Tilt shift lens

Can someone recommend a good Tilt shift lens for a Canon 5D MArkIV?

Thanks in advance.

BW

Any of the current Canon TS-Es.

I own a TS-E 17L, TS-E 24L II, and a TS-E 135L, and I just love them and the results they provide.
I would love to have a TS-E 50L and TS-E 90L as well, but I do have some budget constraints.

The TS-E lenses are one of the 3 main reasons why I went with Canon for digital cameras back in 2005, the other 2 being the UI, and the possibility for me to manually focus with a Canon body, which I could not with any Nikon or Minolta body back then. I always wanted to experience TS-E lenses, especially as I knew I would never go to large format technical cameras. At the time, there was no one else with such a range, or optical quality of tilkt shift lenses, and AFAIAC, that is still the case.

The focal length depends a bit on what you want to achieve, of course. The usual, general recommendations for FL are still valid. Personally, I use the 17 mostly for landscapes , architectual and interior shots, the 24 for landscapes, plants, overviews, architecture, group shots, and occasionally even semi-macro shots. The TS-E 45, which has been replaced with the TSE-50L of course, when I had it ,I used for architecture, macro product photography and general shooting, the TS-E 90 for portraiture, product photography,macro, and landscape shots you use a short tele for. I do that now with the TS-E 135. I went for that lens as 'replacement' because I got a very good deal on one, and I really prefer longer macro lenses to shorter ones anyway.

HTH, kind regards, WIm

Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II Tilt-Shift.
Bought it nine years ago for a Controlled Demolition of a local housing project 16 story building. Did not use during actual implosion as it is not weather sealed. I did use it in “cleaner” environments several weeks before doing prep work and the morning of prior to “Implosion”.
With these dirty environs, the 24 has a flat front end element allowing a Filter to be used which is a must in these conditions.
The 17mm TS-E has a “bulbous” front element, not allowing a filter in front.
Both are great lenses, I had to pick one and the job dictated which one….. first.

I haven't had a TS lens in quite some time and got curious as I thought that there were not many options. A quick peak at B&H says otherwise. I used the TS-E24 and it was an awesome lens but I suspect they are all rather good so it depends on what FL your most interested in. Take a look at this for options.
https://www.bhphotovid​eo.com …ens-mount_3442%3Acanon-ef

I've not used them myself, but I knew a photographer who was using these and swore by them:

hartblei.com

Mmm thanks all. This is useful. Ive been eyeing up the 90mm. I mainly shoot portraits so I'm looking in the 50-90 range. Ive not done a lot of manual focus so there would be a steep learning curve there but I'm up for the challenge. Ive seen some "budget" tilt lenses but my experience with budget equipment has generally not been great...

benwulfphotography wrote in post #19518311
Mmm thanks all. This is useful. Ive been eyeing up the 90mm. I mainly shoot portraits so I'm looking in the 50-90 range. Ive not done a lot of manual focus so there would be a steep learning curve there but I'm up for the challenge. Ive seen some "budget" tilt lenses but my experience with budget equipment has generally not been great...

Manual focus these days is super easy. Live view zoomed in 10x right on the spot you want that perfect focus.

It largely depends upon what you want to shoot with it.

For example, I use TS-E 45mm and 90mm for small product photography, in-studio, tabletop work. Usually I use the 45mm with crop sensor cameras and the 90mm with full frame. I use them with extension tubes at times, too... when needed. The newer, closer focusing "Macro" version 50mm and 90mm probably wouldn't need any extensions for much of what I have shot with mine.

The TS-E 17mm and 24mm might be useful for architecture, in particular. Of course, the 45mm and now the 50mm cross over into this type of work, too.

I've used the 24mm for landscape shots, including some multi-shot panoramic images. I'm sure some other people can give more examples how they are using the lenses.

At this point, I no longer have a 90mm... but still have my 24mm and 45mm.

If buying today and considering both new and used, the 24mm "II" is a solid optical improvement over the original. The 17mm, 24mm "II", 50mm Macro, 90mm "L" Macro and 135mm Macro are all the newest generation. These have two planes of rotation to allow the tilt and shift axis to be indexed any way necessary. The older 45mm and 90mm are optically fine lenses, just not as close focusing and they only have a single plane of rotation. It is possible to have the tilt and shift functions re-aligned, but requires partial disassembly of the lens. Canon used to provide this service, but I doubt they do any longer.

