Canon Tilt/Shift 24 lens with Leica SL and Canon 5D... which is better?

[Manolo Laguillo]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

That's my question... Has anyone worked with the 24 mm Tilt / Shift (2nd edition, of course) from Canon and both bodies?

 

I would like to hear your opinion.

 

Thank you very much!

 

Manolo

[kikouyou]

As this is a manual lens, the AF is out of the way, without is the answer would be obvious Canon 5D. I have this lens now and I have been able to play with the SL and the Novoflex adaptor. As reported in this forum, the Novoflex adaptor has some quirks and require from time to time you to remove the battery of the camera and restart it. This is most of the time for the F stop to display properly and be able to be modified on camera. The viewfinder is so good with the SL that you get a really good feel for what the picture will be, you can even enable the diaph to close so that you can visualize the depth of field. From an IQ stand point the Elmar M is better wide open on the SL and they get at the same level at F8. Overall on the SL there is not too much vignetting and the full range of shift is usable. Tilt is another matter, but that is independent from the SL. I would like to have a much finer adjustment between 0 and 2 degrees where it matters for the Shempflug effect for this focal.

Another info is that the distance set by the manual lens is reported on the Leica LCD, but it is not accurate. In my case infinity is showing 2.72m. Not great, but if your want hyperfocal, just put the backward focus limit at 2.72m or what ever is infinity for your camera-adaptor-lens combination.... which is a challenge as the manual adjustment is pretty coarse, so just put more than 2.72m...

If you take night pictures, you know how to put the lens on infinity :-) 

[FlashGordonPhotography]

I don't have a 5D but I have borrowed my friends 1Dx2.

 

With any manual focus lens the advantage has to go to the EVF camera. Through the optical finder it's almost impossible to focus perfectly every time. You can use live view on the Canons but since the screen is non rotating it can be uncomfortable and it's subject to glare etc, which also makes it difficult to focus. If I were using a 5D I think I'd need to use live view and a Hoodman LCD loupe.

 

Focus on the SL is a doddle. Fast and easy. I'd prefer the magnify button to be on the right rather than bottom left button but that's about it.

 

I use my 17TSE and 24TSE2 every day and I've never had to remove the battery nor have I not been able to set the aperture on the camera. Like all adaptors the Novoflex appears to be shimmed a bit long to avoid infinity issues and this means infinity doesn't match the lens exactly. I would prefer it was shimmed properly as I have some manual lenses with hard stops but that doesn't seem to be the way with adaptors. I just use the highest magnification to focus perfectly and go from there.

 

Even my friend who owns the 1Dx2 uses a Sony body with his TSE lenses. When the 5D4 was announced with 40MP I thought he might get one but he says the EVF is now what he needs for his TS lenses.

 

Gordon

[EoinC]

...With any manual focus lens the advantage has to go to the EVF camera. Through the optical finder it's almost impossible to focus perfectly every time. You can use live view on the Canons but since the screen is non rotating it can be uncomfortable and it's subject to glare etc, which also makes it difficult to focus. If I were using a 5D I think I'd need to use live view and a Hoodman LCD loupe....

I use my TS-E 24 MkII on a 1DX and an A7R. For the 1DX I use a CamRanger to view on an iPad, and for the A7R, I use the built-in Sony application to do the same. For my old eyes, this beats OVF / EVF / LiveView. Of course it also means working from a tripod.

I do also use the lens handheld on my M Monochrome with EVF, pre-setting the aperture on the Canon before I head out. It is workable, but more hit & miss.

[FlashGordonPhotography]

I use my TS-E 24 MkII on a 1DX and an A7R. For the 1DX I use a CamRanger to view on an iPad, and for the A7R, I use the built-in Sony application to do the same. For my old eyes, this beats OVF / EVF / LiveView. Of course it also means working from a tripod.

I do also use the lens handheld on my M Monochrome with EVF, pre-setting the aperture on the Canon before I head out. It is workable, but more hit & miss.

 

 

 I've done the same using the SL app. The issue I have is that the app doesn't sent the artificial horizon to the app from the camera. I use that function a lot to get close before fine tuning for more accuracy. So I end up preferring the EVF which is shielded from extraneous light.

 

Does the camranger app allow the artificial horizon to be viewed on the iPad?

