Tilt-shift lenses

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glitch

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As I understand things, and these are extremely simplified examples, tilt-shift lenses have two 'main' uses. Shifting the lens allows you to keep your camera parallel to your chosen subject but 'shift' it to capture those parts of your subject you would otherwise miss by not tilting the whole camera and throwing out the perspective. And tilting allows you to change the plane of focus without altering the angle of the film plane.

From what I can tell most (if not all) tilt-shift lenses 'shift' in landscape mode and 'tilt' in portrait mode. And I believe it is possible on some models (Canon's TS-E for example) to dismantle them and rearrange the mechanisms so they will tilt and shift in the same plane.

But why do they work in this manner? Why not 'tilt' in landscape mode and 'shift' in portrait?
 
I think the simple answer is that tilt/shift lenses are an attempt to duplicate the functions of a camera with a full range of movements so they're a compromise at best.

UL45_movements.jpg


I've no idea about the dismantling thing, but Canon Bob has all the Canon shift lenses, so he'll probably comment on that.
 
Glitch,

My understanding of what you wrote leads me to believe that you haven't quite grasped the mechanics of the lens.

The tilt and shift are normally configured at 90 degrees to each other. The whole lens can rotate so that either tilt or shift can be in portrait or landscape. The modification (by dismantling) is to put the tilt and shift in the same axis.

Bob
 
Oh really? How do you do that?

Do you have to unlock the whole lens from the mount and move it yourself or is there a button on the lens that allows it to remain securely fastened to the camera body but for the lens itself to rotate?
 
glitch said:
Oh really? How do you do that?

Do you have to unlock the whole lens from the mount and move it yourself or is there a button on the lens that allows it to remain securely fastened to the camera body but for the lens itself to rotate?
Click to expand...
There's a tab under the lens that allows rotation.

Bob
 
That makes sense. I thought there must be something I was missing.

What do you think of the 90mm TS-E f/2.8? I'm thinking it could be the perfect lens for food photography.
 
The 90 would be a good choice for subjects this size. It also takes tubes pretty well if more magnification is needed.

Bob
 
Bob; you're a scholar and a gentleman. Thank you for your time.
 
With regards to the capabilities of the lenses, it's the tilt feature that interests me the most. I've got some others but it's this example that piqued my interest in the first place and got me looking into the lenses.

This is shot with the lens at it's 'default' setting, acting as a normal lens with the focal plane parallel to the plane of the digital sensor.

notiltqp8.jpg


This is what happens when you tilt the lens and adjust the plane of focus.

fulltilthq7.jpg


I've messed around with 'faking' the effect in Photoshop but there's no substitute for the real thing.
 
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