Feeling Shifty

[neuroanatomist]

I had a brief chance to try out my newTS-E 24mm f/3.5<span style="color: #ff0000;"]LII - it's a very interesting lens. Even from my limited experience with it (less than 10 shots so far) I can tell it will involve a lot of learning and practice! It's a very manual lens - manual focus, manual mode on the camera (the lens movements affect the light meter, so you need to meter with the TS centered then retain those settings), and a whole bunch of knobs and switches.


At least I don't have to do an AF Microadjustment. [:P]


I only had about 10 minutes to wander around outside when I got in this morning, so I grabbed a couple of pictures of a building on the college campus next door. I slept in a little, so I didn't get into work and outside until after sunrise, meaning harsher light than I would have liked.


The first pair of shots compares the EF 24-105mm f/4<span style="color: #ff0000;"]L IS (left) to theTS-E 24mm f/3.5<span style="color: #ff0000;"]LII (right), with the TS-E shifted +8. The contrast is better with the TS-E (and it's sharper, too), the 'falling away' is improved, and the stairs at the bottom of the image are no longer smiling. (Yes, I should have use the hot-shoe bubble level!)


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After that, I tried a vertical shift +6/-6 pair of landscape-oriented shots that I stitched together.


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Sadly, that's all I had time for this morning. As I said, this lens will take a lot of practice but it's going to be a lot of fun learning to use it!

[Richard Lane]

Hi John,


That's some great stuff. I can't believe what a wonderful job it does in the 2nd shot as compared to the 24-105mm, and what a surprise bonus to have increased contrast and sharpness too. That's going to be a great addition to your kit, especially for your up and coming trip next year.


Can't wait to learn more about this tilt/shift lens.


Rich

[Kayaker72]

That's some great stuff. I can't believe what a wonderful job it does in the 2nd shoot as compared to the 24-105mm, and what a surprise bonus to have increased contrast and sharpness too...............Can't wait to learn more about this tilt/shift lens.

+1. I was surprised at how much more I liked the picture with the TS comared to the 24-105. Very interesting. Can't wait to see what you come up when you have more than 10 minutes at your disposal.[]

[Jonathan Huyer]

John -


Nice work! Did you use Live View to do that? I have the same lens, and found that the only way to get correct exposures is with Live View. Otherwise, it is usually underexposed. The shift feature is amazing and incredibly fun. The tilt feature is also great, but very tricky to get right. Here is an example, where I was able to get essentially infinite depth of field by tilting into the frame. The log in the foreground is only inches away from the lens (I also used a 5-stop solid ND to lengthen the exposure). 13 sec @ f/16, ISO 100.


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[neuroanatomist]

Wonderful shot, Jonathan! Was that the Singh-Ray Mor-Slo? I've been looking for a high-density ND in 82mm round (10 stops, to blur moving people from a scene), but can't find one. Probably would need a square filter for that (Lee Big Stopper, for example). I've looked at the Mor-Slo, but I'm not a fan of Singh-Ray's descriptions in general (I'd call them hype). I'm also considering a B+W 2-stop ND and a Slim CPL stacked.


I haven't played with tilt yet, but soon I hope.


I used Live View to focus (at 10x), but I metered with the tilt and shift at zero, and kept those settings in M mode after I applied shift. I didn't even try metering in Live View - I'l keep that in mind! Do you think that would affect a shifted panorama shot, if the exposures were different? (Although M mode would take care of that, I suppose.)


Thanks!


--John

[HDNitehawk]

Jonathan


Thats an awesome picture. With the depth I am seeing on my monitor in that picture, it would come alive printed off on the right printer.


Also..what did you mean about the exposure? Does it not work correct on the camera when using the tilt function, Or?? other times?


Neuro


I hope you like the new lens. You know we are all waiting to hear and see more from you about it.

[ddt0725]

Very cool lens!! Beautiful photo, Jon!


With all the new gear popping up around here lately, excuse me while I wipe the drool from my chin!!

[neuroanatomist]

Also..what did you mean about the exposure? Does it not work correct on the camera when using the tilt function, Or?? other times?

No, it doesn't. As the guy who writes the Northlight reviews puts it, "The various effects of shifting and tilting the lens don't fit well for your camera's metering system, which is expecting nice well defined rays of light coming in at predictable angles from lenses mounted directly in front and coaxial with the mount." I found that out with shot number one, where I shifted the lens to the max and almost the whole review image was one big blinking highlight clip warning...

[Richard Lane]

Beautiful shot Jonathan.., Very serene scene, indeed!


Denise, I think we both better log off now, before it costs us any more money!


Rich

[Jonathan Huyer]

Hey thanks. It takes a fair bit of time to focus correctly, but the results are worth it. For that shot I used the Singh-Ray 5-stop solid ND, in 4x6 format (yes their ads are a lot of hype, but their products are good). The only hiccup with the filter is that it throws off the white balance (everything comes out reddish) so you have to correct that afterwards. I am guessing that is a problem of ND filters in general, not just this one (?). Metering before applying tilt &amp; shift makes a lot of sense, especially if you are doing panoramas when you obviously have to maintain the same exposure. But I was happy to see that Live View works quite well for metering single shots. Another fun thing to do with tilt-shift lenses is create fake miniatures, where you blur both the foreground and background by tilting the lens up. The effect works best when you are looking down on something. Have fun! I'm looking forward to seeing more of your results.


Jonathan