, houses, bridges, architecture. And yes you can do this somewhat with a regular lens in Photoshop, but with the tilt shift, you are using the entire sensors captured image. Doing this in post isn't the same, you will be cropping out some of the image and distorting other parts of the image. - Next- The older model really does not do the miniatures thing, but I never wanted to (not my thing). Keeping the lines straight on building is what I want. Next- Another interesting use is the ability to tilt the depth of field which may come in handy in the right situation if done skillfully. It is possible at a reasonably low f-stop (f/3.5) and have people close to the camera on one side of the frame sharp and people farther away in the middle other side of the frame sharp too. Here is an example I just did in my RV, no people, but there is a bottle on the left of the frame sharp and bottles in the middle of the frame, farther away also sharp. Yet notice the lens in the foreground (lower middle) not in focus at all. How often would I use this, for me not often, but the ability is in my bag of tricks. I recommend a tilt shift for any photography enthusiast who loves exploring the possibilities.

 

[Mark Keefer]

And here is and image from the Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5 L MK on the A7R3 using a Metabones 5 Canon to Sony Adapter and this is one of those killer images that I don't think I could duplicate using the Adobe LR Transform tool. It might get close but I know I would be losing some resolution, cropping out some pixels and stretching others. It might not be a big deal losing some on hi megapixel cameras, but I paid a lot of money for those mega pixels and I want to use them. . Here is a shot from Broad Street Philly looking at City Hall from the Avenue of the Arts. This is what you can get with one of these lenses.