How to get best results with Canon Tilt/Shift Lenses?

[lrpacini]

This is an incredible Website! Kudos! I am sorry that it took me so long to discover it! I particularly like the approach to the reviews!


I am new to architectural photography (have done nature/landscape for years) and am going to be doing a great deal of interior and exterior (including minute architectural detail) for a project on which I am working. I am using a Canon 5D and renting the Canon 17mm TSEand 24mm TSE II lenses in addition to my Canon 24-105 f/4 L. I have read a variety of tutorials on the Web, but hoping that someone here can boil it down and help to shorten the learning curve! At this point I have a24 hourrental and 8 hours of locations scheduled! Any tips, tricks and techniques you are willing to share would be wonderful!


Thanks in advance,


Lauren

[peety3]

With all due respect, you're crazy.


Rule #1: beg, borrow, steal, or rent a GOOD tripod. One that'll let you make adjustments on the camera without the camera moving.


Tip #1: shoot tethered to a laptop, or preview your images on a laptop before you move onto the next site.


Tip #2: find or buy a double bubble level for your camera. You want the camera level.


Tip #3: grab a soccer ball or other spherical object. Hold it up, and think about what it sees in all directions. Imagine moving the ball to the vantage point you want, then imagine your camera leveled inside of the ball, and imagine how you'd shift the lens to get the shot(s) you want.


To explain the tilt, I imagine a dowel rod as a pivot point, and imagine a wedge which converges on that pivot axis. Adjusting focus rotates the wedge around the pivot, depth of field controls the thickness of the wedge away from the pivot, and adjusting the amount of tilt moves the pivot point closer to or further away from the camera. In practice, it's all about live view (which you might not have with a 5D) and a cheat sheet. The cheat sheet that I found had a distance table by focal length, showing how far away the pivot point is for a given number of degrees of tilt. I'd dial in the target amount of tilt, focus on one subject, then fine-tune tilt to achieve focus on another subject, then reconfirm focus on the first subject.


Shift came easier for me, especially for panoramas, but I got caught not thinking through stuff. If you're shooting the front of the building, be in front of the building (in most cases). I did a few shots where the building facade was certainly straight, but seeing the side of the building at an apparent angle (see the soccer ball example above) was quite strange. Also, consider orienting the camera so the wide side of the sensor is perpendicular to the shift axis you need to achieve the panorama - you'll end up with more pixels. I took a portrait-oriented series of three shifted shots at 10mp and after I assembled it I had a 24mp panorama of my parents' kitchen.


Last thing I can think of is a checklist. Something like this:


Step 1: Determine the vantage point you want.


Step 2: Set up camera, level it, and aim it towards the primary spot.


Step 3: Orient the shift axis in a manner that suits your shift needs (it can rotate 180 degrees).


Step 4: Orient the tilt axis in a manner that suits your tilt needs (it only rotates 90 degrees).


Step 5: Make a rough shift adjustment and a rough tilt adjustment (based on cheat sheet or guess) as desired.


Step 6: Check composition for any compensation you feel necessary (tilt adjustments may call for an "opposite" movement of the body, etc.).


Step 7: Shift to the most important spot of your shot, and determine your desired exposure. Set to manual mode with these values.


Step 8: Focus.


Step 9: Shift to one end (if you're doing a panorama), take the shot, and confirm desired results.


Step 10: Shift to center and far end (as needed), taking your shots, and confirming results.


Step 11: Mark notepad with shot IDs so you know which few shots are intended for final work.


Ask away, and if I think of anything else I'll add it here.

[lrpacini]

I am crazy? Hmmmmm..... To your points, I do have two Manfrotto tripods - one carbon fiber - with first rate heads, and will be tethered to Lightroom on my notebook. And, yes, I have a very good double-bubble level. I'm not sure we are on the same page beyond that. The two lenses that I mentioned are the Canon TS-E 17mm and TS-E 24mm, which are specifically designed for adjusting perspective and focus. You seem to be addressing panorama, unless I misunderstood you. I have done panoramas for the past six or eight years, and have a pretty good grasp of 360's and panoramic segments. If I missed something in your response, please straighten me out!


Lauren

[peety3]

These lenses do work very well for panoramas, as you can shift the lens across a range of vantage points without moving the camera.


The shift functionality can also be used to simply shift the vantage point, and that was part of what I was referring to. I shot a few buildings with the 17/4TS last December, and made the mistake of being to the left of the building twice. I made sure the camera sensor plane was parallel with the front of the building, then shifted the lens to the right so the building was appropriately positioned in my shot. This led to a very odd picture, as the front of the building looked "right" (since it wasn't angling away from the camera), but the left side of the building looked like it didn't meet the front of the building at a 90' angle. Likewise, a sign mounted perpendicular to the face of the building appeared to have bent away from the camera because of the perspective. Long story short, be sure to position the camera in a logical position for the perspective you're trying to create; don't use the shift functionality to put the camera somewhere it doesn't belong.


Likewise, the tilt functionality can be used to influence the focus plane. You can either just fiddle with knobs until you get what you want, or you can apply some science to it. I prefer to attempt the scientific method. When the lens is tilted, the lens plane will intersect the sensor plane at a line. If you tilt the lens down, the "pivot" line will be below the camera. If you tilt the lens left, the pivot line will be to the camera's left. Instead of focus adjustments moving a flat plane closer to or further away from the camera while remaining parallel with the sensor, a focus wedge is created, with essentially zero depth-of-field at the pivot line and theoretical DoF on an imaginary circle that goes through the lens and sensor. Tilting the lens more moves the pivot line closer to the camera, while tilting the lens less moves the pivot line further away. Tilting the lens to 0 moves the pivot line to infinity; restoring the lens to "normal".


From what I remember, two degrees of tilt on a 17mm lens moves the pivot line to about 6' away from the lens. If you tilted the lens downward, that'd put the pivot line at your feet; if your camera is level, you can then adjust focus so the entire floor is in focus and the upper portion of the room (moreso up close, less so at distant parts of the room) is out of focus. Likewise, if you select maximum tilt, the pivot line is very close to the camera; if the tilt is left or right, you can now focus on everything directly in front of the camera, or stuff at your 1:30 position, 10:30 position, etc. by adjusting focus.


I took part in the local Help-Portrait session, and during the session I handed the 17TS to our group leader, preset the tilt to max right, no shift, and said here, shoot that group. He asked, "what do I do?", and I said "you'll have a vertical slice that's in focus - adjusting focus will move that slice left to right. You can use it to get Don and Samantha in focus, and the family out." Here's the result:





You can see in the floor how the wedge extends out from just right of center.

[lrpacini]

Thanks. Makes perfect sense to me.I can't wait to get my hands on the lenses.


Lauren

[Joel]

Thanks Peety for the nice write-up. I need to rent one of these some day...