Critique Required County House - Taken with 45mm PCE lens

[Hamish Gill]

Some months ago Pete was kind enough to loan me his Nikon 45mm pce lens. today I got arround to using it for the first time for what i had wanted to borrow it for - perspective corrected architectural photography.
It is quite surprising how effective it is! I'm going to take this again when the weather is a little better, id also like to get the cars in a nicer position as well as hopefully getting some more people walking past etc
But, for a first go, im quite pleased!
what do you think?
Btw, this is the office block we have just moved in to ... I have tried to show it off in its nicest light by framing it with the tree a bit

Taken at f16 100iso 1/25th on a tripod


County House by Hamish_Gill, on Flickr

 

[Hamish Gill]

just to add... this is a very very sharp lens! not to mention how good it is when it comes to chromatic aberrations! very impressed ... I WANT ONE FOR MY OWN!

 

[Lesley Jones]

Is this a tilt and shift lens, or something entirely different? I like the corrected perspective and the framing is lovely. The detail on the brickwork is fantastic!

 

[Pete Askew]

Yes, it's a T?S lens.

Nice capture Hamish. As you say, the cars in a better position and a more interesting (or blue) sky would be nice. And it's a shame about the advert (OK for the shot but not so great for your website - maybe some PS trickery is in order). The middle vertical looks like it might be a touch off to me - but then, who am I to say, I'm lucky to see the screen!!

 

[Hamish Gill]

Thank you!
It is what Nikon call a perspective correcting (I think) lens ... So yeah, basically it is a Tilit shift lens
Do all the verticals look vertical, the far wall looks slightly wonky to me...?

 

[Pete Askew]

Something is not quite right here Hamish. Was it just shift or was there also some tilt applied also?

 

[Brian Moore]

Lesley's right about the detail in the brickwork. It would be nice to compare the above show to a similar view taken with a normal, non-T/S lens.

 

[Hamish Gill]

Yeah ... thats a good idea!
When i have a bit more time ill have a go at that I think...

just shift Pete, im not sure the tripod was level... more playing i think... im chuffed for first go though!

 

[Hamish Gill]

... as for the sign on the side...
we are going to be using the photo for a website about this building, it wont be going on our website i dont think!

 

[Darren Bradley]

Great first effort, Hamish! I hadn't seen this before.

Tilt-shift (or Perspective Control, as Nikon calls'em) lenses are definitely a lot sharper as a rule than standard lenses - even compared to those of very high quality. They also have less CA, in general, and less distortion (neither barrel nor pincushion).

It's not unheard of to use 45mm or longer focal lengths for architectural photography. I use a standard 50mm prime sometimes and even use telephotos on occasion when I want to compress the scene and bring the background in close. But you'll find that shooting with a wide TS/PC lens is quite different in the techniques used and in framing and composition. As I said, the main purpose for a 45mm TS/PC is more portrait or product photography than architecture.

As was mentioned, you may want to try again with a better sky. If you had a wider focal length, you could get closer to the tree and still use it to frame your subject, but probably without having the branches fall in front of the building (they'd be above it, in the sky part of the frame). Also, I suspect like Pete that the lens may have inadvertently tilted a bit here. That can happen if it's not locked. The rear corner of the building doesn't look as sharp as it should for f16 with a TS lens.

Look forward to seeing your next go at it! Welcome to my world!

 

[Hamish Gill]

Its a world i like Darren i can really see the appeal
In the same way that i like product photography, especially the furniture set stuff etc, the control and perusal of perfection is highly appealing!
does that make us control freaks? I think it might ...

I can see how a wider lens would make this scene a lot more interesting ...
but its money again ... one day ill make lots of it and ill get all these things

 

[Darren Bradley]

Di you have lens rentals at your camera shops there? That's what we do here for lenses that we want to try and/or are too expensive to buy on a whim. You can rent a TS lens here for the weekend for 30 to 60 dollars.

 

[Hamish Gill]

Its a good point!
I could get used to the mechanisms with petes lens and then just hire per job ... we do that with cameras for weddings at the mo as i currently dont have a second camera!