The shift of a tilt-shift lens explained

Monday 8 March 2021, 20:02 by Nando Harmsen | 6,646 views | 16 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

We have all heard of a tilt-shift lens. These lenses have the special ability to shift or tilt the lenses relative to the camera. In this article, I explain how the shift function of a tilt-shift works and what it is useful for.

A tilt-shift lens looks impressive, with all its buttons and wheels. It looks even more impressive when you see how such a lens can be tilted and shifted.

The possibilities of a tilt-shift are clearly visible in this photo. Tilting and shifting give the view something strange
These expensive lenses give you two options, each producing very different results. The first is a tilt function, which changes the angle of the lens relative to the camera. This allows you to tilt the plane of focus, so you can create some very unusual effects.

The second is the shift function, which this article is about. This allows you to shift the lens relative to the camera upwards or downwards, or to the left or right. The question is, why would you want to use this?

Would you like to know more about the tilt function? Then read the follow-up article The tilt of a tilt-shift lens explained.

A solution, but what for exactly?

The shift function shifts the lens relative to the camera. Or rather, relative to the sensor. But what problem is this actually the solution to?

To answer that, we need to look at photographing large subjects, such as buildings. You know the situation, you are standing in front of a building and photographing upwards with a wide-angle lens to get it all in the frame.

The straight lines of the building suddenly run towards a vanishing point. These are called converging lines, a perspective distortion that is sometimes unwanted. If you want to keep the lines straight, there are essentially three possible solutions.

These are converging lines. Because I have to photograph upwards, there is perspective distortion. The lines run towards a vanishing point.
The first solution is to position the camera exactly halfway up the height of your building, so that you can keep the camera perfectly horizontal. The vertical lines will then run neatly vertically. The problem is that this is often impossible, especially with tall buildings.

The second solution is to stand further away and use a longer focal length. This also removes the perspective distortion, provided you can stand far enough away from your building. The problem is that this is often impractical or even impossible. There often is not enough space to move backwards.

The third solution is to use an even more extreme wide-angle lens, so that you can keep the camera exactly horizontal, but then you get an unnecessary amount of ground in the frame. You will then have to crop it out.

Did I say there are three solutions to the problem? No, there is a fourth, and that is the shift function of a tilt-shift lens.

How the shift function works

You may know that a lens has an image circle. This image circle is large enough to cover the surface of the sensor. A tilt-shift lens has a much larger image circle.

On the left is the image circle of a normal lens, and on the right that of a tilt-shift lens. The red rectangle is the size of the camera's sensor.
Because you have a much larger image circle, you can shift the area recorded by the sensor. More accurately, you can move the image circle by moving the tilt-shift lens relative to the sensor.

Normally, the part captured by the sensor is the middle section of the image circle. A tilt-shift lens allows you to shift the part that is captured using the shift function. In this case, upwards.

Keep your camera level

When you keep the camera exactly horizontal, you prevent converging lines. The problem is that you then get a lot of foreground in the frame and miss the top of the building. The large image circle of the tilt-shift does capture the top of the building.

By shifting the lens, you make sure that you use exactly the part of the image circle that you want to capture. The rest stays outside the frame. The photo below is the result, with neat, straight lines.

The result of using the shift function of the tilt-shift lens. Because I keep the camera perfectly horizontal, I prevent converging lines and still have the top of the building in the frame.
It is important to keep your camera perfectly horizontal. This is the only way to prevent those converging lines caused by perspective distortion.

Straightening with photo editing

Of course, these days it is very easy to straighten a photo in photo-editing software. This also works with the wide-angle perspective distortion that occurs when you point the camera upwards. You can easily correct the converging lines this way.

You can straighten these lines in photo-editing software. The downside is that you lose quality and part of the image.
The consequence of this correction is, first of all, loss of image, particularly in the top left and right corners. That part of the photo has to be 'stretched' to make the vertical lines truly vertical in the photo.

Straightening slanted lines comes at the cost of part of the image. You can see how much image you lose through this correction if you want to keep a 2:3 ratio. You also had to pull the pixels apart to do this.
Stretching a photo is bad for the quality. Because you pull the pixels apart, the photo-editing software has to invent additional pixels. However good it has become at doing this, it cannot bring back any detail.

Incidentally, the stretching upwards was done to get the correct proportions of the building. Stretching only to the left and right makes the building look squashed.

