Tilt–shift photography
Tilt–shift photography is the use of camera movements that change the orientation or position of the lens with respect to the film or image sensor on cameras.
Sometimes the term is used when a shallow depth of field is simulated with digital post-processing; the name may derive from a perspective control lens normally required when the effect is produced optically.
"Tilt–shift" encompasses two different types of movements: rotation of the lens plane relative to the image plane, called tilt, and movement of the lens parallel to the image plane, called shift.
Tilt is used to control the orientation of the plane of focus, and hence the part of an image that appears sharp; it makes use of the Scheimpflug principle. Shift is used to adjust the position of the subject in the image area without moving the camera back; this is often helpful in avoiding the convergence of parallel lines, as when photographing tall buildings.
History and use
Movements have been available on view cameras since the early days of photography; they have been available on smaller-format cameras since the early 1960s, usually by means of special lenses or adapters. Nikon introduced a lens providing shift movements for their 35 mm SLR cameras in 1962, and Canon introduced a lens that provided both tilt and shift movements in 1973; many other manufacturers soon followed suit. Canon and Nikon currently offer four lenses that provide both movements. Such lenses are frequently used in architectural photography to control perspective, and in landscape photography to get an entire scene sharp.Some photographers have popularized the use of tilt for selective focus in applications such as portrait photography. The selective focus that can be achieved by tilting the plane of focus is often compelling because the effect is different from that to which many viewers have become accustomed. Ben Thomas, Walter Iooss Jr. of Sports Illustrated, Vincent Laforet and many other photographers have used this technique.
Perspective-control lenses
In photography, a perspective-control lens allows the photographer to control the appearance of perspective in the image; the lens can be moved parallel to the film or sensor, providing the equivalent of corresponding view camera movements. This movement of the lens allows adjusting the position of the subject in the image area without moving the camera back; it is often used to avoid convergence of parallel lines, such as when photographing a tall building. A lens that provides only shift is called a shift lens, while those that can also tilt are called tilt–shift lenses. The terms PC and TS are also used by some manufacturers to refer to this type of lens.Short-focus perspective-control lenses are used mostly in architectural photography; longer focal lengths may also be used in other applications such as landscape, product, and closeup photography. PC lenses are generally designed for single-lens reflex cameras, as rangefinder cameras do not allow the photographer to directly view the effect of the lens, and view cameras allow for perspective control using camera movements.
A PC lens has a larger image circle than is required to cover the image area. Typically, the image circle is large enough, and the mechanics of the lens sufficiently limited, that the image area cannot be shifted outside of the image circle. However, many PC lenses require a small aperture setting to prevent vignetting when significant shifts are employed. PC lenses for 35 mm cameras typically offer a maximum shift of 11 mm; some newer models offer a maximum shift of 12 mm.
The mathematics involved in tilt lenses are described as the Scheimpflug principle, after an Austrian military officer who developed the technique for correcting distortion in aerial photographs.
The first PC lens manufactured for an SLR camera in any format was Nikon's 1961 3.5 35 mm PC-Nikkor; it was followed by an 2.8 35 mm PC-Nikkor, an 4 28 mm PC-Nikkor, and an 3.5 28 mm PC-Nikkor. In 1973, Canon introduced a lens, the TS 35 mm 2.8 SSC, with tilt as well as shift functions.
Other manufacturers, including Venus Optics Laowa, Olympus, Pentax, Schneider Kreuznach, and Minolta, made their own versions of PC lenses. Olympus produced 35 mm and 24 mm shift lenses. Canon currently offers 17 mm, 24 mm, 50 mm, 90 mm and 135 mm tilt/shift lenses. Nikon currently offers 19 mm, 24 mm, 45 mm, and 85 mm PC lenses with tilt and shift capability. Venus Optics Laowa offers the world's widest 15mm shift lens with an extremely good optical distortion control. Fujifilm announced the 30 mm and 110 mm medium format tilt/shift lenses on Sept. 12 2023.
Shape control
When the camera back is parallel to a planar subject, all points in the subject are at the same distance from the camera, and are recorded at the same magnification. The shape of the subject is recorded without distortion. When the image plane is not parallel to the subject, as when pointing the camera up at a tall building, parts of the subject are at varying distances from the camera; the more distant parts are recorded at lesser magnification, causing the convergence of parallel lines. Because the subject is at an angle to the camera, it is also foreshortened.When the camera back is not parallel to a planar subject, it is not possible to have the entire subject in focus without the use of tilt or swing; consequently, the image must rely on the depth of field to have the entire subject rendered acceptably sharp.
With a PC lens, the camera back can be kept parallel to the subject while the lens is moved to achieve the desired positioning of the subject in the image area. All points in the subject remain at the same distance from the camera, and the subject shape is preserved. If desired, the camera back can be rotated away from parallel to the subject, to allow some convergence of parallel lines or even to increase the convergence. Again, the position of the subject in the image area is adjusted by moving the lens.
Available lenses
The earliest perspective control and tilt–shift lenses for 35 mm format were 35 mm focal length, which is now considered too long for many architectural photography applications. With advances in optical design, lenses of 28 mm and then 24 mm became available and were quickly adopted by photographers working in close proximity to their subjects, such as in urban settings.The Arri motion-picture camera company offers a shift and tilt bellows system that provides movements for PL-mount lenses on motion-picture cameras.
