Tilt-Shift Lens vs. Macro Slide Rail

[AJ]

Right now I'm on a APS-C with a Canon 10-22 and I'm not a big fan of the curvature at the extreme frame edges.

Have you tried DXO?

The new Canon lens optimizer looks promising too.

[anim8r79]

There is one thing I am a bit confused about: why is the focus so much on panos in real estate photography?

I am a real estate photographer and do not see any requests for panos.  Early in my career I took them and no one used them.  There are some agents who use 360 panos - which are quite a bit different - though around here no one asks for them because many of the local MLS sites do not support them.  Anyways for 360 panos a TS-E 24 would be a major pain.  The 8-15 fisheye would be more useful for that purpose.

I have the TS-E 24 II, TS-E 17, and TS-E 90 and only use tilt shifts for my RE work.  I use them for their architectural shift capabilities - not for their ability to take two shot panos.  By shifting I can easily choose how much floor vs. ceiling I want in my shot while keeping my verticals straight.  It is extremely important for emphasizing the key selling points of the room.  I typically use my TS-E 24 II for exteriors, TS-E 17 for interiors, and TS-E 90 on rare occasions for shots from docks or distance views of the property.

Outside of RE, I occasionally take panos.  There I have found a macro rail to be useful for adjusting to the nodal point of the lens.  I own two different macro rails - a Really Right Stuff XY rail (two rails stacked) and the Stackshot from Cognisys.  In the past I owned the Kirk rail but sold it in favor of the RRS.  The RRS rails is more precise and much stronger.  For panos I only use the RRS rail.

For macro I would definitely buy the best rail possible (Stackshot) but panos do not put much stress on the rail so even a cheap one will do.

Great info!  My question was not so much about panoramas or 360 panos, just mainly about the ability to stitch 2 or 3 images from the TS lens shifting from left to right to get a larger (i.e. wider) image of a room without the parallax issues of the far left and far right of the frame getting all stretched out.  From what I've seen, it seemed like the Tilt-shift lens would allow to get a wider (more spacious) view without the UWA artifacts. 

[kirispupis]

Great info!  My question was not so much about panoramas or 360 panos, just mainly about the ability to stitch 2 or 3 images from the TS lens shifting from left to right to get a larger (i.e. wider) image of a room without the parallax issues of the far left and far right of the frame getting all stretched out.  From what I've seen, it seemed like the Tilt-shift lens would allow to get a wider (more spacious) view without the UWA artifacts.

This is true, but there are a few things to consider against doing this.

• You lose out on the ability to shift up and down (because you are already shifting left/right). Therefore you lose on of the major creative features of the TS lens.
• A lot of RE agents like the ultra-wide view. Of course, you do need to be careful with things on the left and right edges.  However, most of the agents I know prefer images taken by UW lenses as it makes rooms appear larger.  While photographers tend to be against this, it does help sell houses.
• If you are using HDR or exposure blending, this makes PP more of a pain.

Interestingly the one time I did use a TS for a pano, the agent had me crop the shot about 50% - or to where I could have taken it in a single shot.

[5dmk.iii]

Didn't take long for someone to hit the smite button did it?

I got one too from him once I questioned his post  . It is ok, whatever makes people happy... I gave you an applaud, and did not smite him.

[wickidwombat]

Didn't take long for someone to hit the smite button did it?

I got one too from him once I questioned his post  . It is ok, whatever makes people happy... I gave you an applaud, and did not smite him.

how are you working out who smites you? I cant work out who keeps smiting me
I dont see why flakes post warrated a smite it was completely logical and civil, and informative too

[5dmk.iii]

Didn't take long for someone to hit the smite button did it?

I got one too from him once I questioned his post  . It is ok, whatever makes people happy... I gave you an applaud, and did not smite him.

how are you working out who smites you? I cant work out who keeps smiting me
I dont see why flakes post warrated a smite it was completely logical and civil, and informative too

Create hypothesis; Bait and watch the smite happen and confirm the hypothesis a few times. It's never fool proof but tidbits of information here and there help. For this guy I have narrowed it down a bit. He is a very helpful guy, but like all of us... does not like to be refuted in public; his rep is precious to him... rightly so...  lets leave it at that since I have said too much already. 

[5dmk.iii]

Didn't take long for someone to hit the smite button did it?

I got one too from him once I questioned his post  . It is ok, whatever makes people happy... I gave you an applaud, and did not smite him.

how are you working out who smites you? I cant work out who keeps smiting me
I dont see why flakes post warrated a smite it was completely logical and civil, and informative too

Create hypothesis; Bait and watch the smite happen and confirm the hypothesis a few times. It's never fool proof but tidbits of information here and there help. For this guy I have narrowed it down a bit. He is a very helpful guy, but like all of us... does not like to be refuted in public; his rep is precious to him... rightly so...  lets leave it at that since I have said too much already. 

(PS: 45/33 now, lets see which way it goes, does he smite me for outing him or does he try a curveball and mess up my experiment? )

[AJ]

That won't work if you have a smiter who logs in every day and smites you systematically.

[5dmk.iii]

That won't work if you have a smiter who logs in every day and smites you systematically.

True and I pray for their speedy recovery