Whether or not to get a tilt-shift

Of course, you can reduce a photo enough that the missing details caused by straightening it with software are no longer visible. In other words, there are always workable solutions you can come up with to end up with a good photo.

If you only need to make these corrections occasionally, buying a tilt-shift lens is of course not immediately necessary. Although, you can use one to photograph other things too. I will probably write another article about that at some point.

Two Canon tilt-shift lenses: the TS-E17mm f/4L and the TS-E 24mm f/3,5L II
However, if you photograph a lot of architecture, interiors or perhaps even property, a lens with a shift function can be very useful. It means you do not have to use software tricks to straighten slanted vertical lines. And your workflow is simply much easier.

Do you often photograph buildings and structures? Do you also struggle with converging lines, or do you accept them? Would you consider getting a tilt-shift, or do you already have one? Share your experiences in a comment below this post.

Share: WhatsApp Facebook

About the author

Nando Harmsen has been photographing for more than 40 years. He specialises in wedding photography and landscape photography. Nando also gives talks, workshops, masterclasses and photo trips, and regularly reviews new and interesting equipment.

The tilt of a tilt-shift lens explained
by Nando Harmsen
Tilt-shift effect in landscape photography
by Nando Harmsen
Tilt-shift lens for extreme depth of field
by Nando Harmsen
A tilt-shift adapter for the Canon RF mount
by Nando Harmsen
Getting started with tilt-shift without selling your kidney
by Elja Trum
Laowa launches a new 20mm Zero-D shift lens
by Nando Harmsen

Show every article in Tips and tricks

home

16 comments

Dick wrote on Tuesday 9 March 2021 at 10:36 | reply
Er is een 4e optie, namelijk DxO viewpoint: https://www.dxo.com/dxo-viewpoint/ voor als je een tilt-shift lens toch een beetje aan de prijs vindt.
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

Nando wrote on Tuesday 9 March 2021 at 10:57 | reply
@Dick:
het maakt niet uit wat voor software je gebruikt om perspectief te corrigeren. Het effect dat je hebt blijft hetzelfde: beeldverlies en een zekere achteruitgang in beeldkwaliteit door de bewerking.
Maar zoals ik zeg in het artikel: voor die ene keer is dat niet zo erg. Maar als je dit soort bewerkingen elke keer nodig hebt, kan het interessant zijn om toch een tilt-shift te overwegen. Er zijn ook goedkopere dan de originele verkrijgbaar.
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

Donald Willemsen wrote on Tuesday 9 March 2021 at 10:58 | reply
Een tof artikel. De andere functie, die niet direct aan bod is gekomen, levert ook bijzondere resultaten op.
Nadeel van deze lenzen is de prijs. Die van Canon (keuze uit 3 lenzen) kosten allemaal tussen de 2000€ en 2500€.
De TS-lens van Samyang is meer dan 1000€ goedkoper. Dan vraag ik me af waar het enorme prijsverschil in zit. Dat kan niet alleen de kwaliteit zijn.

Nando, ik hoop dat je ook nog aandacht zal geven aan de andere functie van de lens.
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

Nando wrote on Tuesday 9 March 2021 at 11:29 | reply
@Donald:
Canon heeft wel meer dan 3 tilt-shift objectieven. Een 17mm, een 24mm, een 50mm, een 90mm en een 135mm. Dan zijn er nog de oudere 45mm en 90mm versies.
Samyang is met al zijn objectieven goedkoper, dus niet zo verwonderlijk dat dit ook voor de tilt-shift geldt.
De tilt-functie behandel ik in mijn volgende artikel.
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

Martinus wrote on Tuesday 9 March 2021 at 11:52 | reply
Ook met Skylum Luminar AI is de vertekening snel te verwijderen.
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

Alex Leys wrote on Tuesday 9 March 2021 at 12:16 | reply
Eenvoudig uitgelegd, prima artikel! Wat betreft het verschil tussen een "dure" Canon en een "goedkope" Samyang toch even het volgende; wanneer ik met tilt-shift wilde gaan werken kocht ik de Samyang omwille van de prijs. De kwaliteit (bv. randscherpte chromatische abberatie...) kon me echter niet overtuigen. Ik huurde een weekend de canon 17mm en was meteen verkocht, het verschil is toch wel de meerprijs waard wanneer je regelmatig aan architectuur en/of immo- fotografie doet!
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