 

Gordon

[EoinC]

 I've done the same using the SL app. The issue I have is that the app doesn't sent the artificial horizon to the app from the camera. I use that function a lot to get close before fine tuning for more accuracy. So I end up preferring the EVF which is shielded from extraneous light.

 

Does the camranger app allow the artificial horizon to be viewed on the iPad?

 

Gordon

I don't have it with me currently, Gordon, but I don't think so. CamRanger is a bit more cumbersome than the Sony set-up (and, presumably, the SL set-up), but better than trying to guess using the OVF.

[Jeff S]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

 If I were using a 5D I think I'd need to use live view and a Hoodman LCD loupe.

 

 

 

 

Much better viewing using Zacuto-Z.

 

Jeff

[Manolo Laguillo]

Thank you very much for all your opinions!

All them revolve around how the combo lens-camera is being used. The EVF wins.

 

But... what about the imagen quality?

 

I am very much interested in how the same scene looks when photographed with a 24 TS and SL and Canon bodies.

 

Has anybody something to report in this regard?

 

Thank you!

[EoinC]

I don't have a SL, Manolo, but I like what the lens does on my 1DX, A7R, and M246 Monochrom. I guess it depends what your end product is, but ultra high resolution is not important to me, and I honestly don't see a lot of difference between sensors beyond what can be managed in pp.

[kikouyou]

Check on my flikr stream for picture quality

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ericduprat/30154850444/

[luna4light]

Does anyone know if the pc-angulon R28mm Tilt/shift lens works well with the Leica SL? If I consider a Nikon Pc24mm, which combination would be recommended in terms of IQ?

Many thanks for any hint! :-)

[FlashGordonPhotography]

Thank you very much for all your opinions!

All them revolve around how the combo lens-camera is being used. The EVF wins.

 

But... what about the imagen quality?

 

I am very much interested in how the same scene looks when photographed with a 24 TS and SL and Canon bodies.

 

Has anybody something to report in this regard?

 

Thank you!

 

The SL has no AA filter compared to the thick AA filter in the Canons. The SL also has slightly more dynamic range than the 5D1/2/3. So, in theory the 24TSE2 is slightly better on the SL than a Canon body. However the new 5D4 had significantly more resolution and approximately the same DR, so when equalised it's not so clear as to which is "better". You'll need slightly less sharpening in post with the SL to get the same acutance.

 

It's actually pretty simple though. The 24mm TSE2 is a brilliant lens and the results on either the SL, a Sony or a Canon body are fantastic. The IQ on either camera is absolutely top notch and the only real world differences are in resolution and how easy it is to use on the different bodies. If you need 40+ MP then you need the 5D4 or A7R2. If you need 24MP then the SL A72 or 5D3 are all excellent choices. Personally I prefer the SL and it suits me perfectly for 90% of my shooting. For the other 10% I keep an A7R2 handy.

 

There are no optical advantages or disadvantages for choosing one body over the other.

 

Gordon

[FlashGordonPhotography]

Does anyone know if the pc-angulon R28mm Tilt/shift lens works well with the Leica SL? If I consider a Nikon Pc24mm, which combination would be recommended in terms of IQ?

Many thanks for any hint! :-)

 

Any lens with a mechanical aperture will work fine on the SL with a dumb adaptor. They will perform the same as they would on a Nikon body as these lenses don't have any digital corrections.

 

Gordon

[luna4light]

Hi Gordon, many thanks for your fast reply. What should I understand regarding the digital correction? Sorry, it is not clear to me.

[Krauklis]

Does anyone know if the pc-angulon R28mm Tilt/shift lens works well with the Leica SL? If I consider a Nikon Pc24mm, which combination would be recommended in terms of IQ?

Many thanks for any hint! :-)

 

I'm also interested in users' experiences with a Schneider PC-TS 28mm 4.5 on the SL, in particular with such a lens in A-mount version.

(Up to now that might be an extremely rare combination, but who knows, perhaps I'm lucky).

 

Thanks

krauklis

[FlashGordonPhotography]

Hi Gordon, many thanks for your fast reply. What should I understand regarding the digital correction? Sorry, it is not clear to me.

 

Not much. The Canon TSE lenses are extremely well corrected optically. There isn't even a lens profile for them in Lightroom. So you don't have to worry about them on any camera body. They'll have nice straight edges and very little distortion of any kind.

 

Most of the TS lenses I've used have been the same. The only one that needed any work in post was the Samyang 24mm.

 

Gordon