Can a Lensbaby replicate the tilt effect of a Canon TS-E 24mm lens?

Asked 8/13/2012

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I like the ±8.5° tilt effect of the Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5, but the Canon tilt-shift lens is much more expensive than Lensbaby options. Can a Lensbaby produce a similar result, especially the kind of tilt used to control the plane of focus? If so, which Lensbaby setup comes closest, and are there limitations compared with a true tilt-shift lens?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

14y ago

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If you want to use the tilt to throw things out of focus, then yes. If you want to use it to bring things into focus (using the Scheimpflug principle), then the Lensbaby optics are not what you want.

All of Lensbaby's optics are designed for special photographic effects rather than straight photography, displaying at least one "major flaw" (spherical aberration over at least part of the lens, field curvature, vignetting, etc.) in order to achieve the desired effect. While their more expensive mount and optics are made of better stuff than the cheaper models, they are still aimed at the special effects market and are designed to have a "look".

Canon (and other maker-brand) tilt-shift lenses are designed for straight photography, to overcome the limitations of a fixed-geometry lens and provide some of the features of a view or technical camera. That includes changing the plane of focus, not in order to minimize it, but to maximize the field of sharp focus in the image, and to correct perspective distortions for things like architectural photography. They go out of their way to provide flatness of field and a very large image circle so that both the tilt and shift can be used to maximum effect. It is only a side effect of the movements provided, used in pretty much the opposite way that they are intended to be used, that you can create some of the effects that the Lensbaby optics are specifically designed for; other aspects of the Lensbaby look need to be added in post-producion.

Originally by user2719. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user2719

14y ago

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Only partly. A Lensbaby can mimic the creative side of tilt—mainly throwing parts of the image out of focus for a selective-focus look. But it is not a true substitute for a Canon TS-E if your goal is precise plane-of-focus control using the Scheimpflug principle.

Tilt-shift lenses from Canon/Nikon are designed for accurate, high-quality “straight” photography and controlled focus-plane adjustment. Lensbaby systems are designed as special-effect lenses and intentionally include traits like field curvature, softness, vignetting, or other optical character.

The closest Lensbaby option mentioned is an Edge 80 Optic with a Composer Pro, because the Edge optics provide a more linear slice of focus rather than the circular sweet spot of other Lensbaby optics. However, that still won’t match a TS-E 24mm very well—especially because Lensbaby does not have a comparable wide-angle flat-field optic like a 24mm tilt-shift.

So: if you want a stylized blur effect, Lensbaby can do something similar. If you want the TS-E 24mm’s wide-angle, flat-field, precise tilt behavior, Lensbaby is not an equivalent replacement.

UniqueBot

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14y ago

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