New Autofocus RF mount tilt-shift lenses expected after next round of camera announcements

[miketcool]

I would imagine with the shift in focal plane, you would need a quad-pixel AF system to be able to focus.

 

[blurryeyedbeast]

LOL. If all those patents make it into these lenses, they will be absolutely bonkers costly and ground breakingly expensive. And you complained the RF 50/1.8 is too expensive.

I am not the target market for this style of lens and have no interest in buying it.

As you often say, Canon has a professional approach to which lenses they make, know their market, and how much that market will spend of such a lens. If it is bonkers costly then that's what Canon's market research has decided that the market will support, regardless of what a single photographer like yourself thinks. Unless you think Canon is wrong to pursue this path?

 

[EricN]

A great way to shoot butterflies was with a 90mm TS-E and a 2x teleconvertor or a closeup lens. You can get the entire wing in focus even at fully-open, and perfect once you stop down to f/16 or what have you.

Please share any photos you have like that!

 

[EricN]

So it seems - I've just taken a look at your profile and I note that you're well on your way to making 2^15 posts here. Congratulations.

I've just had a look at my profile, and can report that, given this is just my 5th post here in close to a decade, no - seemingly I do not.

So, it's a newly acquired skill for you?

 

[neuroanatomist]

... quite a revealing post here (particularly the third paragraph [bold and italics added by yours truly]), although perhaps not in the way it was intended.

I make no secret of the fact that I have little to no tolerance for those posting misinformation and those claiming to speak for anyone other than themselves. Perhaps you should give some thought to the actual toxicity you observe.

 

[EricN]

I watched the ABC Australia show "Stuff the British Stole" on the Parthenon Sculptures (Ep1, series 2). Series shows the complicated arguments for/against objects in the UK that came from other countries

One part of it was the use of handheld 3D scanners of the marbles in the British Museum for the purpose of recreating the marbles ie accurate copy in marble for the Brits to keep (or even restore with colours etc) and the original ones go back to their spiritual home in Greece. 3D scanning was not against the British Museum's rules... of course, the Brits declined the offer but the marbles were made anyway.

Free with login setup but not sure if access outside of Australia is possible.
https://iview.abc.net.au/video/DO2207H001S00

Thanks for the link! I'm in Thailand using an android phone and made the account without any problem, but attempting to play the video resulted in a problem (from an android phone). I'll try a MacBook and if that doesn't work, a vpn later.

"Video Player Error
Sorry, there has been a technical error with this video stream. For tips and troubleshooting please check our technical support page ."

 

[EricN]

I would imagine with the shift in focal plane, you would need a quad-pixel AF system to be able to focus.

There's people much more knowledge than me, but my understanding was the lack of autofocus on the ts-e was there was no good way to allow the various mechanical movements and provide a pathway of electricity to where motors for the AF would need to be.

 

[David - Sydney]

As you often say, Canon has a professional approach to which lenses they make, know their market, and how much that market will spend of such a lens. If it is bonkers costly then that's what Canon's market research has decided that the market will support, regardless of what a single photographer like yourself thinks. Unless you think Canon is wrong to pursue this path?

Halo products don't always need a large market or even break even and rely on the psychological Halo Effect to influence a brand or other products.

I'm not sure what volume the manual focus Nikon 58/0.95 sells but it is out of stock at B&H and yet is USD8k.
Some users will buy the most expensive item irrespective of value-for-money because it demonstrates their wealth externally ie conspicuous consumption.

Sometimes OEMs just like to show how good they can be. Call it corporate vanity projects if you will but they all like them

 

[Torsten]

Thanks for this.

I’ve been following the discussion because I’d really like to know what people use TS lenses for. Mostly it seems to be architecture (which makes sense, but I don’t shoot buildings) and the “toy” effect (which would be fun to play with, but I think the novelty would wear off quickly). So I concluded this lens wasn’t for me.

