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How tilt shift lenses work to correct distortion and make scenes appear miniature

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Tilt shift lenses are used for far more than simply making cities look like they were shot as miniatures. They allow you to correct for perspective distortion. They also let you shift the focal plane to get subjects at different distances in focus and a whole lot more. You don’t get quite the versatility that you would from the movements of a large format camera, but they’re a start.

Of course, the miniature effect in recent years (whether shot in camera, done in post, or applied in Instagram) has made tilt shift lenses quite popular. In this video from LensProToGo, we’re walked through the features of tilt-shift lenses, and exactly how they do what they do.

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Nikon launch ultrawide 19mm f/4E PC tilt-shift and new 70-200mm f/2.8E VR lenses

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When Nikon updated the 70-200mm f/2.8VR with the VRII in 2009, it was much celebrated. Finally the vignetting issues that had plagued the original for full frame/film users had been fixed. While the VRII was just as successful as its predecessor it was quite heavily slated for focus breathing issues at the long end. Now, that has been replaced with the new Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR.

Nikon have also announced a new addition to their Perspective Control (PC) line of lenses. The ultrawide full frame Nikon PC-E Nikkor 19mm f/4E ED Tilt-Shift lens. Previously the widest lens in the PC Nikkor range was the 24mm f/3.5D, so this presents a pretty substantial increase in field of view.

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Faking the tilt-shift video look in Adobe Premiere Pro

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Since the first tilt-shift timelapses started to appear online several years ago, it’s a look that’s been attempted, copied, and improved upon quite a bit.  Tilt-shift lenses, however, can be pretty expensive, and for something that you may only use occasionally, an expense you may not be able to justify.

As a consequence, the tilt-shift look of many videos is created in post.  In this video from VideoRevealed, Colin Smith shows us how we can quickly achieve the look in Adobe Premiere Pro.

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One Full Project with Just One Lens

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Making a “good” or “nice” photo is so easy nowadays but how to be consistent when making series of photographs? Is it hard to do a full featured project using only one lens?

As my photographic career is fully focused on image sequencing, and mostly in form of time lapse, I always find some hassle every time I get assigned a non sequential photography job.

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How To Build A DIY Tilt Lens For As Little As 66$

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After seeing some photos taken with tilt lenses, I fell in love with the idea of lens tilting and its creative options – The miniature effect, Great control of focus and creamy bokeh.

I really wanted to have such a lens, but did not want to spend $1000 for the moderate use I will probably have for it. I decided to make my own. Here is how I did it.

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The Wonderful Tilt-Shift Effect You Get When Coupling A Mamiya Lens With A DSLR

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Photographer and editor Chris Rutter constructed a fairly simple, yet powerful tilt shift camera by combining a Mamiya 45mm lens with a Canon 600D body.

I think that using a Mamiya lens is a stroke of genius for doing DIY tilt-shift lenses, mainly for two reasons: for one those lenses can be found on eBay for around 50-150 US Dollars and they provide superior quality for the price.

The second reason has to do with the optic qualities of large format lenses. A large format lens has to cover a large piece of film (or a large piece of sensor), as a result it casts a large image onto the film plane. This allows light to hit the sensor even if the image is tilted or shifted. But it gets better, the Flange Focal Distance – the distance a lens requires from its rear end to the film plane – is larger for medium format cameras so using a Mamiya lens allows having some bellows between the lens and body while still allowing non-macro photographs to be taken.[Read More…]

How to Convert Lenses to Tilt Shift Macro Lenses With 3D Printing

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At about $1500 real tilt-shift lenses are not cheap. (Long time readers will appreciate the correct spelling :). Instructable user Cpt.Insano created a 3D printed adapter that converts practically and Nikon lens into a tilt shift lens. Sadly, getting the lens further from its flange distance means that the lens will only operate in Macro mode, but I would assume that getting a Nikon lens onto a Canon body may work as Nikon has  longer focal flange distance than Canon.

Anyhow, this is a really simple build, and all you have to do is grab the parts from the instructable, print them away and click them together.[Read More…]

Freelensing: Un-Focus To Tell a More Dynamic Story

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So often we are distracted by what we see, sucked in by that which is right in front of us. Each day can be a battle of not missing the forest for the trees, and losing track of the big picture, both metaphorically and literally, is a demon to which we frequently fall prey. But, life is as much about the unseen as it is the seen…it is more honest to say that it is what’s lurking in the shadows that truly defines us rather than what the world around us seems to see.

This concept, when considered in photography, is as much philosophical as it is visual. There are thousands of tutorials on how to maintain a sharp focus or isolate a subject or achieve that perfect image. But, life, which is the literal reflection of art, is not sharp or clearly-defined or nice and perfect. It’s not! What if more contemporary photography chose to focus on the imperfect, the beauty in the flaws, and creation by suggestion rather than destruction by defining? [Read More…]

True Tilt-Shift With Smartphones and CCTV Lenses

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Maciej Pietuszynski (Instagram) is no stranger to Tilt-Shift Lenses. His shower head tilt shift lens is one of the all time greatest hits here on DIYP.

But Maciej is now shooting with a smartphone (as we all) and needed to adapt, he made this pictorial for us explaining how to use an industrial CCTV lens to create a real smartphone Tilt-Shift effect.[Read More…]

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