EDIT: I see your follow up where you mention portraiture. Frankly I've never used a tilt shift for that type of photography. I suppose it could be handy to get both eyes in perfect focus if a person isn't sitting perfectly square with the sensor plane of the camera. Most of my portraiture is candid and done "on location" where I am shooting fast and may not have much control over backgrounds, so instead I have several large aperture, autofocus primes in the 85mm to 135mm range that are my usual choices (50mm to 85mm when using a crop sensor camera). Those are one or two stops faster than any of the TS-E lenses.

I experimented with several modern manual focus lenses for "street photography", but discovered I've become pretty dependent upon autofocus! Ages ago, in the last century in fact, I shot everything manual focus and was pretty good at it. But I guess you use it or lose it... and I've lost it! I partly blame today's cameras. They are designed with autofocus in mind so don't have the focus assist features and big, bright viewfinders that my cameras had way back when. Sure, there are some new things that can help like focus peaking and the ability to preview a magnified image. But those ain't as quick to use as split image finders, ground glass focus screens and micro-diaprisms we had back in "the dark ages".

benwulfphotography wrote in post #19518311
Mmm thanks all. This is useful. Ive been eyeing up the 90mm. I mainly shoot portraits so I'm looking in the 50-90 range. Ive not done a lot of manual focus so there would be a steep learning curve there but I'm up for the challenge. Ive seen some "budget" tilt lenses but my experience with budget equipment has generally not been great...

The one 'budget tilt-ahd-shift' lens that I am aware of does not have click stops for each aperture..making it somewhat challenging for repeatability of exposures if you focus wide open and then stop down to taking aperture.

BTW, and important subtlety of use for tilt-and-shift lens with any past camera that has TTL metering...meter with the lens CENTERED (not tilted, not shifted), set aperture and shutter speed and then shift/tilt the lens. I have not seen recommendations about metering when it is the sensor doing the metering, and not photosensors in the prism, but suspect that meter-unshifted might no longer be necessary with mirrorless. It would be nice for someone with both dSLR and mirrorless body and tilt/shift lens to do some experimentation in a controlled fashion and post outcome.

AF dSLR do not have great focus screens for manual focus...they are deliberately designed to be bright, not coarse for good manual focus. Mirrorless designs would not suffer from this same shortcoming, of course.

Wilt wrote in post #19518658
The one 'budget tilt-ahd-shift' lens that I am aware of does not have click stops for each aperture..making it somewhat challenging for repeatability of exposures if you focus wide open and then stop down to taking aperture.

BTW, and important subtlety of use for tilt-and-shift lens with any past camera that has TTL metering...meter with the lens CENTERED (not tilted, not shifted), set aperture and shutter speed and then shift/tilt the lens. I have not seen recommendations about metering when it is the sensor doing the metering, and not photosensors in the prism, but suspect that meter-unshifted might no longer be necessary with mirrorless. It would be nice for someone with both dSLR and mirrorless body and tilt/shift lens to do some experimentation in a controlled fashion and post outcome.

AF dSLR do not have great focus screens for manual focus...they are deliberately designed to be bright, not coarse for good manual focus. Mirrorless designs would not suffer from this same shortcoming, of course.

As you claim to own a 7D2, you know that you had a choice of focusing screens.
https://www.canon.co.u​k …ark_ii/specific​ation.html

"Optimized for wide-aperture lenses, specifically in the f/1.8 - 2.8 range, this Eh-S Super Precision Matte Focusing Screen from Canon is designed to obtain sharp points of focus with their EOS 7D Mark II DSLR Camera. It's especially well-suited to situations in which you're manually focusing in dim light with fast lenses, and its fine microlens structure allows for high performance in various scenes."
You can change it yourself- just a couple of screws.
https://www.bhphotovid​eo.com …e834f16471df349​3e93fefe3c

And the 7D2 and other DLSRs allow dual-pixel autofocus in live view, the same as current mirrorless cameras.

