Above photo: Sunset over Dorcas Bay, Bruce Peninsula National Park
EOS 5D mark II; TS-E 24mm II tilt shift lens; Singh-Ray 2-stop reverse edge ND grad (handheld in front of lens); mirror lock-up and cable release; ISO 200; 1/6s @ f/11
Above photo: Sunset over Dorcas Bay, Bruce Peninsula National Park
EOS 5D mark II; TS-E 24mm II tilt shift lens; Singh-Ray 3-stop hard edge ND grad (handheld in front of lens); mirror lock-up and cable release; ISO 200; 1s @ f/11
I've been dying to get out with my new 24mm tilt shift lens since buying it last week, but the weather has been so dull... I had resorting to shooting in my kitchen and living room! You can imagine how elated I was to see the skies shaping up for a great sunset this evening. Off I raced to a prime sunset spot along the Lake Huron shoreline.
Becoming proficient with a tilt-shift lens takes some practice, and I am far from good at it yet. But the initial results have me extremely excited. This lens is razor sharp from corner to corner, without the soft edges, vigneting and barrel distortion issues that plague Canon's other wide-angle lenses [these problems are most obvious on full-frame sensor bodies]). I expect the tilt-shift is to become my bread-and-butter lens for landscape and outdoor recreation photography... and it's only a matter of time until I get the 17mm version too.
For the above photos, I used the tilt feature to increase depth of field so everything was in focus from the foreground (only inches from the lens) to the distant horizon at f/11 - amazing! With other (non tilt-shift lenses), it would have taken a small aperture of f/22 to get the same depth. The tilt-shift lens allows you to shoot at more optimal apertures for lens sharpness and with faster shutter speeds.
By the way, I would normally use a polarizer for these photos (to cut the bluish glare of the water and wet stand) - but I had to order a larger size to fit the new lens (it has an 82mm front end). Once it arrives - look out - this will be a deadly landscape photography setup! More to come.
