This is for all those cool kids who own tilt-shift lenses...
first of all I envy you
Secondly...
1) I wanted to see what you thought of the lens?

2) Do you have the 24 the 45 or the 90?

3) How much do you REALLY use it on a session or at a wedding? (sometimes I think we photogs can overkill with the fisheye, lensbaby.. tilt-shift stuff and it can kindof start to look real "gimiky")

4) Do your couples "get" the whole artistic look of a tilt-shift photo? Have you ever had any complaints? Or do you tend to use this kind of work more for your self rather than your clients?

5) do you find it easy to "catch on" to the tilt shift technique of shooting? why? why not?

5) Do you wake up every morning kicking yourself bc. you spent about 1,100 on this thing or looking at yourself in the mirror saying "man I'm a rock star bc. of that sweet tilt-shift I bought" ?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

I'm not a ts owner but man I wanna be one! I am also interested in knowing these things...!

I don't have one. Didn't really want one too bad. Then I saw what Sean did with one at a football game. Now I want one.

Yeah I saw his post last week and it really only fed my desire to snag one of these puppies up.
After getting to play with one at the last workshop I was at I really wanted one.

1)I love these lens I use to work with a 4x5 all the time when I went to Brooks so I'm use to it.
2) I have the 24mm and also want the 45mm
3) Once I get all my key shots that I want I then play around with it or if I have something already in my head where it will work I'll use it.
4) My couples get the whole artistic look and no complaints yet. Just people saying they love the photos.
5) Like I said in #1 I'm use to the whole tilt/shift thing, but I think it's easy to catch on. Its just hard going from auto focus to manual, but you also get use that too.
6) I'm glad that I spent $1,100 and I'm about to spend another $1,100 on the 45mm

I also love using it on my personal nature photos that I do. It's a lot easier to lug that lens around than a 4x5 camera.Here's an photo from my last wedding of the year with the 24mm tilt/shiftClick to view attachment

+1 jumping in to see what owners have to say (know its on Jessica Claire chrissy list)

Thanks for your thoughts...
One question for you, Are you wanting to trade out your 24 for a 45 or just have both? I'm not sure which one to get when I purchase. I know most time it just a matter of preference but when you get it let us know what you think of both in comparison to one another.

I have never used a tilt shift and don't know the difference between the 24, 45 and 90... What are the different effects the varying focal lengths will give?

i have the 45 and have shot the 24.

it is what it is. its cool and how often do i use it, not that often. you shoot it too much and it get very old fast in looking at the image set.

the 45 is a pretty good focal length for a little bit of everything. i feel the 90 would be way to much of a portrait lens for what i like to use it for.

i did not get it for weddings, i got it for products and stock but soon realized that i could not use it for too much stock as it is not very practical, and limits the marketablity of the images.

have fun!

I have the 45mm and I love it. I find that I go between which lenses I'm stuck on for the moment. Sometimes it's just my 85mm, sometimes it's just my 16-35mm, sometimes it's my 45mmTSE. It just depends.

It's really fun to play with, and can get some really cool images. It can really spice up a typical pose without having to add textures, and crazy photoshop. I find that couples think it looks "cool", but of course I shoot with a variety of lenses so not everything is all crazy DOF looking. It's also good to use straight on if you don't bring another prime with you because 45mm is a good focal length.

Finally, it takes some getting used to when shooting. It's a manual focus lens, and you can throw the focus out up/down or left/right. It's fun to use, but not for everyone!!

No I love the 24mm tilt/shift. I'm just also going to buy the 45mm before next wedding season. I love my 50 1.2 and with the 45mm being around the same focal legth I know that I going to love that lens too. I think I'll like the 45mm a little more because it's a 2.8 lens vs. the 3.5 of the 24mm, so the 45mm will have more of the thin plane of focus.

yay. love this post. bought a lensbaby like...150 kabillion years ago and loved the "idea" of tilt shift. so it's definitely on my chrissy list. along with actual canon glass, an ambitious, sweet boyfriend, and a blue heeler pup. the tilt shift would complete my family.

Um your post made me literally laugh out loud. You rock "wrecklessgirl" thanks for the laughs

Kristy I hope you get ALL of those for Christmas

xoxoxo

Optically, the 45 and 90mm's are sharper than the 24. But really, just comes down to the focal length you like. I vote for the 45 . It's next on my list after the 200 f/2.0 IS. I agree with whoever said that it can get old fast ... but it does look sweet when done right.

PS it's like a Seattle festival in this thread!

This is the difference that the tilt shift can do for you.....

Here I used the selective focus to amplify the sunlight, and clarify the moment captured......see those teardrop shaped bokeh?

I used the graphic elements of the blur to contribute to the natural elements of the photo, this image was printed on Kodak Metallic paper so it absolutely glows.

Here's another view of the distorted Bokeh...

I left the toning on this image pretty dark, but it's possible to get near infinate front to back sharpness - at f5.6 with a custom lens I constructed.

I have the 90mm TSE and a few lenses I've made myself - which are much cheaper - but harder to focus. To make one, just buy a lens from a used source, preferably a manual focus older lens with a metal barrel. You'll be able to take it apart nearly down to the elements, and then make yourself a bellows for it. Here's a 28mm lens I bought from keh for $25.

Here's an image out of it:

50mm 1.8 custom bellows:


55mm mamiya:


 

I don't use it exclusively for portraits, here are some more images out of the 90 TSE to be fair. It's wonderful to be able to make connections between the environment and the subject in unique ways, it really alters how I 'see'.

.

If they made an AF version I'd use it all day every day. I love being able to draw a connection over space:

That's wide openat 2.8 on the 90mm TSE, but I have eight faces in reletively good focus allowing for the contrast of the bride's laugh and the bridesmaid's tears.

This one I faked by merging images of two different focal distances to draw a focal plane between the bride's hand and the flowers and the waterfall. So if you really want to mess with it, use a layer mask in the same was as can be advised by the gradient blur techniques. But when you do it, you'll see that the object to camera distance isn't equal to the gradient blur and you'll probably want to custom paint it in.

The sharpness is the part of Tilt Shift equation that is interesting to me...

Here's some other images from recent:

That's a lot from this wedding...let me find another

Neil Cowley - Make Light Real.com

You can always fake it in PS!

http://recedinghairline.co.uk/tutorials/fakemodel/

I am speaking only of the Lensbaby product; I have the latest one, 3 I think, and I used it at weddings and landscapes.

I might take 5 different scenes with the lensbaby at a wedding, but I would only include 1 or maaaaaaybe 2 to show to the couple. It can get old really fast so I use it sparingly.

I do find it difficult to focus at an aperature less than 5.6 unless I am on a tripod, but that is just a learning curve issue with me. I bought a few "blank" disks for the lensbaby and I am waiting for the right setting to make custom aperatures from shapes meaningful to the couple to give a unique bokah.

I found the product well made and tech support to be easily available from knowledgeable folks who were not just reading from a book in India.


I do some architectural work, mostly with a Sigma 10-20 and would love to hear how the tilt shifts and PC lenses work both in that descipline and in events.

So, is the lens baby the poor man's shift tilt?

no, it's just the poor mans tilt. No shift.

I have the 45MM and I love it. I wish they made an auto focus version though because it's hard fro me to manual focus sometimes but I know auto focus would be near impossible.