01.2018 - Tilt and Shift are still special applications in the "35mm" range. Canon's TS-E lenses are designed for this task with the ability to perform tilt and shift in some combinations. Up to now, only the extreme wide-angle lenses TS-E 17/4.0L and TS-E 24/3.5L (now Mark II) were available as professional L-optics. Expected for quite some time, Canon now offers a new 50, 90 and 135 mm lens with the red ring as exclusive lenses.

The usable image circles of these lenses have a minimum of 65/70 mm. Since the introduction of ALPA 12 FPS (2012), ALPA has been supporting the Canon protocol with regard to these special lenses. The tilt-shift lenses with electromechanical aperture can be used in combination with digital backs for years.

Due to the introduction of the "electronic shutter" for various digital backs (Phase One IQ3 100, Hasselblad H6D-100c, Sinar S30|45, etc.) these lenses can now also be used on any classic ALPA plus ALPA Silex control unit.

The line-up has become very grown-up with 17, 24, 50, 90, 135 mm. In December Canon Switzerland kindly provided us with their first demo lenses. In order to demonstrate the possibilities and limits, we have used the new optics on an ALPA with 100MP digital back in full adjustment of 12 mm left/right. The images were then merged into a stitched panorama of 16,500 pixels native lenght in Photoshop.

The sample images can be viewed via Zoomify or downloaded in full resolution as JPG and PDF. All details including the sensor format and various image circles have been plotted on it. The lenses were not specially selected. These are demo lenses from Canon Switzerland.

Due to the construction, the front element is shifted during the adjustment. Without compensation of the displaced entrance pupil, a possible stereoscopic error may remain. However, this is likely to be rather unobtrusive at longer focal lengths. The stitching process, including any parallax correction, was fully automated in Photoshop CC.

As the images show, a certain movement beyond the intended image circle is possible. During shifting, however, unintentional mechanical vignetting may occur as a result the lens construction. This is due to the low rear lens group, which vignettes especially at longer focal lengths on the own tube. Nevertheless, three shots (middle unadjusted, left, right) allow panoramas with a virtual sensor of 40 x 76 mm and around 16,500 x 8,600 pixels or 142 MP to be realized.

ALPA 12 FPS With Full Line Up Canon TS-E 17, 24, 50, 90, 135 mm

The Canon lenses are very well manufactured and feature a very good imaging performance. Particularly noteworthy is the astonishingly low sensitivity to scattered light. All lenses work on the ALPA 12 FPS with Lens Module CAN or on each ALPA 12 with Lens Module and ALPA 12 Silex control unit.

St. Anton

Due to the prevailing weather conditions, we had to carry out the short test indoor in a suitable building. The church St. Anton is located around the corner and is ideally suited for this purpose. Here a picture with the Canon TS-E 90/2.8L and Phase One IQ3 100 at 12 mm rise.

Stitching

The following three pictures show the horizontal stitches with the corresponding lenses. The photographs can be explored as Zoomify images (not compatible with all browsers) or loaded as JPG and PDF in full resolution.