Capn Jack wrote in post #19518666
As you claim to own a 7D2, you know that you had a choice of focusing screens.
https://www.canon.co.u​k …ark_ii/specific​ation.html

"Optimized for wide-aperture lenses, specifically in the f/1.8 - 2.8 range, this Eh-S Super Precision Matte Focusing Screen from Canon is designed to obtain sharp points of focus with their EOS 7D Mark II DSLR Camera. It's especially well-suited to situations in which you're manually focusing in dim light with fast lenses, and its fine microlens structure allows for high performance in various scenes."
You can change it yourself- just a couple of screws.
https://www.bhphotovid​eo.com …e834f16471df349​3e93fefe3c

And the 7D2 and other DLSRs allow dual-pixel autofocus in live view, the same as current mirrorless cameras.

Newer dSLR had the new electronic display of grid lines, tilt angle, etc. and the focus screen was not ordinarily user-interchangeable because of the SI Plate. I was not aware there was an option for a different focus screen on the 7DII. The user guide mentions no accessory screen. Until you mentioned the Eh-S I was unaware of it. I had the -S screen for 5D and 40D, but had never tried to get on for the 7DII due to the SI Plate. Thanks for making me aware of its existence!

Wilt wrote in post #19518668
Newer dSLR had the new electronic display of grid lines, tilt angle, etc. and the focus screen was not ordinarily user-interchangeable because of the SI Plate. I was not aware there was an option for a different focus screen on the 7DII.

The 7D2 displays grid lines, tilt angle, etc. There are options for replacing the focus screen for lots of Canon cameras, and Canon gives instructions for users to change them:
https://support.usa.ca​non.com …%20and%201Ds%20​Mark%20III.

Wilt wrote in post #19518658
...BTW, and important subtlety of use for tilt-and-shift lens with any past camera that has TTL metering...meter with the lens CENTERED (not tilted, not shifted), set aperture and shutter speed and then shift/tilt the lens. I have not seen recommendations about metering when it is the sensor doing the metering, and not photosensors in the prism, but suspect that meter-unshifted might no longer be necessary with mirrorless. It would be nice for someone with both dSLR and mirrorless body and tilt/shift lens to do some experimentation in a controlled fashion and post outcome.

This was the case with the original tilt shift lens... the Nikkor 35mm PC back in the 1970s. But is it still true?

Back then someone discovered that this was not a problem if the Nikkor 35mm PC were adapted and used on a Konica SLR... T3, T4, etc. For some reason the Konica cameras were able to meter accurately, even with the tilt or shift movement dialed in. As a result, a lot of Nikkor 35mm PC users had a Konica camera tucked in their camera bag. Konica were designed with a short flange to film distance, precisely so many other brand lenses could be adapted to them. There were several adapters, but the Nikon F-mount was always the most expensive and difficult to find.

Personally I've never bothered with the centering and never had any problem metering my Canon 24mm, 45mm and 90mm TS-E lenses no matter how much shift or tilt was dialed in.

This is wealth of information so thanks to all who chipped in. Much appreciated! BW

Wilt wrote in post #19518658
The one 'budget tilt-ahd-shift' lens that I am aware of does not have click stops for each aperture..making it somewhat challenging for repeatability of exposures if you focus wide open and then stop down to taking aperture.

BTW, and important subtlety of use for tilt-and-shift lens with any past camera that has TTL metering...meter with the lens CENTERED (not tilted, not shifted), set aperture and shutter speed and then shift/tilt the lens. I have not seen recommendations about metering when it is the sensor doing the metering, and not photosensors in the prism, but suspect that meter-unshifted might no longer be necessary with mirrorless. It would be nice for someone with both dSLR and mirrorless body and tilt/shift lens to do some experimentation in a controlled fashion and post outcome.

AF dSLR do not have great focus screens for manual focus...they are deliberately designed to be bright, not coarse for good manual focus. Mirrorless designs would not suffer from this same shortcoming, of course.

Hi Wilt,

I can assure you that inshifted metering is no longer necessary with mirrorless cameras. I use all 3 of my TS-Es only mirrorless cameras currently. Mostly the EOS R, but occasionaaly on my Olympus as well .

HTH, kind regards, Wim