Canon Tilt/Shift lenses for UV and IR

[StephanN]

Finished with all the posts, feel free to read and reply

 

 

Triggered by Kai's thread (https://www.ultravioletphotography.com/content/index.php?/topic/5345-uv-photography-with-a-tilt-lens/), I decided to run some tests of the T/S-lenses. For this, I used the ones I have (17, 24), plus some which I managed to borrow from a friend. I might try to find one of the longer T/S-lenses on ebay, as they are fun to work with.

 

Fortunately, today's weather was overcast, so I managed to get the shots with about the same lighting conditions (at the end I had to hurry else it would have been lightning conditions ).

 

Cameras:

• UV: Canon EOS 6D, UV b/w by Maxmax
• IR: Canon EOS 6D, 700nm conversion by Sven Lamprecht
• VIS: Mobile phone

 

Lenses:

• TS-E 17mm f/4 L
• TS-E 24mm f/3.5 L II
• TS-E 45mm f/2.8
• TS-E 90mm f/2.8
• TS-E 135mm f/4 L Macro

 

Extenders:

• Canon Extender 1.4 II
• Canon Extender 2.0 II

 

I had the cameras mounted on a tripod, but with every change of lenses or filters the position will have changed just a little bit; also I did not take the photos in the order in which I present them, so don't be suprised if there is large change in the field of view. Finally, focussing was a bit tricky (will have to get some reading glasses or one of those magnifying gadgets for the camera), please don't be too harsh. This is especially true for the UV-photos with the 90mm-lens.

 

Five of the UV-shots are takens with an additional S8612 filter, just to get rid of any IR-leaks. I've observered many times, that the S8612 is not really neccesary, escpecially with my Soligor 21mm, but decided to make sure; and indeed, there are couple of shots where there is a difference.

 

Due to the upcoming thunderstorm, I only had time to do a full test in normal-position, plus a couple of tilted or shifted shots with two lenses in UV.

 

I might try another test with my FS-camera in the next couple of weeks, just to see how deep the lenses go into UV, perhaps also some more fun with tilt/shift; but don't hold your breath, work is interfering a lot at the moment.

 

Processing:

• UV: I only converted to b/w (ooc there is some blueish tinge to the photos) and did global adjustment of exposure, to get the histogramms close to each other. The exposure is noted in the description of the photos.
• IR: CLiR profile number 5, no further adjustments (there are some differences in the colour casts of the lenses)
• VIS: nothing

 

If you're interested what's in the photos, it's nothing exciting, just a view in my home-town of Leonding in Austria. Chose this spot because it's not too far away from my place, and it has grass, a field, trees, some buildings, and sky in it.

 

Export was done from lightroom, 1500px long edge, quality 100%.

 

Now, without further ado, the first photo, VIS:

 

 

 

[StephanN]

Here come the IR-photos:

 

IR-1, 17mm, 1/200s, f/4, ISO100:

 

IR-2, 24mm, 1/200s, f/3.5, ISO100:

 

IR-3, 24mm + extender 1.4, 1/125s, f/3.5, ISO100:

 

IR-4, 24mm + extender 2.0, 1/100s, f/3.5, ISO200 (yes, it's 200, had the cam on Auto ISO until this shot)

 

IR-5, 45mm, 1/200s, f/3.5, ISO100:

 

IR-6, 45mm + extender 1.4, 1/160s, f/3.5, ISO100:

 

IR-7, 45mm + extender 2.0, 1/60s, f/3.5, ISO100:

 

IR-8, 90mm, 1/320s, f/2.8, ISO100:

 

IR-9, 90mm + extender 1.4, 1/200s, f/2.8, ISO100:

 

IR-10, 90mm + extender 2.0, 1/80s, f/2.8, ISO100:

 

IR-11, 135mm, 1/125s, f/4, ISO100:

 

IR-12, 135mm + extender 1.4, 1/80s, f/4, ISO100:

 

IR-13, 135mm + extender 2.0, 1/30s, f/4, ISO100:

 

[StephanN]

Here come the UV-photos:

 

UV-1, 17mm, 4s, f/4, ISO100, exposure -1.5:

 

 

UV-2, 24mm, 4s, f/3.5, ISO100, exposure -2:

 

 

UV-3, 24mm + S8612, 4s, f/3.5, ISO100, exposure -1.5:

 

 

UV-4, 24mm + extender 1.4, 6s, f/3.5, ISO100, exposure 0:

 

 

UV-5, 24mm + extender 2.0, 10s, f/3.5, ISO100, exposure -1:

 

 

UV-6, 45mm, 4s, f/2.8, ISO100, exposure -2:

 

 

UV-7, 45mm + S8612, 4s, f/2.8, ISO100, exposure -0.5:

 

 

UV-8, 45mm + extender 1.4, 10s, f/2.8, ISO100, exposure -1.5:

 

 

UV-9, 45mm + extender 2.0, 15s, f/2.8, ISO100, exposure -1.5:

 

 

UV-10, 90mm, 1s, f/2.8, ISO100, exposure -1:

