Tilt and shift lenses - what does shift do?

Canon has the largest range of tilt and shift lenses of any digital SLR system with the TS-E 17mm f/4L, TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II, the TS-E 45mm f/2.8 and the TS-E 90mm f/2.8. The original TS-E 24mm f/3.5L is also still in the market even if it's not made by Canon anymore. What makes TS-E lenses special is the range of movements of the lens assembly relative to the focal plane. Unsurprisingly the Canon lenses offer tilt and shift movements as their name would suggest.

First why the designation TS-E? Other Canon lenses for EOS cameras are EF or EF-S, but these special tilt shift lenses are not auto focus lenses so the EF or Electro Focus designation doesn't fit.

Since the movement of the tilt and the shift have different effects on the images we'll cover each of the two kinds of image results in isolation to make it clear, though the combination of the two is most powerful. For this article we'll look at shift, and use the video modes of the latest EOS digital SLRs to make the effect totally understandable. Tilt will be covered in a future article.

Shifting the lens on an EOS video capbable DSLR from Blab pictures on Vimeo.

In this video above the TS-E 45mm f/2.8 is fitted to our camera and the lens shifted parallel to the sensor all the way to the top limit of it's movement. Then in the first part of the video it's shifted down to the centre stop where a small indentation let's you know you've reached the centre of the movement, and in effect at this point the lens becomes a normal 45mm lens. Second part continues the movement of the lens from the centre to the lower limit. Watch how the trees in the video keep upright and how the video shows that the relatively small range of movements can change what is in the picture by so much. Use a hotshoe mounted spirit level to make sure the camera is level during the shoot to keep the trees upright. Sure you could try and frame the scene by tilting the camera, back to get the tops of the trees in, but then the trees will start to look smaller to the top and bigger to the bottom. This shift is like moving the camera up or down, and not just by a few millimetres.

TS-E lenses offer the ability to rotate the tilt and shift planes relative to the camera. This makes the seemingly impossible pictures possible. For example if you need to take a picture of a person who is stood in front of a mirror then you can shift the lens sideways and take the picture, the photographer will be simply out of the frame and importantly not showing in the mirror! Widely thought to be only useful for architecture, interiors and technical imagery the TS-E lenses offer amazing possibilities for creative photographers.

For more reading then check some of these links to the Scheimpflug principle,and an article on the TS-E 45mm lens on CPN. If you want to see the TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II 'dance' then check out the bottom of this preview article at dpreview.

-blabpictures-

Eclectic 3.0 Roads Less Travelled - time lapse EOS movie

What do people without an EOS 5D Mark II do to get a movie fix? The answer is simple, time lapse movies. Take a big heap of still frames and then assemble them in to a single movie file, kind of like the guys at Disney drawing out each scene of an animation. There's been some high profile film makers using EOS cameras for time lapse animation. Tim Burton used a selection of EOS-1D Mark II cameras for his Corpse Bride film in 2005. Aardman animation the makers of Wallace and Gromit have also used EOS cameras for stop motion.

This is not a post for EOS-1D owners exclusively though since Los Angeles based Ross Ching has shown that the EOS Digital Rebels (EOS 300D to EOS 450D in Europe) and EOS 40D can also do awesome time lapse.  Ross has just posted his latest time lapse film Eclectic 3.0 shot with his EOS cameras on the Roads Less Travelled in the western USA. This latest film in his Eclectic series shows Ross employing a new technique using a tilt-shift lens for some sections of the time lapse that makes some of the scenes look a little like a model landscape.

Ross' previous Eclectic 2.0 movie was picked as a demonstration movie on the big HD screen in New York's Times Square last year. It is truly stunning stuff with the camera being moved by a tracking telescope head. This is one big download at 360MB for the full 1080p resolution with options for smaller 720p and 480p sizes.

If you are tempted to try and see what the clouds and landscape in your backyard does in a couple of hours then some tips;

• turn off the power down timer
• use Av mode and select an appropriate aperture
• turn of the review after each shot to conserve battery life
• use manual focus
• use a big card and shoot JPEGs unless you've got one hell of a lot of time for RAW processing or a big fast new computer
• use a timer controller TC-80N3
• charge your camera battery before you start, and use a battery grip with two batteries in if you have one
• you don't need to shoot full resolution shots, small JPEG will do fine and make the processing easier
• use Apple Automator (MAC) or FastStone Image Resizer (PC) to batch crop your shots to 1920 x 1080 pixels before assembling in QuickTime Pro.
• use a tripod
• don't bother trying to capture the birds on garden feeders - birds are far too fast!

Depending on the speed of movement of your subjects, then start a few trials at 5 second intervals and then maybe go up to 10s or more. The longer time gaps the longer you need to shoot for to get a reasonable length of movie clip.