Shift is, amongst other things, something I like to using for different perspectives. For example, shifting up in order to have less ground and more sky in the frame and sometimes combining it with a (bit) lower (to the ground) position of the camera gives interesting perspectives. In some (rare for me) cases I do the opposite as well: shift to have more ground in the frame. I have found less uses for left/right shift, but sometimes I use that too. More often than not to get my reflection out of the frame than to get a more "interesting" perspective. Though, my reflection not being in frame makes it more interesting I guess

If I had one suggestion to explore the use of using T/S lenses without renting or buying one first: Start with Coopers book on T/S or some of his videos about that.

 

[Canon Rumors Guy]

I would consider a tilt-shift lens around a 24 mm focal length although I am not sure how often I would use it. Definitely, not a go to lens so might eventually pass on it. Just FYI I have never owned a tilt-shift lens.

I have used many of them, I had them all when Lens Rentals Canada was running. Everything that I disliked about them, it looks like Canon is solving. There are applications in which they're the best choice for.... there are other times you can do some creative things. Now I sucked with them, but I'd really be into one of these coming AF TS lenses in and around 15-17mm. I'm excited to see what Canon has come up with.

 

[Torsten]

Depends, I use mine every time I visit a city. It happens I just hate distorted buildings. With a bit of practice, the TS lenses, except extreme WA like 17mm, can very easily be used handheld. The future 14mm TSE will be a different story, tripod warmly recommended...

Same for me. Photos showing converging vertical lines on photos of buildings or natural features cause me pain if they are not intentionally contributing in a positive way to the image. Which (to me) means: the vast majority of images with converging vertical lines.

However, I strongly disagree with the 17mm not being easily used handheld.

Got my first TS (the 17 mm) in 2015 b/c it was Keith Cooper in one of his articles back then that convinced me the 17 and 24 can easily be used without a tripod. Looking back, more than half the time I use mine handheld and often with my 5DS (ie, exposure set & AF confirm before shift).

New TS lenses could contribute to changes to my "bang/buck ratio" calculations when it comes to the decision to finally get a RF camera body. Is manual AF a problem with my hand hold use of the wide angle TSes? No, but I sure wouldn't mind having AF. Can I use manual T/S just fine? Yes. But especially motorized Tilt with a faster and somewhat "more intuitive" way to determine & setting the tilt would be really nice for me and make Tilt something I'd use more often handheld. Of course getting info on the amount and direction of tilt and/or shift in EXIF data would be more than welcome (to me). I'd love a 14mm TS lens and I'm sure I'll be using it handheld very often and the only problem that this will cause will be to my bank account

 

[SwissFrank]

Please share any photos you have like that!

I don't think I have them scanned!

 

[EOS 4 Life]

Then you posted this and it’s very relevant because I just took a macro of a butterfly the other day and the head and leading edge of one wing were tack-sharp and the rest of him/her was soft. Suddenly a TS lens makes perfect sense….

I do not think tilt/shift would work for that unless the butterfly would stay perfectly still.
Try stopping down your aperture.

 

[SwissFrank]

I really don\'t see the point of AF in a tilt shift lens if it adds any significant cost.

I don't really see the point of shift any more since keystoning is trivial to fix digitally. But you might as well take AF. It'd be usable with tilt for sure.

It would add a lot of cost--RF lenses cost as much as they do mostly thx to AF I think. But sure, I'd take it.

 

[Del Paso]

Same for me. Photos showing converging vertical lines on photos of buildings or natural features cause me pain if they are not intentionally contributing in a positive way to the image. Which (to me) means: the vast majority of images with converging vertical lines.

However, I strongly disagree with the 17mm not being easily used handheld.

Got my first TS (the 17 mm) in 2015 b/c it was Keith Cooper in one of his articles back then that convinced me the 17 and 24 can easily be used without a tripod. Looking back, more than half the time I use mine handheld and often with my 5DS (ie, exposure set & AF confirm before shift).

