Before we go into the review of the two Fujinon tilt/shift lenses, we first take a closer look at what they are, why they are useful for shooting architecture and watch macros and how to use these specialist lenses.
TGIFridays: What are tilt/shift lenses and how to use them for architecture and watch macros
Recently, we received two tilt/shift lenses as loaners courtesy of Fujifilm Singapore. These are the recently released Fujinon GF 30mm/f5.6 T/S lens and the GF 110mm/f5.6 T/S lens. This lens duo has allowed us to delve into the world of specialist lenses and look at tilt/shift lenses, specifically in our use case of shooting architecture and watch macros.
What are tilt/shift lenses
Firstly, what are tilt/shift lenses? And why do they look so complicated with additional knobs and switches. A tilt/shift lens does exactly what it says on the can…it allows for the lens to tilt to select a different plane of focus, and also to shift the sensor within a suitably large image circle to be able to do stitching or to move the point of view.
This is similar to what is afforded by the Hasselblad HTS 1.5 that we covered some years ago, but with the tilt and shift mechanism built in. The same tilt shift capability is also found in large format view cameras like my Sinar X.
Why is tilt necessary?
Tilting the lens exploits the Scheimpflug principle and the Hinge Law of optics. This allows the plane of focus to be moved as desired as long as the geometry obeys both these two tenets. In a normal lens the plane of the optical center of the lens, the sensor and the plane of focus are parallel to each other. The thickness of this plane of focus is dependent on the aperture chosen. The wider the aperture (smaller f-stop), the thinner this plane is, and the narrower the aperture (larger f-stop), the deeper this plane is. When the optical center and the sensor is not parallel with each other, like when tilt (or swing, as horizontal tilt is known) is applied, the plane of focus becomes a wedge, but the center of this wedge follows the Scheimpflug and Hinge principles, allowing the lens to focus on both near and far points at the same time without having to adjust the aperture. This is particularly useful for table top and macro photography. And very small tilts are useful in landscape for bringing both foreground objects and distant mountains in focus using a modest aperture.
Tilts can also be used to select less of the object to be in critical focus. This effect looks like a landscape or cityscape is a miniature, with only a small part of the image in focus, and the rest in bokeh.
Why is shift necessary?
Shift is essential in architecture photography. When a lens is set up so that the sensor is parallel to a building, will usually result in the tops of buildings being cut off, and quite a bit of sensor real estate being used to photograph the ground between the camera and building. The tops of the subject building can be brought into the frame by tilting the camera up, but in doing so the parallel lines of the building sides converge at the top. This effect looks like the building is falling over backwards.
Correction can also be applied in Capture One, Lightroom or Photoshop, but this will result in loss of pixels as this is a digitally calculated resultant image. A better way is to make the image correctly in camera. Instead of tilting the sensor plane, the sensor is shifted downwards. As the image on the sensor is actually upside down, this can be shifted such that the top of the building can be captured without it looking like the building is falling over backwards. This will require a lens with sufficient coverage of the image circle. Imagine the lens casting an image much larger than the sensor. The shift mechanism can be used to position the sensor anywhere within this image circle. And as the sensor is parallel to the building, converging lines do not appear.
The shift mechanism can be also used to stitch images for panorama.
The shift functionality is similar to the technical cameras like the Alpa 12 STC and the Alpa 12 Plus or the Phase One XT, where shifts are available in two axis. However, tilt/shift lenses like the Fujinon GF T/S lenses allow only shifts in one axis. Either the x or y axis can be selected by rotating the shift element on the lens. Although this rotation can be placed at any angle, simultaneously shifting x and y axis is not possible with the T/S lens, though possible with technical cameras. However, for these technical cameras to have tilts, an additional tilt plate is required, while on the T/S lenses, this is in-built into the lens.
The Fujifilm/Fujinon GF 30mm/f5.6 T/S and the GF 110mm/f5.6 T/S Macro
On the both these lenses are two additional knobs to allow for tilt and shifting. These knobs are geared for precision, and the sides of the lens is marked accordingly. Both knows have detent positions and can be locked in place once set. On GFX camera bodies, including the new GFX 100 II and my GFX 50S II, the amount of shift is transmitted and recorded on the EXIF. Curiously, tilt information is either not measured, not sent to the back, or not recorded or just not displayed in the current latest firmware. Shift information is useful for vignette correction, but these two lens are so excellent, that there is hardly any vignette across the field of view. What little vignette is visible very gradually darkens to the edge with no colour shifts. Currently, Capture One 23 automatically detects the lens and corrects for it. The correction is not available in Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw, which does not have this lens profile. At least not yet.
The GF30 T/S lens exhibited superb optical properties in the two weeks it was with me. I shot various architectural projects and the lens has proven its worth in this use case. The 30mm focal length is also quite good for interior as this translates to roughly 24mm in full frame equivalent. However, for very cramped interior photography, a wider lens will be more useful. For a wider field of view, an adapted Canon or Nikon 17mm T/S lens may be a better fit for these situations, albeit with optics which are less than ideal compared to the GF30.
The GF110 T/S also exhibited excellent optics in the two weeks of use. With the lens, I managed to photograph many of the (still under embargo, to be released in two weeks at Watches & Wonders Geneva) watches, and a few which are already been released for public.
The GF110 T/S is marked as a Macro lens by Fujifilm, but as with the brand’s other nomenclature, this falls short of what is accepted the definition of macro as 1x magnification, and is perhaps better defined as a close focus lens. Without the use of extension tubes, the GF110 T/S goes to 0.5x magnification, but it does get higher magnification with the use of either the short 18mm tube to achieve 0.7x or long 45mm extension tube for 1.01x. We also note that Fujifilm also labels the GF120, their dedicated close focus lens as Macro, and it too has a maximum magnification of 0.5x without tubes. I used the 18mm tube for almost all of my macro work with watches, and this proved sufficient. Especially with the 100Mp available on the GFX 100 II, though even with the GFX 50S II, it works well.
Concluding thoughts
Tilt/ Shift lenses offer an additional level of control to the photographer to exercise creativity over the images he produces. The tilt can be used to control the plane of focus, either to bring more objects into focus, or to select a very limited plane of focus for the miniature effect.
Shift is important in architecture and interiors to ensure that building or wall verticals remain so, and not appear to be tipping over backwards. Shift can also be used to stitch panoramas.
Tilt requires shift, as when the lens is tilted, the image may go outside the field of view of the sensor and needs to be corrected by an appropriate amount of shift. While shift can be used independently.
More on the Fujinon GF 30 T/S and GF 110 T/S, as we review the two lenses in combination with the GFX 100 II and GFX 50S II in the coming weeks. But probably after our coverage of Watches & Wonders Geneva 2024, which will begin on April 9.
