[John F]

Canon make a 24 mm tilt and shift lens. It has a maximum shift of 11 mm and I have read in reviews that its not all that sharp. Alternatively, Zoerk make a shift adaptor which enables the Mamiya 35 mm medium format lens to be used on 35 mm cameras and this provides a maximum shift of 20 mm. Further more the shift can be in any direction using the adaptor whereas the Canon lens will only shift in one direction. The adaptor does not provide a tilt facility. I have found that I can siumlate shift to some extent my using my 16 mm lens using portrait format and cropping half the negative but I then finish up with 6.4 mp isnstead of 12.8 mp and of course I am stretching the lens a bit with the extra enlargment.

Has anyone experience of using either the tilt and shift lens or the adaptor and could you advise on the best route to take. Thank you.

John

[silkstone]

You can simulate tilt-and-shift in post-processing, using perspective correction, although you do lose part of the shot because you end up with something trapezoidal that needs cropping (unless you have odd-shaped photo frames ).

Although you can do this with most editing software, my preference is Bibble Pro with the Percy Pro (yes, they like strange names) plugin which gives lots of control direct on the RAW file.

I'm not sure how the quality compares with a T&S lens, but it's a lot easier on the pocket.

[orangepeel]

there are also lensbabies

/me shrugs

[_MB_]

Lensbabies shift the point of focus but do not alter the focal plane so will not be appropriate for perspective correction.

If I'm doing anything with perspective correction I use photoshop as silkstone suggests although that's for purely amateur stuff so have no idea if this satisfies your own quality criteria. Plus if you're using film that adds another step of scanning and printing to the process.

[orangepeel]

ah right. know booger all about this

Don't even know what tilt shift is.. just remember it being a craze a year or so ago in relation to fake model photography...

Fake model photography

[John F]

Thank you all for your replies. I do sometimes use perspective control in PS but as Silkstone pointed out you do loose part of the image. When I can I prefer to use the 16 mm end of my zoom lens and crop off the bottom part of the image. This means that some quality is lost above when printing above A4. Thanks again.

John

[John F]

The picture below was taken today using the 16 mm end of my zoom and just the top half of the frame. As you can see from the steep perspective I was very close indeed.
I think the verticals are converging slightly and in need of adjustment in PS.
John

[silkstone]

IMO for something like that a slight convergence is OK because it is a natural perspective. If the verticals are truly parallel it can create the illusion of divergence. I think that's why the Greeks tapered their columns. Or was it the Romans?

[john crossley]

Originally Posted by John F

...the Canon lens will only shift in one direction....

John
I used to use a shift lens on my F1 back in film days. If todays lenses are constructed along the same lines as the FD35TS you will find that you can shift in all directions (left, right, up and down) simply by rotating the lens, which has a built in rotating base.
11mm doesn't sound alot but it dose make a lot of difference. But like everything else they have their limitations.

[John F]

Originally Posted by john crossley

John
I used to use a shift lens on my F1 back in film days. If todays lenses are constructed along the same lines as the FD35TS you will find that you can shift in all directions (left, right, up and down) simply by rotating the lens, which has a built in rotating base.
11mm doesn't sound alot but it dose make a lot of difference. But like everything else they have their limitations.

On the Canon T & S the lens slides in one direction only. You can can choose either horizontal or vertical before delivery. I understand that it is possible to swap from vertical to horizontal after delivery if you are handy with a screw driver. With the shift adaptor the slide rotates making it possible to shift in any direction. I have no hands on knowledge it's just what I have read. Thank you for your reply.

John.

[John F]

Originally Posted by silkstone

IMO for something like that a slight convergence is OK because it is a natural perspective. If the verticals are truly parallel it can create the illusion of divergence. I think that's why the Greeks tapered their columns. Or was it the Romans?

That is interesting. Thanks.

John

[John F]

Well I have finally decided and ordered the Canon tilt and shift lens. I made my decision after playing about with different focal lengths on my 17/40 zoom and also on grounds of weight. Thanks again for all your comments.

John.