Canon 90mm Tilt & Shift - Jewellery

<p>Hi all,<br>

I am going to be doing some product photography and wanted some advice on the following two lenses.<br>

Canon 100mm Macro<br>

Canon 90mm Tilt & Shift<br>

The shots will all be done in a studio on a product table with controlled lighting. Shooting with Canon 5D. The product is small bracelets, earrings and chains. I have shot with the 100mm macro before and was happy with the results except for a depth of field problem (couldn’t get the back of the chain and the front of the chain all pin sharp).<br>

Would the Canon 90mm Tilt & Shift give me the results I am looking for? Has anyone had experience shooting similar product with this lens? Some examples and tips would be great.<br>

Thanks for the help,<br>

Mark.</p>

<p>Did you try changing the magnification with your 100 macro, i.e. move away and crop in post..? That should give you sufficient DOF at reasonable f/stops (f/11-f/13.) You don't have to fill up the entire frame with the product being photographed, to the contrary: in macro shots that's often counterproductive.<br>

People do use the 90 mm T/S lens, often with extension tubes or a TC, for product photography/macro, but that opens a bag of worms that you might not want to deal with (geometric distortions, etc.)</p>

<p>you might want to look into the post processing side to gain more depth of field. There is some good FREE software that will layer multiple pictures and give you more depth of field without loosing image quality. You need to take a few of the same subject and focus front to back (or back to front) as you take the pictures.</p>

<p>I use the TS-E 90 for (among many other things) small parts similar to what you describe. I'll simply say that it's a fabulous lens. It's the sharpest lens I own by a comfortable margin (24-105, 85/1.8, 70-200/2.8IS, etc). To the extent that your subject occupies a "tilted" plane, then you can get, essentially, infinite depth of field at low f-numbers. There's a learning curve that you'll have to climb, but once you do that the lens becomes very straightforward to use. I often use it at f/8 - f/16 when I have subjects with significant 3D structure (components standing up on printed circuit boards, etc.). If you have any experience with a view camera, then you'll find this lens very straightforward to use. It's mounted on my camera right now!</p>

<p>Joe</p>

<p>If you already have the 100/2.8, how about one of these:<br /> http://kievcamera.net/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=200</p>

<p>Properly used the TS lens is better for extended depth of field and Canon's 90 is tack sharp. I always prefer a manual lens for this kind of shooting, together with a higher f-stop that should work just great. I shot with the 100 macro before but as you stated the depth of field becomes challenging with some perpectives. Also the TS lens allows you to set the camera to the desired perpective and adjust the lens to show you the crop (like to see the top of an object and dropping the lens to reveal the entire piece without tilting the camera body)</p>

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<p>Would the Canon 90mm Tilt & Shift give me the results I am looking for?</p>

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<p>Yes, it would be great for that. If money's an issue, use focus-stacking software from heliconsoft.com or the like.</p>

<p>For examples, Google has multiple resources if you type in things like "tilt shift examples" and "tilt shift tutorial" and even "tilt shift jewelry."</p>

<p>You <em>could</em> do without the TS-E 90mm, but in the long run it's exactly what the doctor ordered if you're going to be doing product photography. This is the sort of application that the lens was designed for.</p>

<p>You are aware that you will need to learn how to use it to its best advantage?</p>

<p>The TS-E lenses can be very helpful, but they can't work magic. Two considerations:</p>

<ol>

<li>When the lens is tilted, the focusing ring rotates the plane of focus rather than just moving it toward or away from the image plane. Focusing on the far rotates the PoF away from parallel to the image plane; focusing on the near rotates the PoF toward parallel to the image plane. Consequently, for closeup work, there is a limit to the angle of the PoF with the image plane; for the TS-E 90 at close focus, the angle is about 35°</li>

<li>At close focus, the DoF is limited, just as without tilt. The shape is different: the DoF is wedge shaped rather than extending between two parallel planes, but at close focus, the angle of the wedge is very small, so the region of sharpness is essentially planar.</li>

</ol>

<p>If the shots you're trying to get fit these constraints, the TS-E 90 may be just what you need.</p>

<p>Hi all,<br>

thanks for the great feedback. I am aware that there will be quite a steep learning curve with the TS-E 90mm but after reading everyone's feedback I think it is the way to go. I am not that keen to go the post production route and fix the depth of field by merging multiple shots. It seems like a lot of unnecessary work when with some effort I could get it right in the studio.<br>

I have a shoot next week and think I am going to rent the lens and try it out before buying it. Hopefully I get the hang of it quite quickly.<br>

From experience, how necessary is a tripod when using this lens?</p>

<p>Tripod? For what you've described, I wouldn't even consider not using one.</p>