Canon currently offers five lenses with tilt and shift functions: the TS-E 17 mm 4, the TS-E 24 mm 3.5L II, the TS-E 50mm f/2.8L MACRO, the TS-E 90 mm 2.8L MACRO, and the TS-E 135 mm f/4L MACRO. The lenses are supplied with the tilt and shift movements at right angles to each other; they can be modified so that the movements operate in the same direction. Canon filed a patent in 2016 for an autofocus system for use in a tilt-shift lens, but has not yet released such a lens as of 2022.
The 17 mm and the 24 mm version II lenses allow independent rotation of the tilt and shift movements. The 50 mm, the 90 mm and the 135 mm providing macro capability of 0.5×, some with extension tube up to 1.0×. All five lenses provide automatic aperture control.
Fujifilm provides two medium format tilt/shift lenses: a 30 mm, and a 110 mm. Both lenses allow automatic aperture control, but must be focussed manually. The tilt mechanism allows up to ±8.5° for the 30 mm lens and up to ±10° for the 110 mm lens; the shift mechanism allows a sideway movement for both of up to ±15 mm.
Both lenses allow not only independent rotation of the tilt component by up to 90° in relation to the shift component, but also enable rotating the whole lens by up to ±90° versus the default landscape position. The 110 mm lens sports a macro capability of max. 0.5× magnification.
Laowa released the 15mm f/4.5 Shift-only lens in 2020. With the ±11mm shift movement, it is currently the widest shift lens ever made for full frame cameras and mounts for all major camera brands are available.
Hartblei makes tilt-and-shift lenses to fit various manufacturers' camera bodies. It currently offers four Super-Rotator Tilt/Shift lenses for 35 mm bodies: the TS-PC Hartblei 35 mm 2.8, the TS-PC Hartblei 65 mm 3.5, the TS-PC Hartblei 80 mm 2.8, and the TS-PC Hartblei 120 mm 2.8. It also offers the TS-PC Hartblei 45 mm 3.5 to fit several medium-format camera bodies. The tilt and shift movements can be independently rotated in any direction.
Hasselblad offers a tilt-and-shift adapter, the HTS 1.5, for use with the HCD 28 mm 4, HC 35 mm 3.5, HC 50 mm 3.5, HC 80 mm 2.8 and HC 100 mm 2.2 lenses on H-System cameras. To allow infinity focus, the adapter includes optics that multiply the lens focal lengths by 1.5. Autofocus and focus confirmation are disabled when using the adapter.
Leica is currently providing the TS-APO-ELMAR-S 1:5,6/120 mm ASPH lens for its new S-System of digital SLRs.
Minolta offered the 35mm 2.8 Shift CA lens for its manual focus SR-mount cameras in the 1970s and 1980s. The lens was unique among perspective-control lenses in that, rather than offering a combination of tilt-and-shift, Minolta designed the lens with variable field curvature, which could make the field of focus either convex or concave.
Nikon offers several PC lenses, all of which feature tilt and shift functions: a new PC-E Nikkor 19mm 4.0 ED lens, a PC-E Nikkor 24 mm 3.5D ED lens, PC-E Micro-Nikkor 45 mm 2.8D ED, and PC-E Micro Nikkor 85 mm 2.8D ED. The 45 mm and 85 mm "Micro" lenses offer close focus for macrophotography. In 2016, Nikon added the PC NIKKOR 19mm f/4E ED extra wide angle view lens with a magnification factor of 0.18 and 25 cm focus distance. The PC-E lenses offer automatic aperture control with the Nikon D3, D300, and D700 cameras. With some earlier camera models, a PC-E lens operates like a regular Nikon PC lens, with preset aperture control by means of a pushbutton; with other earlier models, no aperture control is provided, and the lens is not usable.
The mechanisms providing the tilt and shift functions can be rotated 90° to the left or right so that they operate horizontally, vertically, or at intermediate orientations. The lenses are supplied with the tilt and shift movements at right angles to each other; they can be modified by Nikon so that the movements operate in the same direction.
In Pentax high-end DSLRs the shake reduction hardware unit can be manually adjusted in the X/Y direction to achieve a shift effect with any lens using the Composition Adjust function in the menu system. Although available for any lens that fits the camera body, this adjustment can not fully replace regular shift lenses as those may provide a larger shift movement.
Schneider-Kreuznach offers the PC-Super Angulon 28 mm 2.8 lens that provides shift movements, with preset aperture control. The lens is available with mounts to fit cameras by various manufacturers, and also with 42 mm screw mount.
The Sinar arTec camera offers tilt and shift with the full range of Sinaron digital lenses.
All perspective-control and tilt–shift lenses are manual-focus prime lenses, but are quite expensive compared to regular prime lenses. Some medium format camera makers, such as Mamiya, have addressed this problem by offering shift adapters that work with the maker's other prime lenses.
File:Sony A77 + Samyang T-S 24 mm f3.5.jpg|thumb|upright|The Samyang T-S 24 mm f3.5 mounted on a Sony A77
In 2013, Samyang Optics introduced one of the cheapest today tilt–shift lenses, the Samyang T-S 24mm f/3.5 ED AS UMC, which can tilt up to 8.5 degrees and shift up to 12mm of axis.
ARAX introduced a 35 mm f/2.8 and an 80 mm f/2.8 tilt–shift lens, which are available for several camera mounts. Both lenses retail for less than the Samyang T-S 24mm. ARAX also produces a 50 mm f/2.8 tilt–shift lens for Micro 4/3 and Sony NEX mounts.