Change to Canon, and tilt and shift lenses

[thesmileyone]

what do they do ?

Recently been debating to switch to canon for several reasons, and come across the 17mm F4L T+S, but i cannot figure out what makes T+S so different to a normal wide angle lens.

My reasons :

1. S90 for candids, and Canon pixma pro 9000 printer so workflow would be all canon.
2. Canon seem superior for video, and i do ALOT of it for university and probably after, the career path isnt like it was, so i need to be more flexible (and ive found this having to learn mac platform).
3. Lenses look better... black and red ftw...ok crap reason! :bonk:
4. Lenses seem LOTS cheaper than the Nikon versions, and also seem to be in stock alot more!

There are some drawbacks to this like no access to 14-24mm but then i have to question...would i use it ? And i was doing long exposures down at newquay last night and the controls on the D70 are awkward in the dark. Couldnt see what setting the camera was on, and only the top panel has info, this lights up but a bit pointless trying to use it when you need to stand on tiptoes to see it!


But anyway, can someone please link me to some tilt and shift picture comparisons ?

Thanks

 

[schizophonic]

For title and shift lenese, they have selective areas to focus and can make photos look like miniature scale. More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilt-shift_photography

There is also no reason why you can't mix and match different camers and different printers. There are several reasons why people choose Canon and Nikon. I think you should speak to people who use these different equipment to get an opinion.

 

[philthejuggler]

I don't think there is an easy way to choose between Canon & Nikon. I've used Canon for so long I wouldn't both to think about changing - it would be too expensive for one thing - swapping all my gear over.

Tilt and shift lenses are very different to standard lenses (wide angle or not).

Depending on how they are set you can do a number of things impossible with a standard lens.

1) Stop converging verticals when shooting up at building.
2) Massively increase dof even at widish apertures - eg in a landscape get front-back sharpness by tilting the focus plane forwards.
3) Creatively reduce dof - deliberately make one part of the picture in focus - this can be more selective than the thin dof you get with a wide aperture lens. (includes fake miniature effect as mentioned above)
4) Suppose a tree is blocking your view of a stately home, but photographing round the tree gives a different look with convergence of the roof and ground - you can step to the side and shift the view to avoid the tree without the convergence.

I'm sure there are other effects you can get. Note they are all manual focus lenses - the longer ones (TSE-90) are often used in product photography.

More info here

HTH

Phil

 

[HoppyUK]

As Phil says. In real terms, it's the DoF trick that T&L lenses do. You can't replicate that any other way, but you can do most of the perspective control things in post processing, arguably better (more adjustment). However, doing stuff in camera saves a lot of time in post processing (ie none) for some professional applications so you can go directly to output.

I think you need to review your assessment of Nikon vs Canon Canon have a few more lenses overall but generally it's six of one and half dozen of the other.

 

[Musicman]

However, doing stuff in camera saves a lot of time in post processing (ie none) for some professional applications so you can go directly to output.

A T/S lens will also deliver a better quality result.

As I do a fair bit of architectural photography, I'm very familiar with doing it in software to get my verticals vertical, but a TS-E is fairly high on my 'when I have some cash' list.

Perspective corrections in PP will inevitably stretch some of the pixels (it's how it works) and produce a 'smeared' effect on close inspection. It's effectively the same as doing a somewhat complex localised up-res scaling of the image. It will also tend to exacerbate any chromatic aberrations and soft edges that may be present in your original image.

For smaller adjustments, this may not be enough to notice. For larger corrections, especially if the image is going to be viewed large, then it will.

While it's possible to shoot hand-held, you really need to shoot on a tripod to make proper use of a tilt/shift lens.

Useful reading: http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/tilt_and_shift_ts-e.html