<p>Tripod for sure, especially with a TS-E lens. The alternative is not handholding , but rather some kind of copy stand set up. To the extent that it can, the tilt and shift are working like a view camera (with not so many options, of course), so to get the use of the tilted focal plane, etc. you need it held firmly in one spot.</p>

<p>For sure take a look at Merklinger's books (free!) at http://www.trenholm.org/hmmerk/. "Focusing the View Camera" is the one you want, although the extracts and magazine excerpts are great reading also.</p>

<p>In general, though, the limited tilt might limit how low a viewpoint you can attain, depending on what you have in mind. Oddly, I can't find a single reference on the web of how much tilt and shift this has. Lots of size and weight specs, but nothing about the movements. In any case, assuming 8 degree tilt, the focus plane intersects the film plane about 27" below the lens. You'll have to sketch out your intended shooting angles in side view and see if this will reach what you have in mind.</p>

<p>Also be aware that the shift axis is fixed in relation to the tilt axis. Amazon says it comes perpendicular by default, and you'll need to have a repair shop change that if you want something else. Parallel is much more useful, since tilting shifts the image center in the film frame. Tilting downward requires a downward shift to maintain the same framing. (The image circle moved up on the film; the image on the film is upside down and backwards. Tilt down, shift down.) The 45mm TS-E II is the first from Canon with independent shift and tilt axis.</p>

<p>I shoot a Hartblei 45mm Super-Rotator for landscapes (no longer made, I believe). I find it less than useful for macro because its 8 degree tilt range limits how low I can push the viewpoint. At half the focal length of the 90, the closest hinge point is also half that of the 90: 14" compared to 27". It's great for landscapes, but a little frustrating trying to view something close to edge on. I'm comparing the 8 degree tilt to a view camera's 21 degrees, and usable shift measured in inches rather than millimeters. I just don't get that same "Wow!" with the relatively long lens and so little movement.</p>

<p>"its 8 degree tilt range limits how low I can push the viewpoint."<br>

To obtain more tilt degrees, may I use the tilt adapter mentioned before ( http://kievcamera.net/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=200 ) PLUS a manual shit/tilt lens like the 80mm 2.8 Hartblei Superrotator?</p>

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<p>Would the Canon 90mm Tilt & Shift give me the results I am looking for?</p>

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<p><a href="http://www.aobild.se/externalcontent/ts-e/guitar/tsdemo.htm">Yes</a>. Then again, there are other alternatives which will produce equal/better results at cheaper cost. The basic problem of using the 90 TS for macro is that it only reaches 1:3.4 by itself. The Mamiya M645 80/4 reaches 1:2 and the Mamiya M645 120/4 reaches 1:1. Using a Mirex TS adapter with them you get a much more striking results. I could show you examples but you wouldn't like them as my goal is to minimize DoF, not to maximize it. Just my style. </p>

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<p>If you already have the 100/2.8, how about one of these:<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://kievcamera.net/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=200" target="_blank">http://kievcamera.net/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=200</a></p>

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Not a good idea. The image circle of the lens <strong>must</strong> be bigger than the image circle of the camera to avoid vignetting. Therefore, using regular FF lenses (i.e. not TS ones) on FF body will lead to severe vignetting. This product can only work well if you have an APS body. </p>

 

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<p>I have a shoot next week and think I am going to rent the lens and try it out before buying it.</p>

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<p>I wonder. Your gear list says you already own it. </p>

 

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<p>From experience, how necessary is a tripod when using this lens?</p>

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<p>

<p dir="ltr">My experience is with the aforementioned Mamiya and with them, tripod is very handy. You may get around without it but it would be much harder.</p>

<p dir="ltr"> </p>

 

<p dir="ltr">Happy shooting,</p>

<p dir="ltr">Yakim.</p>

 

<p dir="ltr"> </p>

 

<p dir="ltr"> </p>

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<blockquote>

<p>To obtain more tilt degrees, may I use the tilt adapter mentioned before ( <a rel="nofollow" href="http://kievcamera.net/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=200" target="_blank">http://kievcamera.net/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=200</a> ) PLUS a manual shit/tilt lens like the 80mm 2.8 Hartblei Superrotator?</p>

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<p>I haven't tried those collars. It's probably a one trick pony, optimized for one focal length and no shift. It might be worth trying if you have a some old medium format lenses (for the wider coverage) and can find an adapter. Hartblei used to make Mamiya to EF mount adapters.</p>

<p>I played around with the superrotator last night, wiggling it around handheld at its most extreme tilt and shift to find the lowest possible viewpoint. It's much lower than I thought. :D But the IQ at those extremes is pretty low, something to keep in mind. Here's a shot at 8 deg. down tilt, 11mm up shift. I think that was about f/11 or f/8, handheld in the dim available room light.</p><div></div>