Tilt & Shift (T&S) lens for travel?

My first which lens thread so if I don't make any sense, just whack me.

I'll be traveling to Shanghai for 2 weeks for work but will have time wandering around afterward and thinking of bringing my 45 T&S along with the 16-35 and 40mm pancake.

Anyone brings T&S when travel just to get a different kind of pics?

My plan is travel light the 5D3, 16-35 f4, 40mm ( or 50 f1.2) and the 45. If not 45 I may take the 24L with me if I really want 3 lenses. I also bring the M+22 too.

Still debating if the tripod will come along too.

If you're going to be right in the city, you could get some shots with the TS lens that you wouldn't be able to get with any other lens, assuming you're pretty comfortable with it. I'd probably do it!

Yes, I'm staying at the Le Meredien, right at the center. One of the reasons I'm thinking of the T&S is to shoot the city from the top down ( not sure how easy to go up the top of those high buildings in Shanghai).

I always bring my 24 TS-E anywhere I travel since I acquired it. In fact, it was used more than my 24-70 II, especially for shooting buildings.

It's fairly easy to get up high in a number of the buildings around downtown. However, having space to move around with dSLR gear can be tricky and I'm guessing you'll find a tripod nearly impossible (during the day); when night rolls around the downtown streets become astonishingly empty. If you can pull it off, though, a T/S would be a nice thing to have.

Thanks. I'll make room for the 45 T&S and probably won't bring a tripod since I don't want to carry a backpack, just a shoulder bag. But if the carry on has room, I may just throw it in.

That's a fair plan. Be sure to find time to go up in the tv tower there...try for a clear-ish day; and be aware that the smog there is a physical thing and it has attitude if there hasn't been any rain recently.

We have much different definitions of traveling light...

Also, I highly recommend taking the time to cab/train out to the zoo. It's a heck of a long trip, but you can run around on an open island with lemurs!

Hmmm....I guess to me the idea of taking along a TS but not taking a tripod is strange and to me a TS lens is 99% a tripod lens. You don't stitch images that are not from a tripod, and getting all tilts and shifts correct for the situation while handholding the camera is a low-success application in general.

I dunno. I'm not a huge architecture photographer. But do people really use TS-E lenses handheld (while applying tilt and shift) much? My inclination would be that this is not common.

I fully agree, no reason to bring a TSE if you don't have a tripod.
In less you are doing stuff like a lens baby or just not using the tilt shift function.

How does the lensbaby differ from a normal tilt shift?

I heartily recommend getting someone to drive you out about 1 hour west outside Shanghai, to an ancient town named Zhujiajiao, for a view of old China. 'Old China' is apparently rare enough that a lot of Chinese visit there! Shanghai, while different from what we are normally accustomed to, is a huge high rise city with an Asian favor, yet parts of it I had to remind myself I was not strolling about Vienna! A colleague of mine and I arranged thru our hotel to have a private car and driver for a half day, so we could get to Zhujiajiao.

Largely the city is somewhat expansive and not with the crowded spaces characterizing many European ancient towns. While I greatly enjoyed taking a 24mm shift lens as my ONLY lens on a trip to Europe, I never really felt the need in Shanghai. I have gone into one very tall high rise (Shanghai World Financial Center with highest observation level floor in the world), and would not have found a shift lens valuable at all...too high up!

Don't bother taking a taxi to/from the airport and downtown. Much nicer and faster and less expensive to take the Maglev train.

Lens babies don't shift ..........
normally the only thing in focus is what is in the middle of the lens.

Absolutely take the Maglev to/from the airport; that is a heck of a thing. So sort of wish I'd had the tip on Zhujiajiao while I was there; good one, Wilt! The city is mostly indistinguishable from any, other major city as mentioned. If you go down to the temple district and wander down there, though, you can get a fascinating view into the dichotomy of the "old" town compared to the new; you'll see the smaller shops/buildings and alleyways that were around before highrise modernization came along.