André Kremer wrote on Tuesday 9 March 2021 at 12:18 | reply
Vroeger een Linhof technische camera gebruikt voor architectuurfotografie. Maar ook wel gebruikt voor portretten waarbij met een halfprofiel het scherpstelvlak op beide ogen gelegd kan worden bij grote lensopening; geeft een apart effect. Helaas de Linhof niet meer ter beschikking, ik ben benieuwd of iemand er ervaring mee heeft bij de huidige tiltshift lenzen.
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

Donald Willemsen wrote on Tuesday 9 March 2021 at 13:01 | reply
@André Kremer, specialist op gebied van TS-lenzen is fotograaf Tony Vingerhoets. Zoek hem maar eens op via Google.
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

Martin wrote on Tuesday 9 March 2021 at 17:10 | reply
Ik heb de Nikon 24 mm shift tilt lens. Een fijne lens waarmee ik gebouwen veel beter op de foto kan zetten dan met mijn andere lenzen. Helaas zit er geen autofocus op en blijkt het lastig foto's te maken die 'gestoken scherp' zijn. Misschien moet ik de lens een keer laten kalibreren of de cursus Scherpstellen voor Gevorderden volgen...
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

Bernard wrote on Tuesday 9 March 2021 at 21:52 | reply
@Martin. Ook mijn Canon "L" serie TS24mm heeft geen autofocus. Op het display het beeld vergroten en dan scherp stellen. De kwaliteit is uitstekend. Nando bedankt voor je artikel, ik ben benieuwd naar het "tilt" verhaal.
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

Nando wrote on Wednesday 10 March 2021 at 09:47 | reply
@Martin;
@Bernard heeft het al gezegd: gebruik je liveview en het vergroten van het beeld om perfect scherp te stellen.
Ik gebruik voor vastgoed altijd een f/8 of f/11. Dan is de scherptediepte groot genoeg om bijna alles scherp te krijgen. Daarbij maak ik gebruik van de scherptediepteschaal op het objectief (bij Canon). Ik weet niet of Nikon dat ook heeft, maar dat is een handvat.
Let wel op dat die schaal niet altijd even nauwkeurig is.
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

Donald Willemsen wrote on Wednesday 10 March 2021 at 10:24 | reply
@Martin,
@Nando als aanvulling: een aantal camera's beschikken over een scherptediepte controleknop. Bij Canon in ieder geval (op de body vlakbij de lensvatting). Mogelijk heeft de Nikon ook zo'n controleknop
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

Martin wrote on Wednesday 10 March 2021 at 14:54 | reply
@ Donald
@ Nando
Zo'n knop zit ook op mijn Nikon D750, maar als je hem indrukt wordt het beeld (vaak) zo donker dat de scherptediepte lastig te beoordelen is. Overigens: is het een idee om een cursus aan de shift tilt lenzen te wijden?
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

Nando wrote on Thursday 11 March 2021 at 10:39 | reply
@Martin:
Een cursus voor tilt-shift objectieven is zeker interessant. Ik kan echter niet beloven dat dit op korte termijn zal gebeuren, maar ik noteer deze wel in de wish-list
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

Donald Willemsen wrote on Thursday 11 March 2021 at 11:47 | reply
@Nando, ik zie het ook wel zitten dat je op termijn een tilt/shift cursus bij photofacts academy gaat geven. Dan heb je alvast een beter beeld voordat je over zou gaan naar zo'n relatief dure aankoop.
Misschien zie je het ook wel zitten om een review te schrijven over het goedkopere alternatief: de Samyang TS-lens.
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

Nando wrote on Thursday 11 March 2021 at 15:21 | reply
@Donald;
ik zal het er eens over hebben
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

Have your say

Please note: Articles older than a week can only be commented on by signed-in visitors.
Would you still like to comment? sign in or create a free account.

Become a better photographer every week

A practical photography tip in your inbox every week.
39,103 photography enthusiasts already receive the tips! More about the weekly mail. Or keep up to date via Facebook. Sign-up secured with Google reCaptcha.

Elja Trum

Photofacts; everything to do with photography!

Would you like to take better photos and keep up with what is happening in photography? Photofacts publishes articles that teach you something about photography — from a product announcement to a practical shooting tip or a look at a website. Photofacts covers photography every day and is a hobby project of Elja Trum's that got out of hand. The articles are written by a team of volunteer authors. If you would enjoy writing one or more articles for Photofacts, do get in touch.More about Photofacts

Photofacts is made possible in part by