 

 

UV-11, 90mm + S8612, 1s, f/2.8, ISO100, exposure -0.5:

 

 

UV-12, 90mm + extender 1.4, 3.2s, f/2.8, ISO100, exposure 0:

 

 

UV-13, 90mm + extender 2.0, 6.0s, f/2.8, ISO100, exposure -1:

 

[StephanN]

Here come the UV-photos, part 2:

 

UV-14, 135mm, 3.2s, f/4, ISO100, exposure -1:

 

 

UV-15, 135mm + S8612, 4s, f/4, ISO100, exposure -1:

 

 

UV-16, 135mm + extender 1.4, 25s, f/4, ISO100, exposure -2:

 

 

UV-17, 135mm + extender 2.0, 30s, f/4, ISO100, exposure -2:

 

 

UV-18, 135mm + extender 2.0 + S8612, 30s, f/4, ISO100, exposure -1.5:

 

 

 

Next, some fun with tilt/shift:

 

 

UV-19, 90mm normal position, 2.5s, f/2.8, ISO100, exposure -1.5:

 

 

UV-20, 90mm full shift up, 2.5s, f/2.8, ISO100, exposure -1.5:

 

 

UV-21, 90mm full shift down, 2.5s, f/2.8, ISO100, exposure -1.5:

 

 

UV-22, 90mm full tilt left, 2.5s, f/2.8, ISO100, exposure -1.5:

 

 

UV-23, 90mm full tilt right, 2.5s, f/2.8, ISO100, exposure -1.5:

 

 

 

UV-24, 135mm normal position, 4s, f/4, ISO100, exposure -1:

 

 

UV-25, 135mm full shift up, 4s, f/4, ISO100, exposure -1:

 

 

UV-26, 135mm full shift down, 4s, f/4, ISO100, exposure -1:

 

 

UV-27, 135mm full tilt left, 4s, f/4, ISO100, exposure -1:

 

 

UV-28, 135mm full tilt right, 4s, f/4, ISO100, exposure -1:

 

 

UV-29, 135mm full tilt up, 4s, f/4, ISO100, exposure -1:

 

 

UV-30, 135mm full tilt down, 4s, f/4, ISO100, exposure -1:

 

[Kai]

Great work and report Stephan!
Thank you for sharing :)
Yes, Canon's TS-E lenses are something really special - apparently also in IR and even in UV :)

[Lou Jost]

Good tests.

 

If others do more tests like this, I would suggest using a somewhat smaller aperture (higher f/number) for the IR tests, to check for hotspots.

 

I know how time-consuming these tests are, and how hard they are when weather is changing, but there is one more test condition that could be suggested in the future if time permits. A really important (but poorly known) feature of lenses is whether they are parfocal in IR and Vis (and to a lesser extent in UV). This tends to get ignored in tests and lens evaluations but it has a big influence on the sharpness of photos taken either without any filter (for example in astrophotography when we want all the light we can get) or with something like the Kolari IR Chrome filter or its equivalents, which combine IR and vis  on FS cameras.  A no-filter shot could test this lens trait. I have not found many lenses that pass this test, especially at longer wavelengths. Indeed most astrophotographers don't know that such lenses are possible. Some noteworthy lenses that are specifically designed to pass this test are the Zeiss-Hasselblad 250mm, 350mm, and 500mm Superachromats, the Mamiya 67 500mm lenses, and the Leica 180mm f/3.5 Apo-Telyt. It's worthwhile to try to find less expensive lenses that accidentally pass this test.

[DonPilou]

Thank you for sharing these results @StephanN, it would also be interested to see how these lenses perform at smaller apperture to show possible hotspot.

 

From my experience, 17mm TSE works well at 720nm and beyond, no hotspot even at F/16. With filters less selective, like 590nm, corners are terrible.

 

24mm TSE is a no-go in IR, strong hotspot.

 

The best lenses of this kind I have tested are made by Laowa, but they only offer shift: the 15mm  F/4.5 shift and 20mm F/4 shift are fantastic for 720nm and beyond. 20mm shift is also very good with IR filters like 550nm. Only usable in b&w with UV filter, only monochromatic results.

[Doug A]

Excellent tests @StephanN. Rarely see IR & UV comparison tests of  exotic lenses.

Thanks for sharing,

Doug A

[ulf]

15 hours ago, DonPilou said:

 

24mm TSE is a no-go in IR, strong hotspot.

 

You mean the TS-E 24mm f/3.5 L II

The original TS-E 24mm have had little problems with hotspots for me.

[DonPilou]

35 minutes ago, ulf said:

You mean the TS-E 24mm f/3.5 L II

The original TS-E 24mm have had little problems with hotspots for me.

Yes, the mark II, as the mark I is not sold anymore. My bad.

[ulf]

There are often used ones for sale

[StephanN]

On 8/28/2023 at 12:36 PM, ulf said:

There are often used ones for sale

 

On Ebay there are quite a few, if you're willing to cough up some 600$ or so.

 

Will do some more tests one the sun has returned