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Tilt-shift Lenses: What Are They And How To Use Them?

Published by WPC Official Account on Aug'31,2022

0 | 480


Tilt-shift Lenses: What Are They And How To Use Them?

WPC Official Account
0 | 480 | Oct 04, 2023

Tilt-shift lenses are used by expert photographers who want to give their photographs a creative look. With the help of a tilt-shift lens, you can alter the perspective without moving the camera. This lens is very effective in architectural photography. You need to level your camera and point it to the architectural structure you want to click. You can use a tilt-shift lens in many situations, including creating otherwise impossible camera angles. Even if you are a budding photographer, and are not going to do architectural photography, you can try this lens by following the rules. In this article, details about the tilt-shift lens are described. Check them out before buying a tilt-shift lens. 

Tilt-shift Lenses: What Are They And How To Use Them? 

What Is A Tilt-Shift Lens?

 

 

Tilt-Shift lenses have complicated tilted and shifted optics in them. These lenses are a bit pricier than the common lenses. This kind of lens is mainly used to attain a much greater depth of field and even parallelism. Nowadays, tilt-shift lenses are made with features of rotation too. Tilt-Shift lenses do not offer in-lens stabilization and autofocus. 

In a typical lens, the focal plane and sensor planes are parallel to each other. But in a tilt lens, the lens plane and image plane/sensor are not parallel. It changes the plane of sharp focus. The tilt feature of these lenses uses the Scheimpflug principle related to the correlation of the orientation of the plane of focus, the lens plane, and the image plane of the lens when the lens plane and the image plane are non-parallel.

The shift is a feature due to which the optics move compared to the image sensor.  It is why a typical lens cannot produce as large an image circle as a tilt-shift lens does. 

How To Use A Tilt-Shift Lens?

 

 

You have to set the focus of a tilt-shift lens manually. Using the tilt-shift feature is not mandatory. You can keep using the lens without it. Whenever you tilt or shift, you will see the corresponding changes in the lens as it will move accordingly. With the help of the two adjustable screw knobs present on the left and right in the tilt-shift lens, you will be able to shift the lens left or right. When you shift the lens to the left, the focus line is on the right. Then everything on the left remains out of focus. Similarly, when you shift it to the right. In that case, the focus line shifts to the left. You can tilt the lens by using the two screw knobs present at its top and bottom portion. When you click a photo by tilting the lens down, it seems that you have taken it from a much higher position. Similarly, if you want to shoot from the lower portion of a building, you need to tilt the lens up.

Conclusion

Tilt-shift lenses are very useful in clicking sharp, crisp photos of architecture that are free from distortions. You can increase creativity in your photos using these lenses. 

Written By Sanga Basu, Content Writer, WPC. 


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Tilt-shift lenses are used by expert photographers who want to give their photographs a creative look. With the help of a tilt-shift lens, you can alter the perspective without moving the camera. This lens is very effective in architectural photography. You need to level your camera and point it to the architectural structure you want to click. You can use a tilt-shift lens in many situations, including creating otherwise impossible camera angles. Even if you are a budding photographer, and are not going to do architectural photography, you can try this lens by following the rules. In this article, details about the tilt-shift lens are described. Check them out before buying a tilt-shift lens. 

Tilt-shift Lenses: What Are They And How To Use Them? 

What Is A Tilt-Shift Lens?

 

 

Tilt-Shift lenses have complicated tilted and shifted optics in them. These lenses are a bit pricier than the common lenses. This kind of lens is mainly used to attain a much greater depth of field and even parallelism. Nowadays, tilt-shift lenses are made with features of rotation too. Tilt-Shift lenses do not offer in-lens stabilization and autofocus. 

In a typical lens, the focal plane and sensor planes are parallel to each other. But in a tilt lens, the lens plane and image plane/sensor are not parallel. It changes the plane of sharp focus. The tilt feature of these lenses uses the Scheimpflug principle related to the correlation of the orientation of the plane of focus, the lens plane, and the image plane of the lens when the lens plane and the image plane are non-parallel.

The shift is a feature due to which the optics move compared to the image sensor.  It is why a typical lens cannot produce as large an image circle as a tilt-shift lens does. 

How To Use A Tilt-Shift Lens?

 

 

You have to set the focus of a tilt-shift lens manually. Using the tilt-shift feature is not mandatory. You can keep using the lens without it. Whenever you tilt or shift, you will see the corresponding changes in the lens as it will move accordingly. With the help of the two adjustable screw knobs present on the left and right in the tilt-shift lens, you will be able to shift the lens left or right. When you shift the lens to the left, the focus line is on the right. Then everything on the left remains out of focus. Similarly, when you shift it to the right. In that case, the focus line shifts to the left. You can tilt the lens by using the two screw knobs present at its top and bottom portion. When you click a photo by tilting the lens down, it seems that you have taken it from a much higher position. Similarly, if you want to shoot from the lower portion of a building, you need to tilt the lens up.

Conclusion

Tilt-shift lenses are very useful in clicking sharp, crisp photos of architecture that are free from distortions. You can increase creativity in your photos using these lenses. 

Written By Sanga Basu, Content Writer, WPC.