DOF: tilt shift or macro lens?

[vizer]

good morning. =)
and sorry for my english.

i have a question about lens.. i want take shots at ~3x magnification (4x is good too), but small DOF is really problem for my ideas.. Is TS-Lens solution of this problem?

what way is better:

Canon mp-e 65mm, or Canon TS-e 90mm? i will use lens with 350D and 30D

mp-e is good, but small DOF..

i can use 2x canon or 3x kenko extender and set (12 24 35mm) of extension tubes with TS.. its really dark, but main problem for me is a increase of DOF in this combination. is DOF of tilt effect and extender+tubes really better, than mp-e 65? what magnification available in TS combination?

[jani]

good morning. =)
and sorry for my english.

i have a question about lens.. i want take shots at ~3x magnification (4x is good too), but small DOF is really problem for my ideas.. Is TS-Lens solution of this problem?

what way is better:

Canon mp-e 65mm, or Canon TS-e 90mm? i will use lens with 350D and 30D

mp-e is good, but small DOF..

i can use 2x canon or 3x kenko extender and set (12 24 35mm) of extension tubes with TS.. its really dark, but main problem for me is a increase of DOF in this combination. is DOF of tilt effect and extender+tubes really better, than mp-e 65? what magnification available in TS combination?

With high magnification work, DOF is a fundamental problem.

A tilting lens (as the TS-E 90) does not solve the problem of DOF in itself, since what you're doing is tilting the plane of focus. The focus is just as narrow in relation to that plane, but if your subject matter is simple enough, it will work very well to increase the "effective" DOF.

If not, you're stuck with stopping down and possibly using flash(es).

An example of such "simple enough" subject matter, consider a landscape image with a flower pot in the foreground, in the bottom part of the frame, and a mountain top in the background, in the top part of the frame.

For close-up photography, a tilting lens with extension tubes would probably work very well with e.g. a flower on a stalk (e.g. a daffodil), just tilt the plane of focus so that it's close to the same plane as the flower petals, and you'll have good DOF control.

But to sum it up: which is better depends on your subject matter.

Here's a review of the MP-E 65mm

[Gary Ferguson]

Vizer, you should look at software solutions for this problem. I use Helicon Focus but there's others available. Most of them were originally developed for exactly this situation, extended depth of field in macro and microscopic photography.

[Jack Flesher]

.. i want take shots at ~3x magnification (4x is good too), but small DOF is really problem for my ideas.. Is TS-Lens solution of this problem?

At 3:1 or 4:1, your only viable choice is the MPE 65.  To get 3x or 4x out of the 90 TSE, you will need on the order of 300mm of extention -- or 150mm extension and the 2x teleconverter -- and those simply aren't practical.

Another option for those high magnifications would be reverse mounting a 50mm lens in front of a 70-200 tele.  With that configuration, you get 1.4x through 4x magnifications.

With any of these choices, the DoF is going to be paper thin at optimal apertures.

Cheers,