-blabpictures-

New products from Canon

Another day with two posts in quick succession!

And here they are. As usual, Canon have launched a veritable avalanche of new products today... but surprisingly no new digital SLR among them.

Of interest to us, and probably you guys and girls too, are two new tilt-and-shift lenses: TS-E 17mm f/4L and TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II. The 24mm lens is an update to the current TS-E 24mm and the 17mm lens is all new - and is the widest angle TS-E lens available for 35mm SLR cameras - all you landscape and architectural photographers get your credit cards ready now.... a 17mm tilt-and-shift? Now that's cool. And it's another L-lens TS-E.

The TS-E 24mm lens looks interesting too - with ± 8.5° Tilt and ±12mm Shift it has the largest range of lens movements available for a tilt and shift lens on a 35mm camera. It looks like Canon may have increased the image circle size to allow this but we'll know more when more detailed specifications appear.

Both lenses also feature the SWC - Subwavelength structure coating - found on the EF24mm f/1.4L II USM lens released last year. This SWC helps minimise reflection, flare and ghosting off the lens element, working in the same way as the surface of a moth's eye does to reduce reflection.

Press release below:

United Kingdom / Republic of Ireland, 18 February, 2009: Canon today announces the launch of two new tilt and shift lenses, the TS-E24mm f/3.5L.

At 17mm, the TS-E 17mm f/4L has the widest view angle of any tilt and shift lens currently available; coupled with outstanding image quality across the whole frame, it is an ideal choice for architectural or landscape photography. Building on the success of its predecessor, the TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II, like the TS-E 17mm f/4L, now includes Canon’s sub-wavelength structure coating (SWC). Canon’s patented lens coating is specifically designed to minimise ghosting and flare caused by internal reflections to help deliver crisp, clear images.

Canon was the first company to offer 35mm camera users a combined tilt and shift lens, With 36 years experience in this field, Canon has now added a new unique functionality to the TS-E 17mm f/4L and TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II, allowing users to rotate the direction of the tilt and shift independently of each other. This affords greater control over the focal plane, replicating the movements of a large format view camera. Canon’s revolutionary tilt and shift revolving mechanism is particularly useful when shooting product shots from a perspective where specific framing and focal plane is required.

The new lenses, influenced by feedback from professional photographers, have been created to produce the best image quality with high resolution, high contrast and low distortion. The use of high-precision asphercial front elements keeps distortion, common in wide angle lenses, to an absolute minimum, even at the edges of the frame. The TS-E 17mm f/4L and TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II also feature multiple UD elements to reduce chromatic aberration and optimised focus mechanisms.

Canon today has also introduced a new range (52mm to 72mm) of versatile, multi-functional PL-C B polarizing filters to help reduce reflections from glass or water or darken blue skies. The PL-C B’s, which are now available in 52mm, 58mm, 67mm, 72mm, 77mm and 82mm filter thread sizes, also allows the lens cap to be attached to the lens to prevent damage to the filter if left attached when not in use.

Key features of the TS-E 17mm f/4L and TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II include:
Tilt and shift lenses compatible with all Canon EOS cameras Ultra Wide 17mm / wide 24mm focal length, ideal for architecture and landscapes High precision lens elements for low distortion and high resolution to the edge of the image ± 6.5° Tilt and ±12mm Shift (TS-E 17mm f/4L) ± 8.5° Tilt and ±12mm Shift (TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II)
Tilt and shift mechanism rotates +/-90° allowing shift in any direction
Tilt mechanism rotates +/-90° allowing tilt in any direction relative to the shift
Aspherical and UD lens elements minimise chromatic aberration Sub-wavelength structure and super-spectra coatings minimise ghosting and flare

Circular aperture for creative, blurred highlights
TS-E 17mm f/4L has a floating internal focus mechanism delivers high image quality throughout focus range.

Pricing and Availability:
The TS-E 17mm f/4L is available from May 2009 priced at £2749.99 / €3049.99
RRP inc. VAT.

The TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II is available from May 2009 priced at £2399.99 /
€2659.99 RRP inc. VAT.

PowerShot: There is one other product that might be of interest as well (along with lots that are less likely to appeal to all of us in a professional capacity! ) Canon have announced their first waterproof digital camera, the PowerShot D10. It's waterproof to 10m, shockproof enough to withstand a drop from 1.22m onto a hard surface and freeze-proof to -10°C. It features a 12.1 Megapixel sensor, 3.0x optical zoom and DIGIC 4 processor for high image quality. I can't wait to get my paws on this and see how it performs - it could become the ultimate carry-anywhere camera for when your SLR camera is back at home....

Priced at £379.00 it'll be available at the end of April 2009.

-blabpictures-