Advice re Canon TS-E 90mm Tilt and Shift

Hi Everyone:

Can anyone share their experiences with using this lens. I'm attracted to it for

several reasons such as

Close focus abilty

Control over DOF effects

I don't often shoot wide angle and prefer tight 'close up' shots. Is the lens

easy to use and understand ? Is it sharp ?

Any advice re the lens would be appreciated.

I'm after something to fire up my creativity !

This is a fantastic lens. I use it on a 1Ds2, I have a full complement of Canon and Zeiss lenses, and I find the TSE90 to be plenty sharp and contrasty. This becomes a bit of a moot point anyway, as I use it typcially when I cannot achieve the correction and/or depth of field without it.

Is it easy to use? I guess that depends on the person. I find manual transmssions easy to use, but folks who have never driven one do not! I can say that it is much faster than a view camera.

You could read about the affects of tilt and shift in a view camera book and practice for a while, most people would catch on I believe. It's like I always said about view cameras, someone who can't learn to view an image upside down and backwards must not have much visualization ability. This is so much easier as the image is corrected in an SLR, most dedicated individuals with moderate creative ability and technical reasoning should have the ability.

The TS line of lenses is, to me, a big plus of the Canon system.

It is a fantastic lens, and one of the sharper ones in Canon's line-up. IMO, it is fairly easy to use. After using mine for a while, I wanted all of my lenses to be T&S! :)

Even though it is manual focus, the autofocus confirmation indicator in your viewfinder will still light up when you have achieved proper autofocus. This is only accurate without Tilt or Shift. You will need to touch up focus after applying either Tilt or Shift. This is easy enough to do though.

Regarding is it easy to use and understand, I believe that it is. With this said, it is worth reading up on it before getting it. It really isn't complicated, but it helps to have some basic understandings before using it.

I often will throw this lens in the bag just for fun in addition to the times that it is truly useful.

"Close focus abilty Control over DOF effects"

It is good for tilting the focus plane to get sharp image or swing the focus plane to defocus selected area.

"Is the lens easy to use and understand?"

Use is not that hard. Understanding (optional) all the princeple, math and geometry is a lot harder. Shift is simple enough. Tilting, rotate and swing to maximize the lens effect do take time to get use. You do need some reading and partices to be able to use it right. More time to perfect the techniqe.

I have some experience with 45mm and 35mm(FD) version. For 90mm, I selected a shift and tilt bellow (which offer more movement) instead of a 90mm T/S. T/S lens is easier to handle then a bellow. A bellow also can yields too much magnification with short focal length lens.<div></div>

I'm very happy with this lens and use it for most of my table top product photography.

Good close focus capability without the use of extension tube (mine are Kenko). Thinking

about having the tilt and shift altered to be on same axis. I like that the lens is physically

pretty small and doesn't take up too much space in my bag; I'm more likely to have it with

me when I need it.

Thanks very much for the reply everyone. I'm probably going to purchase one soon. I guess my only decision now is between the 90mm and the 45mm.

Whatever decision I make I'm pretty sure it will yeild some good images.

I'm not going to use this lens for product shots. I simply shoot urban and rural scenes and want some creativity.

Does a TS lens really need to be on a tripod or can it be used handheld. Hope that's not a stupid question.

John

You may find you like the 45 better for those uses. I rented the 24 and ended up buying the 45. You can also use the 1.4x converter without too much degradation which will bring you to 63mm.

I use mine often handheld (on 5D) because of the circumstances where I'm shooting. Once you understand the principles, you can use it reasonably easily handheld but it is a lens that requires a bit of patience. You need to meter prior to any movements, then do your tilt (or swing if its sideways--the lens rotates)--and/or shift. YOu can also reorient the lens (or have it done) so that tilt and shift are parallel instead of perpendicular. I thought I would do this---but have found that the default (perp) works best for me most of the time. Of course it goes without saying that it is MF. Love the lens and am considering adding the 24 TSE.

Diane