Canon T-SE II 24mm

Krisstiffer

Krisstiffer

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Chris
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Am seriously considering getting this tilt and shift lens - primarily for landscape photography.
I fully understand the tilt and shift principles (it's why I'm interested in it) but would welcome input based on actual experience of using it for the following specific purpose and whether the curved plane of focus means any additional steps need to be taken.
The situation I'm interested in is using the shift function to create two frames to then be stitched together as a wide/tall image (horizontal & vertical stitching). Can this be done effectively - I'm guessing that with tilt applied to increase DOF the curved focus plane doesn't come into play - but what about when using zero tilt or maybe even very shallow DOF.

Any views?

Cheers in advance.
 
Generally the field curvature isn't a big issue if you've got enough DoF (smallish aperture) or nothing to obvious in the foreground. There is a slightly different issue with stitching that doesn't seem to get much airtime though. The lens doesn't have a specific tripod ring from Canon and it's wrong to shift the lens....it's the body (sensor/film) that should be shifted to keep things correct. There is a guy in Switzerland who makes a tripod ring for the TS-E24MkII to overcome this little glitch.....if it's an issue for you.

Other than that, it's an excellent lens and is up there with the best of them around this focal length.

Bob
 
Hi Chris,

Creating panoramas was one of the reasons I also bought this lens. I'm pretty bad at writing down filters used and settings which aren't reflected in the EXIF, and so I am not sure if any tilt was applied in this shot or not, but it was created from 3 shots.

11-1.jpg


I do have some other's I've taken for vertoramas, but not edited yet.

I'd imagine that tilting on a vertorama wouldn't work (swinging should be fine) and swinging on a panorama wouldn't work either (likewise, tilting ok)... but my thoughts might be wonky. I am sure someone who knows what they are talking about will come along soon!
 
Thanks for the information folks......

Bob - good point about "move the camera not the lens" - it's one of those things that's obvious once someone points it out but you never think of until they do!! Is the tripod mount you're referring to the Hartblei one? Must admit that I gulped at the price (I thought Canon tripod mounts were expensive :) ) - with the lens being an early Christmas present to myself then think the mount will be next year's birthday present!! Also give me time to see if the type of stuff I'm hoping to do will need that or whether the stitching software can sort it........

Thanks Sarah - that's exactly what I'm hoping to do - especially with more foreground detail that always seems to look 'wrong' if I do pano's by rotating the camera. Out of interest how much overlap do you get when stitching 3 images using the maximum amount of shift?

Hoping to pick up my new tilty shifty toy in the next few days........
 
Krisstiffer said:
....Bob - good point about "move the camera not the lens" - it's one of those things that's obvious once someone points it out but you never think of until they do!! Is the tripod mount you're referring to the Hartblei one? Must admit that I gulped at the price (I thought Canon tripod mounts were expensive :) ) ....
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No, much more reasonably priced. I'm struggling to find the link at the moment so leave it with me. It appeared to be a Swiss landscape photographer who also has an engineering business so he was gearing up to produce a batch based on one he'd made for himself.

Bob
 
You get 12mm of shift each way, so a 2/3rds overlap either side of the centre frame. Or 1/3rd if you skip the centre frame and shift far left and far right.

I don't shift the body, as i don't have a tripod ring mount for the lens. I might try processing a verto later in the week. I'll post the results if i do.
 
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I use the Nikon version but the function is the same, if I use it for stitched panoramas I always tend to shoot 2 horizontal frames one on full down shift and one on full up shift to produce a square image.

p872810979-4.jpg
 
Thanks for the replies....

Have now got my sticky little mitts on a shiny 24mm TS-E - all I've got to do now is figure out how to focus the bloody thing!! Have found a few good articles on t'Interweb so will be giving those a go later - just hope for some decent light at the weekend so I can use it in anger!!
 
The metering can be a bit problematic, you need meter manually with the lens in its unshifted position and then shift the lens to the position you want. Unfortunately the error gets greater the more you shift.

I normally use a light meter to get round all that shifting.
 
ah5168 said:
The metering can be a bit problematic, you need meter manually with the lens in its unshifted position and then shift the lens to the position you want. Unfortunately the error gets greater the more you shift.

I normally use a light meter to get round all that shifting.
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Cheers - have read about the metering issues - I'm guessing that manual everything is the way forward with this lens (though TBH it's how I work for 95% of the time anyway......)

Canon Bob said:
I think that this is probably the best and most understandable tome on the web when putting T-S usage into plain English
http://www.davidsummerhayes.com/Focusing the tilt-shift lens.pdf

Bob
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Thanks Bob - I came across that article on the Luminous Landscape site - I've printed off the table ready for my proper trip out with the lens tomorrow although from what I've been able to achieve with "messing in the lounge" so far using the stuff in that article its very promising!! It's all starting to come together but I guess like most things in this hobby the best way is to get out there and do it rather than just read about it!! One thing I have found through my learning curve is that it's easier to start getting to grips with the concept of a rotated plane of focus by using it to reduce the apparent depth of field and then start applying those thought processes to increasing it.
 
If you're playing in the lounge and reducing the apparent depth of field on the floor then you must be increasing it at ceiling height...simplez.

Bob
 
Well folks - had my first trip out with the T&S lens yesterday and, what can I say, I love it!! Thought I'd upload a few of the pictures - not really done with proper composition in mind - more to show foreground through to far distant focus. In these the foreground is about 12" to 15" from the front of the lens. Quite simply wouldn't have been able to do these photos with a conventional lens!!

Was also quite pleased with the stitched pano given the potential parallax problems as I was shifting the lens as opposed to the body - nothing really noticeable here even with it being really close detail - Elements has done quite a good job I think.

Thanks again for the advice you folks have given - off to a flying start!!





 
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