Well I am begining to feel some of the pain you large format masochists live for.
I finally saved up enough cans and bottles to get myself a wide angle lens. I though what the heck, its just cans and bottles, I might as well get Canon's new TS so I can come a bit closer to shooting landscapes in the style of Ansel Adams. I am very humble about my abilities but buying better tools makes sense to me.
I new ahead of time that this is a manual focus lens. Not a problem, i learned how to use live view 10x display to make sure I have focused on the right object.
What I did not expect is that this lens appears to be incompatible with the light metering system in my Rebel XS I. Images with this lens are often way overexposed, sometimes they are spot on. I have not been able to identify a pattern. I was shooting the water fall at Juliet Pfiefer the other day and felt like throwing the lens off the cliff. I had to use my 24-105 to get any decent shots before the light was gone. A fellow photographer at the scene said she has the same problem with her 17mm TS-E, and she just routinely brackets the expsoure for every shot. She had a full frame Canon body, I think it was a D7.
So, is this an inherent problem that I have to live with, or did I buy a $2,500 lemon?
Also, if any of you large format guys or TS owners would let me tag along on a trip, I would love to pick your brain about how to get the most out of this lens.
Thanks in advance for your consideration and time.
You have to make sure start with out any tilting or shifting before you meter the scene. Roland,
Always make sure each of those settings are right in the middle because they both block out light to a degree. They can easily move with out you knowing it even while on the camera.
It probably works better with a full frame sensor. There is more light reaching the sensor plane on the APS sensor. If you paid for it why would you use the smaller sensor? You don't have to answer that, it's just food for thought. It must an ultra wide on your body.
SS
Although I do not own that lens, I have used Canon DSLR gear for quite some time. And I have also had lemon lenses which needed to go back. Since this is a very specific question for a particular lens I would recommend looking here: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1029
Although I don't participate in dpreview as much as I used to they have a very wide audience. So if there is a known issue it will have been discussed there most likely at one point or another.
Secondly you may want to consider some of your other WA options especially if you can still return the lens. For cropped sensors the 10-22 is a very nice SWA lens as is the Tokina 12-24 which I used quite a bit before going full frame.
I do not understand your comment about "if I paid for it, why would I use the smaller sensor." My Rebel has a smaller sensor. If you are suggesting my cans and bottles would have been better spent on an upgraded camera body, my reasoning went like this: I will eventually buy a full frame body, but I thought it might be better for me to complete my lens kit before upgrading the body. The Rebel body is still better than I am and I thought it would be a waste to upgrade prematurely. I am assuming the lenses will last for ever.
Derek,
Thanks for the link. I will check it out when I have a little more time.
Roland
Posted by Steve Sieren on May 22, 2010 at 12:12 PM
Sorry Roland, I wasn't taking you seriously since it would have to be a lot of cans bottles to get a lens like that. Lenses are for life! I use a tilt shift and most of the time the metering is off, the tilt or shift settings not being in the middle causes that issue.
I have that lens, and a full frame Canon. I also shoot large format. Don't be discouraged. It's a very strange animal at first. Hang in there with it. Mine is wonderfully sharp, and it takes some time to get used to the wideness and the movements. It could take months of learning and experimenting as if you were learning 4x5. About the auto exposure, well, that's why you have exposure compensation. Even with Canon;'s top pro gear, I still have to adjust exp a bit now and then.
Definitely set the exposure before tilting or shifting. This will take care of the problem. If you want to take your photography to another level, consider getting an external light meter. This way, you can meter the scene without having to worry about this issue.
Roland, look at it this way, your learning curve is not costing you $5 per image that most LF images cost from the RAW film to the light table these days. With that said, it is a learning curve you will work through as others have pointed out. In fact, with digital it should go much faster and obviously not at a cost per shot either. When it comes to shift & tilt, there are some small exposure anomalies. However for the LF users you can throw in the mix some front swing, bellows extensions, grad filtration, film exposure reciprocity factors, scanning issues, and well you get the idea. I'm sure you will get it all worked out fairly quickly.
You guys are great!! Thanks for the helpful comments. Using your tips and the various manuals for my gear, I fiddled with the lens in the back yard for a couple of hours. I think I now know enough to go back in the field. Maybe I can actually get a keeper or two.
Discussion
8 repliesI finally saved up enough cans and bottles to get myself a wide angle lens. I though what the heck, its just cans and bottles, I might as well get Canon's new TS so I can come a bit closer to shooting landscapes in the style of Ansel Adams. I am very humble about my abilities but buying better tools makes sense to me.
I new ahead of time that this is a manual focus lens. Not a problem, i learned how to use live view 10x display to make sure I have focused on the right object.
What I did not expect is that this lens appears to be incompatible with the light metering system in my Rebel XS I. Images with this lens are often way overexposed, sometimes they are spot on. I have not been able to identify a pattern. I was shooting the water fall at Juliet Pfiefer the other day and felt like throwing the lens off the cliff. I had to use my 24-105 to get any decent shots before the light was gone. A fellow photographer at the scene said she has the same problem with her 17mm TS-E, and she just routinely brackets the expsoure for every shot. She had a full frame Canon body, I think it was a D7.
So, is this an inherent problem that I have to live with, or did I buy a $2,500 lemon?
Also, if any of you large format guys or TS owners would let me tag along on a trip, I would love to pick your brain about how to get the most out of this lens.
Thanks in advance for your consideration and time.
Roland
Always make sure each of those settings are right in the middle because they both block out light to a degree. They can easily move with out you knowing it even while on the camera.
It probably works better with a full frame sensor. There is more light reaching the sensor plane on the APS sensor. If you paid for it why would you use the smaller sensor? You don't have to answer that, it's just food for thought. It must an ultra wide on your body.
SS
Although I do not own that lens, I have used Canon DSLR gear for quite some time. And I have also had lemon lenses which needed to go back. Since this is a very specific question for a particular lens I would recommend looking here:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1029
Although I don't participate in dpreview as much as I used to they have a very wide audience. So if there is a known issue it will have been discussed there most likely at one point or another.
Secondly you may want to consider some of your other WA options especially if you can still return the lens. For cropped sensors the 10-22 is a very nice SWA lens as is the Tokina 12-24 which I used quite a bit before going full frame.
Derek
I do not understand your comment about "if I paid for it, why would I use the smaller sensor." My Rebel has a smaller sensor. If you are suggesting my cans and bottles would have been better spent on an upgraded camera body, my reasoning went like this: I will eventually buy a full frame body, but I thought it might be better for me to complete my lens kit before upgrading the body. The Rebel body is still better than I am and I thought it would be a waste to upgrade prematurely. I am assuming the lenses will last for ever.
Derek,
Thanks for the link. I will check it out when I have a little more time.
Roland
Thanks again.
Roland