TS-e lenses - how to tilt

[tinkertinker]

hello CR-guys!
I need to say, I love to play with my TS-e 17mm! but I don´t use tilt for increasing DoF that often because I don´t know how to use it fast and accurate .
I knew there is a easy routine but I can´t remember ;(
please help

cheers

 

[bluenoser1993]

Check out Cambridgeincolour.com, they have a great section on how to use tilt/shift as well as a calculator tool for dof and the angle it is at per degree of tilt and aperture. It takes much less tilt then you may think for landscape dof, the more extreme tilts being a little more "artistic" or for unique situations.

 

[match.head]

The way I do it is not mathematically based. Usually when you are trying to increase DOF, there is something close and something far you want both equally in focus. I will refer to them as foreground and background.
1. Start with no tilt.
2. Compose the scene how you wish.
3. Using the viewfinder or liveview, adjust the tilt toward the foreground until it and the background are equally in focus (or out of focus). You will have to adjust the angle of the camera body to adjust you composition as well.
4. Adjust the focus to maximize the sharpness of the foreground and background.
5. Tweek the tilt to maximize the sharpness of the foreground and background.
6. Tweek the focus to maximize the sharpness of the foreground and background.
Sometimes it is not possible to get the foreground and background in focus with the composition you want. You can tweek this by moving forward and back and up and down from the foreground. It takes practice and a feel for the lens.
7. Pick an appropriate aperture for the desired DOF.
8. Take the picture.

Tilt isn't a miracle solution for creating DOF; it does have it's limitations, as you can see in the picture I've attached.
In this case it was very windy, and I had no tripod, so I needed a fast shutter. The flowers in the foreground are near the macro limit of the lens (TS-e 24mm II).

 

[Loswr]

There are lots of tutorials on the web. The 'rule of thumb' is focus to distance, tilt to closest, meaning compose the shot in live view, zoom in on the most distant element(s) and focus until sharp, then zoom in on the closest elements(s) and tilt until sharp. You'll usually need to iterate those two steps. As match.head stated, it doesn't take much unless you're going for a creative effect - I find that 0.5° of downward tilt is usually sufficient for a camera at or near eye level.

 

[tpatana]

I find that 0.5° of downward tilt is usually sufficient for a camera at or near eye level.

99% of my shooting the camera is at my eye level.

 

[tinkertinker]

hi again,
thanks for your helpful lines,
and many thanks Neuro, that was
exactly what i meant... and it sounds quite
easy..not really scientific - perfect for me