New TS lenses could contribute to changes to my "bang/buck ratio" calculations when it comes to the decision to finally get a RF camera body. Is manual AF a problem with my hand hold use of the wide angle TSes? No, but I sure wouldn't mind having AF. Can I use manual T/S just fine? Yes. But especially motorized Tilt with a faster and somewhat "more intuitive" way to determine & setting the tilt would be really nice for me and make Tilt something I'd use more often handheld. Of course getting info on the amount and direction of tilt and/or shift in EXIF data would be more than welcome (to me). I'd love a 14mm TS lens and I'm sure I'll be using it handheld very often and the only problem that this will cause will be to my bank account

Agree!
I was being careful about handholding the TSE 17mm, since I do not own one. When I still was TSE inexperienced, I once borrowed one. My results were less convincing. I too I'm certain that I'll soon handhold the TS 14mm...hating tripods. They slow you down when visiting a city. But I'm no professional architecture shooter, so I'm not always looking for the 100% perfect results.

 

[Gazwas]

A tiny minority of stills photographers need AF in a TS lens.

These new auto focus RF TS lenses are all about being useful to video shooters.

I use my TS lenses for stills and video and would love to see a motorised shift that I could use rather than tilting or panning the tripod. It's so hard currently to do smoothly with the manual versions due to the centre detent.

I'm the opposite in that I often use a TS lens to reduce DOF rather than how everyone thinks to increase DOF. An autofocus and tilt mechanism that moves with my subject or when I move the camera would be a great feature.

If they have motorised tilt and shift, Autofocus when paired with the new RF cinema cameras sounds like a great tool.

 

[DSB]

I own all of the current Canon TS lenses, 17, 24, 50, 90 and 135 mm.

To be honest, the potential autofocus feature hardly excites me, as I use them on a tripod 99% of time.

For my use, autofocus won't do anything and I already know that I'd still use the lens in manual focusing mode all the time. If I'm doing HDR's I don't want autofocus. If I'm shift-stitching I don't want autofocus. If I'm doing focus stacking I don't want autofocus. If I'm making panoramas I don't want autofocus. All of these require slow, deliberate and careful handling of the camera and the lens, so I just don't see how autofocus would improve this.

On the other hand, who knows - maybe autofocus TS lenses will open up a world of new style and approach to shooting. For example, they could be interesting for video or even styled portraits.

I shoot a lot of architecture, both interiors and exteriors, but I also find that the TS lenses are excellent for landscapes and cityscapes. I've used them extensively to shoot some of my favorite landscape photos and I'm always surprised that landscape shooters don't use them more.

I use 90 and 135 mostly for studio work, product shots and focus plane control, but I've also discovered they're very good for shooting distant landscapes. 17, 24 and 50 are my main lenses for architecture and I think an ultrawide 12mm TS would be a huge deal for architecture photographers.

 

[SwissFrank]

If I'm doing focus stacking I don't want autofocus.

This is when I'd want autofocus the most, for automated stacking.

 

[DSB]

This is when I'd want autofocus the most, for automated stacking.

Good point, but it also depends on the subject and the lens. For small scale focus stacking (macro or close to macro, where you need to take a lot of images) it would certainly be beneficial, you're right about that. But for landscapes, I'm not so sure.

 

[SwissFrank]

I think an ultrawide 12mm TS would be a huge deal for architecture photographers.

Once you throw in the shift it's almost like a 6-8mm rectilinear, with a huge amount of what some people call "wide angle distortion." (I don't think of it as a distortion as it's an accurate portrayal of what the lens is supposed to do.) To correct for that the viewing distance needs to be quite near given the output width/height. (Like, view a 4' or 120cm wide rendering from 1 or 30cm away--figures for a non-shifted 9mm rectilinear*** and potentially even more-so with shift.) I'd suggest just going fisheye at that point and processing with software to get any given rectilinear view you end up needing.

*** formula is sensorwidth/focallength = imagewidth/viewingdistance.