Using Canon Tilt shift lenses

[jayz]

I just picked up a used Canon TSE 24mm lens that has been modified so that the tilt and shift are on same axis.  It was a great price for the lens and I'm using it with my trusty EOS 3 film camera, so I don't have the luxery of reviewing exposure or focusing like you digital guys.

I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong if I bought a lemon.  i'm following these steps when taking a photo using the tilt or shift feature:

• take exposure reading with zero tilt
• focus lens using hyperfocal focusing technique
• apply tilt or shift
• take the photo

When I get my slides back the images are soft/out of focus and there is also a lot of vignetting.  I have tried taking photos at F8, F11 F16 after applying tilt, but they are still soft.

Am I doing something wrong?  Should I be focusing and taking exposure readings after tilting?  I had read that exposure readings and focusing should be done before tilting or shifting.

I do have the original rebel digital camera which I just use to take pictures of the kids.  I suppose i could use that to try and learn how to use the lens, but i'd like to know what the proper technique is for using the lens.

[jjlphoto]

Set camera to manual exposure and leave the exposure alone for the series.
Focus after tilt/shifting. Does it look sharp in the viewfinder? Does the focus  confirmation LED light up?

[jayz]

Set camera to manual exposure and leave the exposure alone for the series.
Focus after tilt/shifting. Does it look sharp in the viewfinder? Does the focus  confirmation LED light up?

Exposure isn't the issue.  Sharpness is.   The point where I focus at is sharp when I focus, however, after tilting the image is not quite as sharp.  Am i supposed to focus again after tilting?

[Misirlou]

Essentially, a tilt-shift lens is like a view camera. Using only the steps you described, I'd be surprised if you got a reasonably good shot at all.

Study this; it should be eye-opening:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/art...-checklist.html

The most important part to understand is the "focus-check" procedure.

[JeffKohn]

When I get my slides back the images are soft/out of focus and there is also a lot of vignetting. I have tried taking photos at F8, F11 F16 after applying tilt, but they are still soft.

Am I doing something wrong? Sho

Sounds like you're hitting the edge of the image circle. Be careful how much shift you use in combination with tilting.

As others have mentioned you should focus after tilting. It can be difficult to judge focus through the viewfinder, make sure the lens is open all the way when focusing and then stop down.

Also, at 24mm it doesn't take much tilt to extend your DOF. Too much and you'll make the near/far out of focus. With 24mm, usually a degree or two of tilt is all I need unless the foreground subject is really close.

There was an article here at LuLa a little while back called "Focusing with Tilt/Shift Lenses" that has some good tips, and also includes some charts to give you an idea of how much tilt to use based on the focal length and distance to your foreground object.

[Ken Bennett]

Exposure isn't the issue.  Sharpness is.   The point where I focus at is sharp when I focus, however, after tilting the image is not quite as sharp.  Am i supposed to focus again after tilting?

Yes, focus after tilting.

[Tyler Mallory]

The red markings at the end of the shift and tilt ranges are to indicate that you're sort of going beyond the range of the optics and notable image degradation will may appear. That's where you'll see the most vignetting. You'll also start to get a significant amount of CA.
I've found the range of f/11-f/14 to be about the best at balancing those elements out, before diffraction softness begins to overtake the improvements.