I AM BLOG.

I rented a tilt/shift lens this past weekend for my cousin’s wedding. Sadly, the wicked witch of the north (AKA the wedding coordinator) prohibited me from using it to it’s full potential. But I digress…

All in all, the lens was pretty darn cool, but definitely requires some time spent with it to learn it’s ins and outs. In “normal” photography, the focal plane is always parallel to the sensor, but a tilt/shift lens allows the photographer to change this plane. This allows the photographer to have a tremendous amount of control over depth of field. Other uses allow the photographer to correct perspective distortion and to take panoramas without moving the camera back.

There’s so much more to keep in mind when using this lens and the tilt/shift adjustments. Not only does tilting or shifting change the perspective or focal plane, it also introduces vignetting and changes in the exposure are also necessary. I feel like extreme tilt or shift also affects the sharpness of the lens. But overall, the lens is very fun. If my large format lenses sell, this lens may be next on my list.

IN A NUTSHELL:

Pros:
- Options! Change that focal plane!
- Great colors
- Sharp (for the most part)
- Opens tons of creative doors

Cons:
- Lack of sharpness when using extreme tilt/shift (but could be due to poor technique)*
- Takes some time getting use to, but obviously there will be a learning curve
- If you don’t have Live View, you better have a split-prism focusing screen

Just received my fisheye from the mail. I paid about $150 (used, on eBay) for it and it came with all of the original goodies (carrying case, filters, lens caps, etc.). This is just a preliminary review. I’ve only shot about 20 frames with it just to get a feel for things. I tested the lens on a Canon 5D Mark II body.

The Lens
The lens itself is very compact and very light. It’s a manual focus lens and uses the M42 mount, so an adaptor is needed. Most companies sell the lens with an adaptor already mounted and they have them for most cameras. The focus ring is marked with distances ranging from 0.3 meters to infinity (Yes! Infinity focus!) and it’s made of a nice rubber material. The aperture is adjusted manually via a small ring located towards the back.

Sharpness and Contrast
Most people these days are worried about the sharpness of a lens. I read a few reviews and people said the lens wasn’t too sharp unless stopped down to higher apertures. I find the lens to be sharp even wide open (f/2.8) and pretty darn good stopped down to f/4 ~ f/5.6. At anything higher than f/8, I can see the effects of diffraction and the image quality suffers. The lens itself produces nice, punchy contrast and good colors as well. I haven’t noticed any strange color casts (yet), but I’ll have to shoot more to know for sure.

This is a 100% crop. No sharpening, but I did adjust the levels, which will bump up contrast. Still, nothing you wouldn’t do in post.

Bokeh
For such a cheap lens, it produces decent bokeh. Most wide lenses don’t produce the best bokeh and this lens is really wide. You can notice “rings” in the bokeh, but to be honest, this is pretty darn good.

Another 100% corner crop. I believe this was shot at f/2.8, but could have been f/5.6.

Fishy-ness (Distortion)
So on a full frame camera, I find the lens to be fishy enough. I used to own a Peleng 8mm fisheye which had a huge image circle and you could actually see the inside of the barrel in your pictures. The Zenitar fills the entire frame and doesn’t leave the dark corners, which I like. If you have a crop camera, don’t expect the lens to be so fishy.

The fishy-ness varies with how close you get to the object. I was probably 2 feet away when I took this picture, but it should give you a good idea of how much distortion you’ll get.

Overall, seems like a fun lens. I’ll put it through it’s paces and report back in a few days.

Finally got a lens for my camera. Canon lenses are either on really high demand or Canon is holding their gear from the US because of the weak dollar. In any case, I got the lens. I was debating between the 24-70L and the 35L and decided to go with the 35L. The zoom would have been nice for videos, but I prefer primes over zooms. I think I made the right decision. We’ll see.

[click for bigger images!]

Our very own Elmer Fudd. Cute.

[photo courtesy of Pete Souza on flickr]