>From: "John Hudson" <13874@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
>In a 35mm shift lens, the front lens element can move up and down, and side
>to side relative to the rear lens element.
Sorry to pick nits, but the entire lens moves relative to the film, rather than
front element moving relative to rear elements -- at least on every shift I've
seen.
IMHO, the easiest way to understand a shift lens is to image that the lens has
nearly twice the angle of view -- a 35mm shift "sees" a 24mm view; a 24mm shift
"sees" a 20mm view. Now imagine cropping a portion of that huge view out so it
fits on a 35mm frame, and being able to select (via shifting) which portion you
want to crop.
Wide angle lenses increase perspective. When you tilt them, parallel lines
converge much more rapidly then they "should" to the human mind. This makes
tall things (photographed near their base or top) appear to be leaning away
from the viewer.
By keeping the film parallel with the tall object, then shifting the lens up
(if at the base) or down (if at the top), you are able to keep parallel lines
parallel, and avoid the excessive perspective distortion wide lenses are
infamous for.
This has traditionally been of most use in architecture, but I find it equally
useful in mountain/canyon photography. I often shoot with full shift up (or
down, depending on whether I'm at the bottom or the top), then allow the camera
to tilt in order to compose. This technique doesn't ensure parallel lines, but
in nature photography, "close enough" is more acceptable than in architecture.
Here's Devil's Tower at night, shot with an OM-4Ti and 24/3.5 shift at f22,
full shift up, set to hyperfocus to infinity. Exposure time was 32 minutes.
<http://www.bytesmiths.com/Art_Gallery/037AB14.jpg> (68 kB)
--
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