Tilt-shift techniques and lenses

Jan 29, 2011
10,675
6,121
Here's one from the TS-E17,at f9.0, I love that the deck of the dock is pin sharp all the way through and that focus extends to the far shoreline, TS-E's take you from 'acceptably sharp' to pin point in focus, I don't understand why more landscape shooters don't use them, well I suppose I do, few people output to any kind of size nowadays.

3.jpg

4.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 users
Upvote 0

cayenne

CR Pro
Mar 28, 2012
2,868
796
Here's one from the TS-E17,at f9.0, I love that the deck of the dock is pin sharp all the way through and that focus extends to the far shoreline, TS-E's take you from 'acceptably sharp' to pin point in focus, I don't understand why more landscape shooters don't use them, well I suppose I do, few people output to any kind of size nowadays.

View attachment 189570

View attachment 189571


Do you by chance have any links to sites/videos explaining how doing the tilt/shift thing works for moving the plane of focus, etc?

I don't have a TS lens yet, but I do have a new MF View camera (6x17).....which has all the tilt and shift movements TS lens would have....so, I'm interested in learning the principals of this, how and why it works, etc.

When you are shooting this and tilting and shifting, are you just moving things around while you look through the viewfinder till it all looks good to your eye, or are there any distance measurements and formulaic calculations you would be using (too) ?

Thanks in advance,

C
 
Upvote 0

Valvebounce

CR Pro
Apr 3, 2013
4,555
450
57
Isle of Wight
Hi PBD.
Thank you for the detailed response and recommendations.

Cheers, Graham.

Hi Graham, it's 4,000 pieces and I'll happily take a picture of it when it's done!

The thing about the TS-E17 is that it is a fantastic lens for tight spaces, I paid for mine with my real estate work, but in truth the 24 is probably the better lens for most people to get, the reason is stitching is such an important ability of these lenses and the 17 really doesn't lend itself to that as the projection distortion when shifted is often too extreme, if my main use was landscapes I'd get the 24 and stitch anytime I wanted a wider fov. The IQ out of the 24 is higher and it takes regular filters, I have a comically mammoth Fotodiox filter kit for the TS-E17 and it really isn't practical or reasonably priced.


In the four corner pano there is no tilt so I didn't have to change that, the shift (and tilt) sections rotate and they have detents at 45º and 90º, if you stay at the 45º position the lens shifts outwards at that 45º, so shift one way and and get one corner, shift all the way in the other direction to get the second, then rotate the shift 90º and you can do the other two corners, the focus stays untouched too. It just takes a few seconds to do all four shots, but if you were using tilt at the same time then you would have to reset that between the two sets of two.
 
Upvote 0

Valvebounce

CR Pro
Apr 3, 2013
4,555
450
57
Isle of Wight
Hi Cayenne.
A quote from PBD in the waterfalls thread.

“Have you read Kieth's articles?

This one is about using an iterative approach to focus and tilt http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/alternative-focus-technique-for-tilted-lens/ It takes a lot longer to read than do!

But he has loads of articles about using tilt/shift lenses and reviews of all seven EF TS-E's, first class resource for everything tilt shift, and printers and a ton of other gems. http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/category/articles-and-reviews/tilt-shift/

Cheers, Graham.


Do you by chance have any links to sites/videos explaining how doing the tilt/shift thing works for moving the plane of focus, etc?

I don't have a TS lens yet, but I do have a new MF View camera (6x17).....which has all the tilt and shift movements TS lens would have....so, I'm interested in learning the principals of this, how and why it works, etc.

When you are shooting this and tilting and shifting, are you just moving things around while you look through the viewfinder till it all looks good to your eye, or are there any distance measurements and formulaic calculations you would be using (too) ?

Thanks in advance,

C
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Upvote 0

Del Paso

M3 Singlestroke
CR Pro
Aug 9, 2018
3,298
4,185
Do you by chance have any links to sites/videos explaining how doing the tilt/shift thing works for moving the plane of focus, etc?

I don't have a TS lens yet, but I do have a new MF View camera (6x17).....which has all the tilt and shift movements TS lens would have....so, I'm interested in learning the principals of this, how and why it works, etc.

When you are shooting this and tilting and shifting, are you just moving things around while you look through the viewfinder till it all looks good to your eye, or are there any distance measurements and formulaic calculations you would be using (too) ?

Thanks in advance,

C
YES !!!!!!
Shooting tips by Canon's Rudy Winston!
To be found on The Digital Picture.
Good luck!
 
Upvote 0
Jan 29, 2011
10,675
6,121
Do you by chance have any links to sites/videos explaining how doing the tilt/shift thing works for moving the plane of focus, etc?

I don't have a TS lens yet, but I do have a new MF View camera (6x17).....which has all the tilt and shift movements TS lens would have....so, I'm interested in learning the principals of this, how and why it works, etc.

