TSE-24 a few thoughts.

[Roman Racela]

Slim - I had the same experience as you when I first started using the TS-E 24mm f3.5II. Just like Jim Kasson suggested, start using the Summerhayes method and you'll get great images. I started using the Summerhayes technique and have never looked back.

If you're just starting out with a tilt/shift lens, the Summerhayes 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

[Shakyphoto (Slim)]

Thanks guys,  the photo I posted under the 10ND or not to ND in the photography photo section I used the method.
I didn't have a loupe, but I used the hood of my 100-400 lens and used live view at 10x to dial in the focus.

I don't know if it was the lens or something else, but I noticed really bad chromatic aberration, vertical and horizontally.

[Jim Kasson]

Thanks guys,  the photo I posted under the 10ND or not to ND in the photography photo section I used the method.

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

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

I don't know if it was the lens or something else, but I noticed really bad chromatic aberration, vertical and horizontally.

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:

[Shakyphoto (Slim)]

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

The tilt wasn't much at all.  I tried to shoot wide open as possible and put the bridge and waterfall in focus.  Maybe not too much bang for my buck in this case.

[Glenn NK]

I don't know if it was the lens or something else, but I noticed really bad chromatic aberration, vertical and horizontally.

Sounds familiar (and surprising for a lens of this calibre).

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.

I was a bit shocked to find that the 24-105 had less CA than the 24 TSE - it was exchanged immediately (fortunately I deal only with a local brick and mortar store where by that time I'd spent approximately 10 big ones on gear - they exchanged it no questions asked).

Glenn

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

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.

Hi  Glenn,

Did you save a crop of that?  

I have a test shot posted here , 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

[MrSmith]

There is C/A at 12 mm shift that's right at the extremities of the lens image circle. I tend to stick to 10mm shift max and only go to 12 if I have to, it's still a very good lens and better than the Nikon I tried on a d800

[David Eichler]

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:

The OP did not specify the series II version of this lens. The original version has noticeable CA, whether shifted or not. However, it seems that Lightroom 4 can go a long way toward minimizing this.

[Glenn NK]

Hi  Glenn,

Did you save a crop of that?  

I have a test shot posted here , 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.

Glenn

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

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.

Hi Glenn,

Was that a model I TS-E 24mm or the more recent model II that you tested? My examples are with the model II.

Cheers,
Bart