When I tried to use the tilt feature to get better depth of focus, I've gotten worse results.
Tried out the TSE-24 on my recent trip to Scotland.
...
1) I didn't realize how short the "throw" is from 5 ft to infinity focus. I screwed up a bunch of times on this one.
2) When I tried to use the tilt feature to get better depth of focus, I've gotten worse results.
1) Using Live View "zoomed in" (i.e., at 5x or 10 x magnification) plus a loupe like a Hoodloupe (http://www.hoodmanusa.com/products.asp?dept=1017) is the best way to very finely establish prime focus, especially with a TS-E lens where the optical light path is off axis to the groundglass in the viewfinder.
Another way to extend depth of field, even with large subjects like landscapes and buildings is "focus stacking".
Much cheaper than a T/S lens. Problematic if there's wind.
Much cheaper than a T/S lens. Problematic if there's wind.True but if you can do it with a minimum number of frames - and the camera is not moved by the wind and do some work on masking the layers, it can work. When creating stitched panoramas i also often have the same problem (trees, flags and water moving due to wind and current; but also people and vehicles moving) and solve it by editing the layers that make up the composite using masks on each layer. it is tedious but doable. But admittedly sometimes not even that works.
if you can do it with a minimum number of frames - and the camera is not moved by the wind and do some work on masking the layers, it can work
I have yet to attempt to focus stacking as a technique. However I prefer to use tools in the field rather than rely on post processing of multiple images. Even though tools in the field may be more expensive than software, the real expense would be if I took the shots and found out later that the images don't line up or match up and can't do anything about it because my flight home is the next day. A single plane ticket across an ocean is the price of a good lens.I agree aboutit being better to solve a technical problem at the time the photographs are being made, and about the expenses of making a miscalculation, plus time and travel relative to the cost of a good lens or a solid tripod/head combination and cable release.
For a FLAT surface (not necessarily horizontal, but flat), I use the following process:
1) frame the image,
2) focus at infinity (or most distant part of image) using focus ring,
3) zoom in maximum in live view,
4) using the TILT knob, adjust the foreground into focus,
5) repeat steps 2) to 4) as required - I usually repeat only once.
I've often shot wide open (f/3.5) with good results.
I completely gave up on charts etc. soon after I learned the above (two years ago).
Glenn
Glenn,
I am surprised, given that the lens is a mount that pivots the lens around its optical axis (that's the line that runs through the center of the lens), that you don't focus in the center of the frame and then dial in the amount of tilt neded to bring the near and far points of that plane into focus.
That is how I use TS-E lenses lenses. Am I missing something?
[...] but as the TS-E lenses are a tilt on the lens axis design it might work faster to try focusing in the middle of the frame and then tilting to find the right angle to bring both the near and far points into focus.
In any event, it seems that the process is still iterative.
If you're just starting out with a tilt/shift lens, the Summerhayes (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/focusing-ts.shtml)technique is a good place to start.
The key measurement you need to use the Summerhayes method is the perpendicular distance from the lens to the plane that you want in focus. In landscape photography, that plane is usually the ground, and thus all you need to know is how high the camera is. If you’re using the camera at eye height, and you’re of anywhere near average size (male or female – given the accuracy to which you can set a tilt/shift lens tilt angle, it doesn’t make any difference), the angle you want to set your tilt to is one degree for a 24 mm lens, 1 ½ degrees for a 45 mm lens, and 3 degrees for a 90 mm lens.
Jim
Thanks guys, the photo I posted under the 10ND or not to ND in the photography photo section I used the method.
I don't know if it was the lens or something else, but I noticed really bad chromatic aberration, vertical and horizontally.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see the need for any tilt in those pictures. There's no foreground to speak of.
Jim
I don't know if it was the lens or something else, but I noticed really bad chromatic aberration, vertical and horizontally.
I tripod tested my first copy against my 24-105 (set at 24 mm); it was a fairly heavy overcast day, and I shot into some bare trees with the sky as BG.
Must have been your lens, because my TS-E 24mm II is virtually perfect with hardly any CA, as are others that I have seen results from. Are you sure it is CA and not overexposure light spilling to neighboring sensels?
Cheers,
Bart
P.S. Here are some TS-E 24mm f/3.5 II examples:(http://www.xs4all.nl/~bvdwolf/temp/OPF/TSE24_T2_OpticalCenter_Anim.gif) (http://www.xs4all.nl/~bvdwolf/temp/OPF/TSE24_T2_TopLeft_12mm_Anim.gif) (http://www.xs4all.nl/~bvdwolf/temp/OPF/TSE24_T2_MidLeft_00mm_Anim.gif)
Hi Glenn,
Did you save a crop of that?
I have a test shot posted here (http://www.openphotographyforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=77994#post77994) , including a full size horizontal shifted stitch when you click on that image, which only shows a bit of CA beyond the 7mm shift position, which I rarely use because the image quality drops too much across the frame for my taste. I'd rather rotate and stitch such extreme scenarios, which allows to shoot more at the center of the image circle, and those shots are easier to correct for keystoning in a pano stitcher anyway.
Cheers,
Bart
Bart:
Sorry, but I just saw your post.
No, I didn't save the images from the first TSE24, but do recall that the 24-105 image (same tripod location and same settings) had noticeably less CA.