When you are shooting this and tilting and shifting, are you just moving things around while you look through the viewfinder till it all looks good to your eye, or are there any distance measurements and formulaic calculations you would be using (too) ?

Thanks in advance,

C
As Graham pointed out the Northlight links really are a goldmine, but the best nugget for your specific enquiry is these two gif's from Keiths site ( http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/using-lens-tilt-on-your-digital-slr/ ) but credited to Harold Merklinger, the brains behind the maths of focusing tilt/shift cameras and movements.

To understand how it works it is important to realize anybody who just mentions or eludes to the Scheimpflug Principle is missing the key element of how varying focus also rotates the plane of focus, but differently! The first GIF is the effect of tilting the lens and demonstrates the Scheimpflug Principle, the second GIF illustrates the 'Hinge Rule' and the changes to the plane of focus when you adjust focus, this is the key many people miss.Once you hear people using this stuff and referring to the 'J' distance you know they have a much better grasp of how it all works, that distance is from the lens center to the hinge line. Keith has printed cheat sheets for the various focal lengths, tilt angles and J distances.


ViewCam2.gif


ViewCam.gif

If you really want to dig in the weeds Merklinger's two booklets are freely available on the web.



And there are other articles with the above GIF's and more of them https://lensnotes.com/articles/principles-of-view-camera-focus/
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Upvote 0
Jan 29, 2011
10,675
6,121
YES !!!!!!
Shooting tips by Canon's Rudy Winston!
To be found on The Digital Picture.
Good luck!
I haven't found anything by or from Canon that goes beyond a very rudimentary precursor into accurate T/S use, that includes their instruction books, videos, talks, presentations etc, indeed most of them I have found miss key points or further commonly held inaccuracies.
 
Upvote 0

stevelee

FT-QL
CR Pro
Jul 6, 2017
2,383
1,064
Davidson, NC
I decided to do some close up tests before I ship the 24 mm lens back. I used maximum tilt for all shots. For the first ones, I put the lens on a 12mm extension tube. The calculator didn't look that linty in real life, so the lens if very sharp. With the tilt, the closest part appears to get 0.55x magnification. Apertures are f/16 and f/22.

IMG_2303.jpg

IMG_2302.jpg
 
Upvote 0

stevelee

FT-QL
CR Pro
Jul 6, 2017
2,383
1,064
Davidson, NC
That was not so rigorous a test, but enough to satisfy my curiosity. I've resized the pictures for posting. If anybody thinks they might glean some useful information from this, I'll be glad to post some 100% crops. Just tell me what you want.

Since the tubes were delivered this afternoon, I decided to try them on the lens. It rapidly became obvious that anything longer than the 12mm was not practical because of the short distances needed.

For my further comparison, I will later try the same subjects with the 100 mm non-L macro, with and without tubes. I expect the longer focal length and lack of tilt will give much smaller depth of field. I won't post those pictures here unless someone thinks that will be a useful comparison for them also.
 
Upvote 0

stevelee

FT-QL
CR Pro
Jul 6, 2017
2,383
1,064
Davidson, NC
The rented 17mm TS-E was delivered today. I haven't done much with it yet, just tried a couple of things. I shot from where I was seated in the den and used the tilt for focusing on the window beside me and keeping the fireplace reasonably in focus.

IMG_2481.jpg

Then I tried putting the tilt and shift in the same direction. At extreme values of both, there is almost no light on the sensor, so I backed off a bit. I used the tilt to focus on the button on my shirt without plugging the distant objects too much. Even in this reduced version, you can see the detail in the cloth. Pardon my obesity.

IMG_2540.jpg
 
Upvote 0
Jan 29, 2011
10,675
6,121
Shot at dawn this morning with the TS-E 50, it's actually a two shot vertical shifted pano. May we all remember those active duty men, women and K9's who paid the ultimate price.

At this memorial the blue crosses are for active duty K9's and the yellow crosses for men and women who were lost to suicide on their return from theater.

77.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Upvote 0

stevelee

FT-QL
CR Pro
Jul 6, 2017
2,383
1,064
Davidson, NC
I have about run out of things to try with the 17mm lens. I send it back Wednesday, and we are having showers off and on. I have to make a short video for the Episcopal church in my neighborhood to use Sunday, so I need to ge that done before I do much more playing around. The shoot itself is not that tricky, just me sitting by the window reading aloud. But the text is the original Greek of much of Acts 2, so I need to practice a lot. Also, without a haircut, I will need to work on my hair to keep from looking too much like Einstein on a bad hair day. I don't have an external microphone, but I don't guess intelligibility will be that important. I believe it will be part of a split screen with people reading simultaneously in other languages. Maybe I should dress as Charlie Weaver or Charles Nelson Reilly.

I took some shots on campus Sunday, including some panoramas and some outdoor artworks with the buildings. This is probably my favorite shot:

IMG_2647-HDR.jpg

I did use some tilt and shift on the above to lessen the convergence. This is a more conventional view with the perspective straightened:

IMG_2640.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Upvote 0